Nehalem River, Gales Creek Trail (bobcat)

Step Creek before it runs into the boggy meadow, Step Creek Trail (bobcat)

Rice Road below a clearcut (bobcat)

• Start point: Reehers Camp Trailhead
• End point: Step Creek Trail-Rice Road Junction
• Trail log:
• Hike Type: In and out or loop via Rice Road
• Distance: 5.6 miles (6.0 miles for the loop)
• Elevation gain: 670 feet
• High Point: 1425 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: No
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

Step Creek runs for about two miles from south to north and joins the Nehalem River Trail below Reehers Camp. This hike take you across the alder-shaded Nehalem and across mossy Douglas-fir slopes before heading up an old logging road above Step Creek’s west bank. It should be noted that some maps show the old Step Creek Trail alignment, having the trail crossing the Nehalem below Reehers Camp and continuing south. The new alignment takes you on the Gales Creek Trail first before branching off.

NOTE: As of 2014, doing a loop has become the preferred option. A new trail addition avoids a hike below clear cuts on Rice Road to connect with a logging road which connects with Rice Road above the clearcut. See this report for a GPS track of the alignments: New Stretch of Step Creek Trail.

Hike down an old road bed from the trailhead and then along the course of the Nehalem River shaded by Douglas-fir, red alder, and western red-cedar with an understory of sword fern, Oregon grape, and salmonberry. Soon enough, the trail rises to the Nehalem River bridge on Cochran Road. The Gales Creek-Triple C Trail Junction is across the road. Cross the bridge and pick up the Gales Creek Trail where it rises off a blocked-off logging road to the left.

Head downstream above the Nehalem and then cross a footbridge over an unnamed creek. The trail rises on a slope of Douglas-fir, Oregon grape, mossy vine maples, and salal. You will see some larger Douglas-firs just before you cross the tracks of the abandoned Port of Tillamook Bay Railroad. Wind up from the tracks, dip, and then rise to the Gales Creek-Step Creek Trail Junction, where you go left.

The sign states that Rice Road, the end of the Step Creek Trail, is 1.7 miles. Drop to a road bed, walk 15 yards to the right, and resume the trail. Traverse up in a Douglas-fir plantation. Switchback up to an old road bed at the crest of a hill and then switchback down twice. The trail now drops down an decommissioned, alder-lined road. Plenty Big Creek runs to the right. At a junction in the road, switchback down to the right (Keeping straight will take you on the old route of the Step Creek Trail, which leads back to the Nehalem River). Cross Plenty Big Creek on a footbridge and head up to reach another road bed above a slope of mossy alders.

Now Step Creek itself is running down to your left. Cross a footbridge over a tributary and pass through a road cutting. Continue upward above Step Creek until the road curves to the right up the hillside. If you are doing this as an in and out, this is a good point to turn back, but not before you take a game trail into the woods and down a short slope to the large boggy meadow on Step Creek’s east bank.

If you are going to do the 6-mile loop, now the most logical option, you will add about 200 feet in elevation gain. Continue up the road grade. Just before the Step Creek Trail-Rice Road Junction, a new trail segment branches off to the right, first along a contour in shady Douglas-fir/alder woods and then winding up the slope to a logging spur. Hike out to Rice Road and then go right to reach Round Top Road. Keep right here for about 50 yards to the Gales Creek Trail-Round Top Road Junction. Head down the Gales Creek Trail on a gentle slope in a thinned forest, crossing a road and then winding along a bench. Switchback down into dense forest, cross another road, and rise to the Gales Creek-Step Creek Trail Junction. Return to Reehers Camp from here.

Maps

• Gales Creek Trail (State of Oregon)

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Share trail with mountain bikers

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Step Creek Loop Hike

• Gales Creek – Step Creek – the Triple C
• 1/1/13 Four Trails From Reehers Camp (Tillamook StateForest)

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Step Creek Loop Hike
• New Stretch of Step Creek Trail

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Afoot & Afield: Portland/Vancouver by Douglas Lorain (Describes old alignment)
• 50 Hikes in the Tillamook State Forest by the Tillamook State Forest Committee, Columbia Group Sierra Club (Describes old alignment)

More Links

• Tillamook Burn (Oregon Encyclopedia)

Contributors

• bobcat (creator)