Oregon Hikers - Help

**mowgli** · 04-11-2014, 14:21

Hello, I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has a done a fair amount of hiking in Oregon. My wife and I are planning to vacation there this summer and I am hoping to find a great day hike to check out. I'm sure they are all beautiful, but I'm really hoping to see some extremely dense, thick rain forest. I would love to visit the Hoh forest in Washington, but that will have to wait for another trip. We will be flying into Portland and be traveling as far South as Lincoln City and as far East as the Columbia River Gorge. I've been researching online and have some ideas, but a great community like hammock forums is too great a resource to not use. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

**nuttysquirrel** · 04-11-2014, 15:28

come west! the tillamook state forest has tons of great hikes such as: sadle mountain,kings mountain,elk creek, elk mountain,the wilson river trail, gales creek trail,storey burn trail,just to name a few!

**mowgli** · 04-12-2014, 06:58

Thanks for the reply! I had been looking at that a bit just going off Google maps. It doesn't seem to get as much love as the Siuslaw and Mt. Hood areas, so I hadn't seen as much info on it. Then again you guys have so many options out there I may not be sifting through the information correctly. We will definitely check out the Tillamook. I had been looking at Valley of the Giants, but it looks to be a lot of driving for a 1.5 mile trail. Btw, there is a large chunk of land that Google maps shows as park land that is straight east of Pacific City and stretches down towards Lincoln City. I cannot even find the name of this area to look for more info on it. Do you know anything about it?

**nuttysquirrel** · 04-12-2014, 16:27

not sure where that is but this has (short) BP-ing: http://npsoregon.org/2014mtg/EcolaStatePark.pdf

**Ryn8tor** · 04-14-2014, 12:01

My buddy and I have been planning to go to the Illinois-Washington game in September, so I decided to come early and fly into Portland. My initial plan is to secure a camp spot at Ainsworth State Park and hike Multnomah/Wakeenah, then the next day wake up and hike Eagle Creek. My next stop was to get to the coast and so the Ecola brochure will be something I'll want to look at closer. I might stay there or Cape Lookout. Do you have any recommendation which is preferable, Nutty Squirel?

At this point, I'm looking for some place interesting to stop or a scenic route to take on the way to the coast as well. Any recommendations would be welcomed as well.

I then hope to go to the Oktoberfest at Mt. Angel. Still working the cost/logistics portion of driving up to Seattle or returning the car and taking Amtrak.

**nuttysquirrel** · 04-14-2014, 12:58

they are both pretty crowded (maybe not so much in september) if you have time i would strongly suggest visiting or camping at fort stevens. theres tons of cool military bunkers and ruins,old jeeps, big guns and stuff like that.

**Gary_R** · 04-14-2014, 14:08

Day trips.. How many miles you looking for?
There are plenty of good options

**renegadepilgrim** · 04-16-2014, 04:31

Originally Posted by Ryn8tor

My buddy and I have been planning to go to the Illinois-Washington game in September, so I decided to come early and fly into Portland. My initial plan is to secure a camp spot at Ainsworth State Park and hike Multnomah/Wakeenah, then the next day wake up and hike Eagle Creek. My next stop was to get to the coast and so the Ecola brochure will be something I'll want to look at closer. I might stay there or Cape Lookout. Do you have any recommendation which is preferable, Nutty Squirel?

At this point, I'm looking for some place interesting to stop or a scenic route to take on the way to the coast as well. Any recommendations would be welcomed as well.

I then hope to go to the Oktoberfest at Mt. Angel. Still working the cost/logistics portion of driving up to Seattle or returning the car and taking Amtrak.

Someone correct me here...but I think the Benson Bridge is still out at Multnomah Falls (might be fixed by September, who knows), so you might not be able to do the Multnomah Falls/Wahkeena Loop. Eagle Creek is fine...not my favorite, and definitely should be avoided on a weekend. I'm not a fan of any of these places on weekends, the crowds are nuts.

Herman Creek has some nice old and big trees. It might be too far east for you though. Cedar Swamp is where I have camped and there are some decent camp spots there if you decide to backpack in.

Also, I'd avoid Amtrak if you are in a hurry to get anywhere, especially to Seattle. Look into the Bolt Bus instead. Cheaper, faster, and they have free wifi too!

**renegadepilgrim** · 04-16-2014, 04:38

Originally Posted by mowgli

Hello, I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has a done a fair amount of hiking in Oregon. My wife and I are planning to vacation there this summer and I am hoping to find a great day hike to check out. I'm sure they are all beautiful, but I'm really hoping to see some extremely dense, thick rain forest. I would love to visit the Hoh forest in Washington, but that will have to wait for another trip. We will be flying into Portland and be traveling as far South as Lincoln City and as far East as the Columbia River Gorge. I've been researching online and have some ideas, but a great community like hammock forums is too great a resource to not use. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

The Hoh Rainforest is the only true rainforest out here and it is spectactular! In Oregon, you'll find some nice old growth though and I definitely recommend if you check out the Wilson River Trail area (King Mt. and Elk Mt.), you will see some awesome old growth and depending on the weather, might even get a clear view of the ocean! The Tillamook Forest Center is also super cool, has a great display on the history of the area and if you keep going down Hwy 6, you'll end up in Tillamook and need to stop at the cheese factory for sure! The usual trails in the Gorge on everyone's must-do list are Angel's Rest and Eagle Creek. Avoid on the weekends if you can. There are some great places on the coast too...just south of Cannon Beach is Neahkahnie Mountain (great hike with great views) and Oswald West SP has some nice little trails to Short Sands Beach.

That's all I have for now...if you stay in Portland, let us know!