West Eugene Wetlands Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
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- Start point: Stewart Pond Trailhead
- End point: Tsal Luk-wah Prairie
- Hike type: In and out with loops on each end
- Distance: 5.0 miles
- Elevation gain: 45 feet
- High point: 410 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
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Contents |
Description
Pockets of natural area, much modified by modern development, exist throughout West Eugene’s industrial area. They are characterized by stands of riparian vegetation and open meadows with both seasonal and permanent standing water and ponds. Amazon Creek, itself much modified, flows through this area, along with other sloughs and streams. This particular walk links the meadows and oak and cottonwood stands in Bertelsen Nature Park with the protected Tsal Luk-wah (“River of Grass”) Prairie, these two loops connected by the wide, paved multi-use Fern Ridge Path, which keeps along Amazon Creek.
From the parking area, a gravel path leads through an open field. From a junction, a path leads right past a kiosk and picnic tables, but you should stay left. As you approach an oak/ash woodland, bear right along the edge of this relict stand of Willamette Valley trees, passing the 14th tee of the area’s disc golf course and then a fenceline to your right. When you reach a gate, don’t walk out to Bailey Hill Road, unless you want to visit seasonal Swallow Pond in the parcel on the other side. Instead, turn left and walk north parallel to the busy road.
This is stroll through a mowed parkland past the 6th and 10th tees of the disc golf course under ash and oak trees. Trend slightly left to cross a ditch to reach the northeast corner of the property. Turn left here along a grassy track with a thicket of willow, dogwood, and hawthorn along the ditch to your right. Young ponderosa pines form a short line along the path. When you reach 5th Avenue, keep straight to follow the road and cross Wallis Street. At the west end of this segment of 5th Avenue, there’s a gate which you can pass around.
The trail follows a wide, mowed dike above Teal Slough. The path then turns left through a line of trees and reaches an unmarked junction. Bear left here to follow a path heading directly south. Grimes Pond and its blind are to your left, and there are three ponds hidden along the stand of rustling cottonwoods to your right. (These can all be visited via spur trails.) Continuing south you’ll pass a spur on the left to the viewing blind over seasonal and shallow Stewart Pond. Birdwatchers visit all of these ponds in the winter and spring, where they will spot various species of duck, goose, and wading birds. The trail ends at a cable gate on Stewart Road, where you should turn right to walk out to Bertelsen Road. You can cross Bertelsen to join the Fern Ridge Path, or take the safer option by turning left and then right to use the underpass.
Heading west on the well-lit Fern Ridge Path, you’ll see industrial buildings to your right and Amazon Creek, bordered by willow, teasel, and reed canarygrass, flowing down to your left. After walking under powerlines, you’ll pass the rather elaborate bridge that leads left to Commerce Street. Then you’ll pass by the small Nolan Wetland and a large meadow. Across the creek is a Target store. The path dips under the Randy Papé Beltline Highway and reaches a boardwalk on the right that takes you on a short tour of a wetland meadow. At a junction head left over a bridge and back to the Fern Ridge Path (going right would take you to a locked gate at the BLM’s Siuslaw Field Office).
Take the underpass under Danebo Avenue, and then turn right and then left to begin the Tsanchiifin Walk that loops around the Tsal Luk-wah Prairie. This grassy expanse, once a part of a dairy farm, then an airstrip, and then a dragstrip for “funny cars”, is a remnant of the Willamette Wet Prairie ecosystem, much of which is now turned over to farmland and urban sprawl. The dominant plant here is tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia cespitosa). A line of invasive blackberry separates you from Danebo Avenue, but then you’ll turn into the prairie, which becomes mildly flooded in winter and spring, and pass a sign about dragonflies. The hills of the Coast Range are on the horizon, and you’ll cross a boardwalk. The gravel path resumes and turns at a sign detailing the human history of the place. Another boardwalk takes you to a thicket of ash and oak before you return to the Fern Ridge Path.
Heading back eastward along the Fern Ridge Path, you’ll get views of the Coburg Hills. After passing under Bertelsen Road, turn left up to Stewart Road at the Euphoria Chocolate Company, and follow this street 0.4 miles back to your vehicle.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Dogs on leash
- Side trails open 1 hour before sunrise to 1 hour after sunset; Fern Ridge Path open at all times
- Underpasses on the Fern Ridge Path may sometimes flood
- Information kiosk, picnic table at Bertelsen Nature Park
- Interpretive signs at Tsal Luk-wah Prairie
- Do NOT leave belongings in your vehicle
Maps
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for West Eugene Wetlands Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for West Eugene Wetlands Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Best Easy Day Hikes: Eugene, Oregon by Art Bernstein & Lynn Bernstein
- Eugene Oregon Walks by Tyler Burgess
- Off-Street Paved Bike Paths in Oregon by Rick Bronson
More Links
- West Eugene Wetlands Guide (Eugene Parks & Open Space)
- West Eugene Wetlands (Bureau of Land Management)
- Wetlands (Eugene Parks & Open Space)
- Bertelsen Nature Park (Eugene Parks & Open Space)
- Stewart Bertelsen (Birding Eugene)
- Stewart Pond (Travel Oregon)
- Fern Ridge Path (TrailLink)
- West Eugene Wetlands Project – Stewart-Bertelsen Management Unit (Bureau of Land Management)
- Bertelsen Nature Park (iNaturalist)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)