1.4 hr
Overview
Boulder Creek runs for five and a half miles through shady old growth below the talus slopes of Grasshopper Point before reaching clearcuts and generally disturbed forest. The Boulder Creek Trail is visited mostly by mountain bikers: Its lower three miles are rarely paid a visit although two of those three miles are still maintained. The trail itself was constructed before 1920 to offer grazing access to the upper meadows of Boulder Creek. A loop can be made that takes in the lower end of the trail, one of the most remote hiking venues in the Mt. Hood National Forest, as well as the two Boulder Lakes and old logging roads and trails on the ridge above the creek. If you wish to take in all of the lower three miles of the Boulder Creek Trail, the hike begins with a veritable bushwhack at the Crane Creek Trailhead, where the tread has been abandoned through a clearcut private square of timberland. The verbiage dates the sign here: Crane Creek’s name was changed back to Boulder Creek in 1977. (It had been Boulder Creek before, until 1924, when the Forest Service decided there were too many Boulder Creeks in Oregon.) Otherwise, begin the hike at the Boulder Lake Trailhead and leave out the lower ¾ mile. The directions below start there, however, so if you choose the former, much easier, option, begin at paragraph 5. Because of the short bushwhack sections, this hike is rated 'difficult' although for most of the route, the path is easy to discern. From the Crane Creek Trailhead, hike down the old logging road, which soon leaves shady forest and traverses across a 40-year-old clearcut on a square of private timberland within the national forest boundary. Since the cut, young conifers have regenerated and the road has been colonized by sometimes dense shrubbery, such as ocean spray, manzanita, and snow brush. The latter is the most difficult to get through, and sometimes you will be forced to find a way around or crawl through. (Bring large pruners if you have a mind to whack away at all this.) You’ll come to an appar
Trail Stats
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417 m
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Photos
400px-BoulderCreekSwampCreekMap
400px-BoulderCreekSwampCreekMap
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250px-Log_crossing%2C_Boulder_Creek
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250px-Turtle_head_%28Nothochelone_nemorosa%29%2C_Forest_Creek_Trail
250px-False_bugbane_%28Trautvetteria_caroliniensis%29%2C_Boulder_Creek_Trail
250px-False_bugbane_%28Trautvetteria_caroliniensis%29%2C_Boulder_Creek_Trail
250px-Onto_Forest_Service_land%2C_Boulder_Creek_Trail
250px-Onto_Forest_Service_land%2C_Boulder_Creek_Trail
400px-Little_Boulder_Lake
400px-Little_Boulder_Lake