Oregon Hikers

Hello all,

My brother and I are looking into a quick two night backpacking trip on April 18/19. I live in the Woodburn area. With the snow pack being what it is and the Eagle Creek fire limiting early season hiking in the Gorge, I'm not sure about the possibilities. I also don't get off work until 6pm on the 18th, so we would like to do something within 2 hours of Woodburn.

We have already done Salmon River, Opal Creek to Cedar Flats and Siouxan Creek. We were thinking maybe Table Rock (Molalla), but I think we would need snowshoes. Another option would be Clackamas River from Indian Henry to Fish Creek.

Some of the options on this list: https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... ackpacking
are most likely snowed in (Ramona Falls, East ZigZag). Other options are a bit too much of a drive (Metolius, Deschuttes).

Just not sure what other options might be out there. Coast Range? Southern Washington?

Thanks for any suggestions / feedback.

Andy

If the Coast weather is cooperating that weekend, I would recommend Bayocean Spit. It's my favorite beach camping spot, and miles of hiking is available.

That's at least where I'll be camping that weekend, as long as the weather isn't truly awful.

The Deschutes isn't that far actually. I mean, it is to the section of the river by Bend, but the River flows North into the Columbia and there's a trail head just past the Dalles. It's only about an hour and a half drive from Portland. If you wouldn't mind the desert rather than the forest it's a good optionhttps://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... River_Hike. If you want to hike more miles than are described in that hike, you can continue onto this one https://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... anyon_Hike. Mid April should be a good time for wildflowers in that area.

I will second the Deschutes, especially if the weather is gross west of the mountains.

I was up there last weekend and everything is growing back super green following last year's fire. And there are plenty of camp spots along the river starting about 2 miles in from the state park. And if you're getting a late start you can make great time taking the railbed instead of the riverside trail (we averaged a 17 min. mile with packs and headwind).

The only negatives are the $7 overnight parking fee... and unfortunately the cool things like the boxcar and water tower burned in last year's fire as well.

Teachpdx and Meiyong, thanks for the suggestion. I'll chat with my brother. We might just do it, we've been talking about doing a longer desert hike (like Owyhee Canyonlands or Steens) one of these springs, but this might just have to do.

I never hear anybody taking about the coast range. Are there any good multi-day backpacking trips in the northern Oregon coast range? I grew up in southern Oregon and am familiar with Kalmiopsis wilderness, but I don't know many backpacking options in the coast range up here.

There's the Wilson River Traversehttps://www.oregonhikers.org/field_guid ... verse_Hike, but that's the only one I'm aware of. The Coast range up North is such a patchwork of public and private land that it's really hard to put together a multi-day trip without trespassing. You'd be amazed at just how much of the range is owned by Weyerhaeuser.

The "other" eagle creek in Estacada has a few nice spots by the creek and I think it should be snow free by then with all the warm rains? No big views or waterfalls just some nice old growth and a wild flowing creek. The big trees do help to keep you dry.

Same for Elk Lake creek in bull of the woods wilderness. It would be a bummer to make that long of a drive and hit the snow though.

.

drm: what exactly is this a picture of? It's hard to tell.

It's the Trapper Creek trailhead, but it's actually just a mistake. I mistakenly posted it here when I meant to post it on the 2019 Snow thread. I did not seem to be able to delete the entire comment, just the text. Sorry.