Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

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bobcat
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Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by bobcat » March 18th, 2023, 10:10 am

I clobbered my bad knee and needed something less grueling to get it back in fettle. Jbar290 had called my attention to the Washougal River “State Park”, so I decided to visit.

Balcony Drive, off Vernon Road, is labeled a private road, but clearly a few people do visit, and there’s a paved pullout for parking about 120 yards before the gate on the road. Past the gate the road is paved in its first stretch, lined by alders, with glimpses down to a blackberry bench with mysterious humps. I took my first detour where a spur leads off and switchbacks down towards the river. A blackberry thicket blocked the way, and I scrambled down a deer trail to the cedar bottomland. This put me out at a very bouldery overflow channel of the Washougal River upstream from a popular summer swimming hole.

Gate on Balcony Drive, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Blackberry hump, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Looking upstream, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Alder alley, Washougal River State Park.jpeg

I returned to the road via a very step scramble up. From here on the road was gravel, but about half a mile in, a trail led down to a small beach probably frequented more by fishermen than anybody else. This is the one easy access to the river on the property. There are homes all along the opposite bank.

Trail to beach, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Small beach, Washougal River State Park.jpeg

The road was strewn with debris, with a couple of trees down. The larger trees in the woods are all hemlocks. I passed a large pond and then a small reservoir, and a small creek flows down next to the track. About one and half miles in, I came to a private property sign, nicely penned with “Please enjoy Wa. state park. You are entering private property. No entry allowed.” Supposedly, there’s a cabin at the end of the road. I don’t know if there’s access to it from the east, but on my western approach there were no signs of recent traffic.

Big hemlock, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Bend in the river, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Mossy maple, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Small reservoir, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Propane cooker, Washougal River State Park.jpeg
Private property sign, Washougal River State Park.jpeg

I can’t find any master plan online, but there’s enough acreage here for a good trail system with more than one access point to the river. On the topo maps, there’s a line of cliffs to the south, and a trail could run along their base to make a loop with the road. One problem could be the increased public access along the “private” Balcony Road, but a parking area could be constructed within the park boundary. The popular swimming holes on the other side of the river will still attract those who don’t want to walk far, so this area would be for visitors with a little more energy.

_____________________________________________________________________________

My knee felt decent enough that I decided to try out another park that is new to me. I took the back roads through the bucolic, now becoming gentrified uplands to Brush Prairie. I parked at the old club house (or 19th hole) for The Cedars on Salmon Creek Golf Course. Most of the area, mostly down by Salmon Creek, was purchased by Clark County in 2022 and became the Gordy Jolma Family Natural Area of 118 acres (named after the former owner). The small upland part of the old golf course has become a new housing development.

I walked down along what used to be the 9th fairway (the “trails” are the old golf cart paths). To the right was the Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad, a working freight line and also the railroad that carries the Chelatchie Prairie tourist operation. Across the tracks is the wooded acreage of the Salmon-Morgan Creeks Natural Area. You can connect to the trail system there by walking across the tracks before the golf path drops to Salmon Creek.

Entrance, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Along Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
PVJR trestle over Salmon Creek, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg

The railroad crosses a trestle over the creek. I first went west to follow paths passing the ponds which were hosting various waterfowl (Canada geese, wigeons, buffleheads, mallards, hooded mergansers, wood ducks, etc.). Light bridges, some in a state of disrepair, cross the creek to old greens and tees. The paths leading up to the neighborhood streets are now blocked at their higher end, so the 9th fairway off 181st Street is your main point of access and egress. A decommissioned pumphouse probably served the sprinkler system on the fairways.

View down the lake, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Bridge over Salmon Creek, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Pumphouse and lake, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Shore of the lake, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Canada geese, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Broken bridge, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg

Back at the trestle, I passed under it and did a loop around various ponds at the eastern end of the old course. You can get glimpses of snowy Silver Star Mountain from this area. It was a balmy, sunny afternoon and various locals walking were stripping off their jackets and enjoying the fine weather. A new development is going up on the north side. To the south is the cedar forest of the Salmon Morgan Creeks N.A. One assumes fairways will become meadows, sand traps will vegetate over, and for the lucky folks living near Brush Prairie this will be an excellent strolling venue.

Salmon Creek and trestle, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Bridge over Salmon Creek, Gordy Jolma Natural Area (1).jpeg
Pond at east end, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Wigeons, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg
Pond and Silver Star, Gordy Jolma Natural Area.jpeg

Jbar290
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Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by Jbar290 » March 19th, 2023, 9:30 am

Great trail report! Those humps are untrustworthy for sure. I am disappointed about the “please enjoy wr park” because past that sign looks like solid woods. Perhaps you found my new fishing spot
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bobcat
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Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by bobcat » March 19th, 2023, 10:08 am

Yes, looks like I landed at your spot on my first foray off the road.

The property outline on Google Maps is slightly misleading. According to the tax lot map, the road leads to a triangle of property with river frontage, so you can't actually get to the Clark-Skamania county line without trespassing.

Two other much smaller triangles of private property are parts of large lots that are mostly on the north bank. One is on the west side of the oxbow peninsula and the other is southeast of that.

Jbar290
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Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by Jbar290 » March 21st, 2023, 4:52 pm

I went today. The mounds are still untrustworthy. A trail dropped down to the river before the lake, after that the road didn’t seem to go anywhere and i turned around at a big stump

Jbar290
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Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by Jbar290 » March 21st, 2023, 4:54 pm

,
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Jbar290
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Joined: December 24th, 2022, 2:41 pm

Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by Jbar290 » March 25th, 2023, 2:48 am

Could the mound be a glacial esker?

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bobcat
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Re: Washougal River and Gordy Jolma 3-16-23

Post by bobcat » March 25th, 2023, 9:25 am

The mounds are on a big bulldozed landing now completely covered with blackberries. I suspect some kind of development was planned here years ago. They're probably just piles of dirt or gravel.

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