School Canyon-Tygh Creek Loop Hike

Overview

While the School Canyon Trail attracts some traffic, the Tygh Creek Trail attracts far less. This is a wonderful ridge loop on the far eastern edge of the Mt. Hood National Forest through ponderosa pine and Oregon white oak parklands. The wildflowers are at their prime in late May through June, when the weather on this side of the divide is usually sunny and warm. One should note, however, that this loop is for experienced hikers only. While the trails have been logged out on a fairly regular basis, crews may not have gotten to all of them early in the season. WARNING: Because much of the forest here has been attacked by bark beetles, there is blowdown every year. Recent maintenance has ameliorated the situation, however. The Tygh Creek Trail #460 can be lost in a couple of the meadows en route before the descent from Pen Point. Bear in mind that the true location of some sections of these trails have a variance of 50 to 100 yards between the topographical map and a GPS track, with a couple of trail junctions even farther off the true track. From the School Canyon Trailhead, it’s a stroll through oak and ponderosa woodland, sometimes across open slopes blooming with balsamroot and bitter brush. The trail rises into the Ball Point Burn of 2007. Red miner’s lettuce carpets the forest floor. You may disturb a few cattle that graze in these parts. Keep up to an open ridge crest and saddle. A spur right leads to views of the surrounding country, including the Rock Creek and Pine Hollow Reservoirs. Hike west along the crest and then begin the traverse below Ball Point along a flower-strewn slope: death-camas, balsamroot, prairie smoke, woolly sunflower, yarrow, paintbrush are all here. Enter open ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir woods in an ascending traverse. Blooming arnica carpets the floor in the burn. The trail drops to the ridge crest where bracken forms the carpet. After you traverse the south side of the ridge, you'll leave the fiercest part of the fire zone. The trail drops in Douglas-fir/ponderosa woods and ro

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