This hasn't been a good year for hikes so far. Haven't gotten out most weekends, and the hikes that I have done haven't been incredible. I got snowed out while attempted Table Rock several weeks ago. The only true hike of the season at this point has been Warrior Point, which is 8 miles of flat. Spencer Butte in Eugene, while cool, was like 2 miles long.
I think after Sunday I finally got 2018's first genuine notch in the belt.
Keeley was out of town and after a few weeks indoors recovering from some shin splints obtained during a rompus in the park for work, I finally got stir crazy enough to get back out there and just get lost in the woods. I settled in on something I've had my eye on for months: The Salmon River Trail.
THE GOAL:
The Salmon River Trail overlook
THE PLAN:
Drive out, see how far up the trail I can get, do my best to reach the overlook meadows, go home. Pretty simple.
THE TRIP
The Salmon River Trail is incredibly easy to access. Take 26 out to Zig Zag like you are going to Mt. Hood, but then turn up - get this- Salmon River Road. This barely two-lane road follows the river for a while until it ends, with several trailheads on the way. Most are for the "Old Salmon River Trail", a roughly 2 mile stretch of trail directly on the river. Then the road hit the Salmon River West trailhead, and if you cross the bridge you can drive up the gravel to the Salmon Butte trail.
The Salmon River West trailhead is the spot. There is ample parking all along the road but I can still see this place filling up on summer weekends pretty fast. I got there at 11 on a beautiful day, and it was mostly full.
The trail starts on the left bank right before the bridge. Everything is well signed.
The trail for the first mile is kinda rocky, kinda Eagle creek-esque, with various cliffside spots where you are about 10 feet above the river. The river isn't really wide, but it is very pretty. The trail steps back from the river after about half a mile and for the next mile it meanders through the woods roughly 20 yards or so from the river. This is so the ample camping spots have a little bit of privacy.
Seriously for the first two miles the trail averages about 1 camp for every 100 yards. If you want an easy camping location, this is it. Other than that, the trail itself isn't terribly remarkable, it's mostly a nice flat romp through the woods and you can detour to the river through a camp whenever the mood strikes you.
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| When you see this, you know you made it. |
You'll feel the trees spreading out and feel the addition of sky right before the actual view hits. And it's a great view! The trail enters a steep, exposed grassy meadow and offers views of the Salmon River canyon. It's not a set the world on fire kinda viewpoint, but it's more than a worthy payoff for the medium amount of work to get here. You get a great view down the canyon to spots on the river, and the mighty exposed cliffs of the more southern ridge offer some drama.
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| The Salmon River canyon, looking south |
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| Check out the river in the bottom right |
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| Flowers on the exposed meadow ridge |
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| The Salmon River |
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| Pano from the viewpoint |
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| Close up pf the mighty cliffs on the opposite side |
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| The trail ascends back into the woods |
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| From the edge of the woods, person for scale |
A short and kinda sketchy scramble trail from the main grassy knob offers a slightly better view, but I wouldn't recommend it for dogs, kids, or height weenies.
This is pretty much it for the basics. The trail skirts out of the meadow and back up to join the "official" trail immediately (The official trail is just a shortcut that avoids the meadows and keeps going). I was curious though, if one could actually get out on the southern cliff ridge safely for another view.
You can!
Here is a photo comparison from the two spots.
A short distance along the main trail and another spur to a viewpoint presents itself. The viewpoint is on a grassy knob and sucks, you can't see shit, and the more enticing ridge-line below seems inaccessible. However, my keen eyes for danger spotted what looks like a faint side trail off to the right of the knob. It looks like just an alternate path back to the main trail, but it rounds a tree and down it goes.
It's clearly not well used and kinda sketchy, but I've done far more dangerous off-trail romps. It quickly descends onto the ridge and soon you have a wonderful view back north. I could see people on the other viewpoint and wondered if they were watching me in my very bright day-glo yellow shirt wander down the ridge.
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| Pink on the precipice of death |
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| The exposed ridge looks lovely as you scramble down |
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| Looking north-northwestish, upriver |
The second viewpoint ridge actually splits into two distinct ridges. A small detour that was hard to spot got me over to the other one, further south. This is also when I found the waterfalls! Tucked away in an almost impossible place to see well, three very substantial waterfalls linger just out of good view. To get a good view would require significant danger, as the grassy exposed ridges are mostly just loose talus held together by moss. It is not structurally sound.
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| Cool tree at the end of the second, lower, more dangerous ridge to the south |
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| Climbing down towards the cool tree south ridge |
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| The best "view" you can get of the waterfalls. Starts in the upper left corner. |
After getting my fill of what I could tolerate of danger, I had to sweat and swear my way back up the ridge, and then I went home fairly uneventfully. It was a worthy trip.
THE RESULT
8.18 miles
1600 feet elevation gain
This is a good trail. Good tread, good amount of work, good payoff, lots of recreational options for the mildly or intensely inclined alike. A solid B. Nobody's favorite, but unlikely to disappoint in any way.
Selfies!
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