Ferry Springs Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Lower Deschutes Trailhead
- End point: Ferry Springs
- Trail log: Ferry Springs Hike/Log
- Hike type: Loop
- Distance: 4.4 miles round trip
- Elevation gain: 580 feet
- High point: 750 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Year round; very hot in summer
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Busy during spring and summer
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Hike Description
This pleasant loop hike goes steeply up to great views of the lower reaches of the Deschutes River where it enters the Columbia River. The hike is all on state land, beginning at river level and then taking you up to a shallow canyon below a high bench on the Columbia Plateau. You'll get views north across the Columbia to Haystack Butte and west across the Deschutes to Fulton Ridge. Wildflowers bloom in abundance throughout the spring and early summer. Much of the area was burned in the July 2018 Substation Fire, but apart from a few charred skeletons of sagebrush, the grasslands have rebounded naturally.
From the parking area, walk south across a large open field, keeping close to the Deschutes River. Find the beginning of the Blackberry Trail, and hike a lush riparian corridor shaded by white alders. Take note that rattlesnakes are common here - although you're more likely to see gopher snakes - and nettles and poison ivy flourish in the riverbank brush. Sumacs leaf out in the spring, and the mock orange blooms in June. Pass a solar-powered gaging station and a cable car line that crosses the river. Orioles, flycatchers, and kingbirds nest in riverbank trees, and pelicans, cormorants, geese, and herons can be seen on the river itself. You'll pass a bench below a large boulder with its companion, an aged hackberry tree. Then a series of small footbridges takes you into the 2018 fire zone. The trail narrows from here, and undulates higher above the river until you pass an outhouse and descend once again to river level. When you reach an unmarked trail junction, head up the slope to your left.
You'll reach a bench above the Deschutes where blanket flower blooms in June. At another junction (with the Riverview Trail), stay right and keep hiking south along the bench until you get to a rocky outcrop overlooking Rattlesnake Bend and the rather unintimidating Rattlesnake Rapids. A long train may be headed to Bend on the railroad across the river, and this is a popular rafting section of the Deschutes. Turn from the rocky viewpoint, and descend to the old railroad bed above the east bank of the river. Before you actually reach the gravel track, look to your right for a natural arch in the basalt ramparts. Then walk 15 yards south on the track, entering the Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area at the Deschutes State Park Boundary and find a trail leading up a grassy slope through a fence line. This is the route to Ferry Springs.
Velvet lupine blooms in these grasslands in late spring. The path turns up a draw and then veers left to make a rising traverse where you'll get good views of the mouth of the Deschutes River. Cross a deeper draw on a slope of April-blooming balsamroot. Listen for the tinkling calls of meadowlarks, and keep your eyes peeled for quail or perhaps the odd coyote. The trail passes through an old fence line and enters Ferry Springs Canyon, where sagebrush and willow form thickets on the steeply plunging stream, which originates near the rim of Fulton Canyon. A loud chorus from resident frogs may precede your arrival, but all will fall silent when you enter their habitat. After crossing the stream, you'll pass an old stile at a fence line, and then the route begins its descent following the bed of an 1860s wagon/stagecoach road. Hike under rimrock cliffs, and then switchback to cross a rubbly wash. The trail then descends across a slope of burned sagebrush to pass through a fence and reach the old railroad bed, where you need to turn right.
Hike the track for 0.8 miles and, when you reach an odd contraption on the left, take the trail leading down past a junction with the Riverview Trail to reach the grassy field near the trailhead.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
- Deschutes State Recreation Area Trail Guide (Oregon State Parks)
- Green Trails Maps: Columbia River Gorge - East #432S
- National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
- Bureau of Land Management, Fish & Wildlife Service, National Park Service, USDA Forest Service: Lower Deschutes & John Day Rivers
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Campground, restrooms, picnic area, information kiosk at the state park
- $7 overnight parking fee; no charge for day-use
- Dogs on leash
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Ferry Springs
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Ferry Springs
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Curious Gorge by Scott Cook
- 100 Hikes: Eastern Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Extraordinary Oregon! by Matt Reeder
- Day Hiking: Columbia River Gorge by Craig Romano
- Day Hike! Columbia Gorge by Seabury Blair, Jr.
- Oregon: The Creaky Knees Guide by Seabury Blair, Jr.
- Columbia River Gorge: 42 Scenic Hikes by Don & Roberta Lowe
- Oregon's Columbia River Gorge: Camping & Hiking by Tom Stienstra & Sean Patrick Hill
- Oregon Campgrounds Hiking Guide by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
More Links
- Deschutes River State Recreation Area (Oregon State Parks)
- Deschutes River State Park - Ferry Springs Loop (Friends of the Columbia Gorge)
- Deschutes River, Ferry Springs Hike (Outdoor Project)
- Deschutes River (Washington Trails Association)
- "Lower Deschutes riverbanks destroyed in Substation Fire; river reopens" (Oregon Live)
- Lower Deschutes River (Northwest Wildflowers)
Contributors
- retiredjerry (creator)
- bobcat