Sams Walker Loop Hike

Overview

This is a pleasant interpretive loop taking in some river frontage and meadowland on former farmland directly across the Columbia River from St. Peter's Dome. Horsetail Falls and the Oneonta Gorge can be seen to the southwest. If it were not for the intervention of Friends of the Columbia Gorge, this spot of prime riverfront real estate would be a suburban-type subdivision. The development, Hidden Harbor, was approved in 1983 by Skamania County, but a lawsuit by the Friends halted construction and the property was acquired by the Trust for Public Land, which transferred it to the Forest Service in 1988. Picnic tables sit under shady walnut trees in the parking area. An information sign explains that this is the old Sams family farm. The trail passes through a fence and enters Grace’s Meadow, explained by an interpretive sign. Cross the meadow, which blooms with invasive knapweed in the summer, and reach a junction. Here, go left under oaks, cottonwoods and hazel bushes. A spur leads left to a viewpoint over the river under shady cottonwoods. Back at the junction, make a left to cross a meadow. Pass under oaks and reach a thicket of plums on the left with apple trees on the right. Then tall cottonwoods lend their shade again. At a junction with a tie trail, keep left and reach an overlook with a picnic bench and a willow thicket below. From here, you can see across to Horsetail Falls. Pass more interpretive signs, crossing a meadow that also forms the boundary with the Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge. There are cottonwoods to the left and Oregon ash and oaks to the right. The trail bends to the right as you crunch along on acorns under the oak trees. Enter evergreen woods with Douglas-firs and a view of the meadow to the right. Pass a junction with the tie trail and head into lush woods under alders, Douglas-firs, and western red-cedars. There’s a small cedar grove, explained by a sign. Exit the woods under an old, spreading ash tree - worth a moment of awe if you're a dendrophile - to reenter the meadow. R

Trail Stats

Photos

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