The Columbia’s kink is not renowned hiker territory. There is very little public land here, either along the river itself or in the Willapa Hills which make up this part of the Coast Range. The old growth was gone by the 1950s and Messrs. Weyerhauser and Longview Fibre (more about Mr. Long later) hold reign in the hinterland. However, over the past few weeks, I have had occasion to make a couple of visits up here and make use of some of what’s out there.
1. Beaver Falls
The Beaver Falls Trail (0.7 miles in and out) has been recently worked on, with new signs and a good tread. Driving there, you can also visit Upper Beaver Falls, not spectacular, but a very pretty roadside attraction. The trail to the amphitheater of Beaver Falls presents a short but rewarding excursion, especially for families with young children.
This former retreat is a Columbia County Park. The 3.6 mile Liahona Trail, named after a kind of ancient compass mentioned in the Book of Mormon, is a horse/hiker trail that circles the deeply forested property, crossing Oak Ranch Creek twice. Although this is secondary growth hemlock, Douglas-fir, and red-cedar, it has been maturing for more than half a century and represents a stark contrast to the clearcuts you will drive through to get here.
The railroad-grade trail around Vernonia Lake allows a glimpse into the operations of one of Oregon’s largest mills, that of the Oregon-American Lumber Company. The company owned thousands of acres of prime old growth timberland and the mill was set up in 1924 to cater specifically to production from old growth Douglas-fir. By 1957, the old growth stands had been logged and the mill closed down. You can walk here from the terminus of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail in Vernonia. After crossing Rock Creek, most of the land you walk on belonged to the lumber company. Look into the berry bushes and brush for the remains of old structures. The one remaining upright edifice is the former fuel bunker. Make sure you go inside: there are full-grown alders sprouting from the floor but also some splendid graffiti. The mill pond itself is now a destination for fishermen and birdwatchers and makes a good family outing almost any time of the year.
The few remaining buildings testify to Oregon’s politically-charged flirtation with nuclear energy. The reactor dome and the landmark cooling tower are gone and the radioactive reactor vessel and spent fuel we deftly delivered for storage to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in our generous sister state up north. The park that PGE set up along Highway 30 remains however. The amenities are open during the summer months, but you can walk the paved trails around the lake and ponds at any time of year. Plantings of oaks add color in the fall and numerous waterfowl, including the resident Chinese geese (none of them glowing green), make this place a home or way station.
The City of Longview, Washington, was the brainchild of timber baron Robert A. Long of the Long-Bell Lumber Company and was conceived by him to accommodate and provide services to the large number of employees in his logging operations and mills. In fact, Longview, incorporated in 1921, was the U.S.’s only planned city of the 20th century, and the first planned city of its size in the world to be built entirely with private money. Central to the plan was the conversion of the Cowlitz Slough to a linear park bordered on each side by leafy boulevards named for George Kessler and Jesse Nichols, two of the project’s principal planners. The area was named Lake Sacajawea Park. In the 1950s, Frank Willis, the city’s Parks and Recreation director, began the process of adding trees to the verges of the lake and creating an arboretum. This is especially colorful to see in the fall as many of the plantings are deciduous trees from eastern North America and east Asia. A 3 ½ mile trail leads around the lake.
) never knew about.