Revision as of 15:41, 21 April 2019

Barn, Mount Pisgah Arboretum (bobcat)

Oregon flag (Iris tenax), Mount Pisgah Arboretum (bobcat)

Season tree, Oak Woodlands Exhibit, Mount Pisgah Arboretum (bobcat)

Sessile trillium (Trillium albidum), Mount Pisgah Arboretum (bobcat)

The outer loop at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum traced on the Arboretum map (bobcat) Courtesy: Mt. Pisgah Arboretum

• Start point: Middle Fork Path Trailhead
• End Point: Middle Fork and Coast Fork Willamette Rivers Confluence
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 2.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 60 feet
• High Point: 500 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: On sunny weekends

Description

Really the jewel in Springfield’s park system, Dorris Ranch combines easy, flat walking with outdoor history displays, the original Oregon filbert orchards, spring wildflower displays, and shoreline access to the Middle Fork Willamette River near its confluence with the Coast Fork. Once the domain of the Kalapuya, the area was settled in 1851 by the Masterson family, who arrived via covered wagon from Missouri. George Dorris acquired the property in 1892 and planted Oregon’s first commercial filbert orchard in 1905, the seed stock for at least half of Oregon’s filbert (hazelnut) trees in the ensuing decades. The Willamalane Park & Recreation District purchased the 258-acre ranch in 1972 and continues to oversee filbert production, some 50 tons a year! In recent years, the old trees have been severely affected by eastern filbert blight, and a project has been underway to replace them with disease resistant varieties.

Take the paved path to the right of the restrooms. This is the Middle Fork Willamette River Path, which runs for four miles to Clearwater Park, often along the shore of the river. At a trail junction, you can see the Tomseth House down to your right (The house was moved here from the Willamette Heights neighborhood above 2nd Street; it can be rented as an event venue.). Take the path to the left, which leads you on a short loop around a “living history village” displaying replicas of structures from pioneer and Native history, including a facsimile of the original Masterson cabin.

Back on the Middle Fork Path, keep straight to cross a road track as you hike above oak woods where camas, buttercup, baby blue eyes, Oregon grape, and trillium bloom in the spring. To get off the paved trail, go right down a dirt footpath, and keep left to cross a new footbridge. The trail reaches another junction, where you should keep left. Across the field below you, you can see to the 1899 George Dorris house. The trail switchbacks down above a camas/cow parsnip bottom to reach a field of newly planted blight-free filberts.

Walk along the edge of the field to reach an old filbert orchard. Keep to the left side of this orchard until you come to a junction near the Middle Fork Path, go right here along a gravel trail in a powerline corridor. At the next junction, a large sign explains eastern filbert blight. Make a left, and enter a Douglas-fir forest. Turn right on the Middle Fork Path, and then, when you reach a bench, make a right on a gravel trail. There are some substantial Douglas firs in this woodland, with big-leaf maples lining the bench above a cottonwood bottomland which may flood in times of heavy rain and snow melt. An overflow channel of the Middle Fork Willamette River runs just below you. Cross the powerline corridor, and go left on a trail that takes you closer to the channel. Stay left when you rejoin the main riverside trail, and come to a picnic table near the Middle Fork’s confluence with the Coast Fork, essentially the beginning of the Willamette River (You can’t really see the Coast Fork coming in from the south just downriver.). Moon Mountain is the forested hill to the west.

Walk along this wide trail north to a small meadow surrounded by filbert orchards. You can walk north through the orchard, paralleling the main trail, to pass through a new plantation and reach a packing shed and pump house, the latter protecting the original well that watered the property. A rusting tractor and trailer invites a clamber from young kids under the canopy of a grove of incense cedars. Cross a bridge, and reach a picnic area. A rusting nut harvester is on display to your right, and the 1940 barn is straight ahead. On the hill to your left is the Briggs House, constructed in 1872 and now boarded up. Walk up past a couple of parking areas to the Tomseth House. A chip trail on the east side of the house takes you to the Middle Fork Path and thence back to your vehicle.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Dogs on leash
• Park hours 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Picnic area, restrooms, information kiosks

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Dorris Ranch Trails Map (Willamalane Park & Recreation District)
• Springfield Paths and Trails (Willamalane Park & Recreation District)

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Dorris Ranch Loop Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Dorris Ranch Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Best Easy Day Hikes: Eugene, Oregon by Art Bernstein & Lynn Bernstein
• Oregon Townscape Walks by Tyler Burgess

More Links

• Dorris Ranch (Willamalane Park & Recreation District)
• Middle Fork Path (Willamalane Park & Recreation District)
• Dorris Ranch, a park Where History Lives (Willamalane Park & Recreation District)
• Oregon’s First Commercial Filbert Farm (1859 Oregon’s Magazine)
• Dorris Ranch Living History Farm (Eugene Cascades Coast)
• Dorris Ranch Hiking (Oregon Outdoor Family)
• “Community steps up to support Dorris Ranch after history museum hit by thieves” (KVAL 13)

Page Contributors

• bobcat (creator)