Camassia Natural Area Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Camassia Natural Area Trailhead
- End point: West Linn High School
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 1.4 miles
- High point: 310 feet
- Elevation gain: 160 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: Year round
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
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Hike Description
The Camassia Natural Area was purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1962. It has been managed ever since as a natural preserve, open to the public, but with an emphasis in creating good habitat. English Ivy has been cleared and White Rock Larkspur has been planted.
From the trailhead, hike a few feet to a trail junction. Pick up a guide brochure from the supply there. Turn left and begin the loop. You'll walk the first of many moist areas on a boardwalk. Soon you'll come to a trail junction with a trail that leads uphill to Windsor Terrace. Follow the sign to the right, marked "Loop". Next, you'll come to the first meadow. This meadow is filled with Common Camas early in the year, along with Rosy Plectritis and Oregon Saxifrage. A few islands of poison oak dot the scene, but they're all a long ways from the boardwalks.
Just past the far end of the first meadow, there's another trail junction. This trail heads north to West Linn High School. The average hiker probably doesn't need to go all the way to the school, but a short side trip is worthwhile to a marshy area. This tiny wetland is one the best areas in the northwest to see Great Camas. Great Camas is a larger, less common sibling of Common Camas, that prefers boggy soils. After you check out the bog, head back up to the main trail and turn left to continue the loop.
The next meadow is similar to the first, but it's rockier. You'll see more Common Camas and another area of Great Camas, right next to a small boardwalk. There's a small patch of Madrona near the trail. Marker number "7" marks a view of a large cell tower that contains an Osprey nest. You'll see lot of Large Flowered Blue Eyed Mary and Western Buttercups in this area, along with the ubiquitous Common Camas. . A spur right leads to a steep scramble down a basalt rim into a grassy amphitheater. Leave the Conservancy area and enter a grove of cottonwoods and then cross a log bridge over a reed canary-grass swamp. Reach a gravel track and go right. This leads in a few yards to a pond and three-way fork. Take the left tread up through Scots broom to a bluff that has recently been burned. The madrones are blooming and you can look down on West Linn High School and across to Oregon City. Head back and take the middle fork. This leads around the foot of the bluff with dense plantings of honesty and to the high school. Finally, take the right fork past a sign saying it is a riparian area. Reach a running stream choked by Himalayan blackberry and head back to Camassia.
Follow the main trail back to the trail junction near the trailhead. Come back soon.
Maps
Regulations or restrictions, etc
- Dogs are not allowed in the natural area
- Do NOT pick any flowers!
- Stay on the trails!
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Camassia
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Camassia
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Take a Walk: Portland by Brian Barker
- PDX Hiking 365 by Matt Reeder
- Urban Trails: Portland by Eli Boschetto
- Wild in the City: Exploring the Intertwine edited by Michael C. Houck and M.J. Cody
- Peaceful Places: Portland by Paul Gerald
- Oregon Nature Weekends by Jim Yuskavitch
More Links
- Camassia Natural Area
- Camassia Natural Area & Trails (The Intertwine)
- "Prairie and wild flowers of Camassia Natural Area outside West Linn in full bloom in May" (OregonLive)
- "A Sea of Blue: Camassia Natural Area" (Portland Monthly)
- Camassia Natural Area Photo Gallery (Greg Lief)
Contributors
- Stevefromdodge (creator)
- bobcat