2.1 hr
Overview
NOTICE: Trails in this area were affected by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire. Please check current closures in the Willamette National Forest before planning an outing. French Creek Ridge separates the Little North Santiam and North Santiam drainages. It is a rugged remnant of the Old Cascades: domes of columnar basalt, outcroppings of platy andesite, and lots of scree. Because the ridge runs from west to east, there are extensive views from various high points: north to Mount Hood and summits in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness, such as Whetstone Mountain and Big Slide Mountain, and south to Coffin Mountain and an expanse of the high Cascades from Olallie Butte to the Three Sisters. The entire ridge, with its outcroppings of platy andesite, is a trove of what archeologists call "lithic scatter sites," where aboriginal Americans came to prospect and shape stone tools. After completing a self-issued wilderness permit at the trailhead, hike east along a road bed hemmed in by Sitka alder, Alaska yellow-cedar, mountain hemlock, and Scouler’s willow. You will soon enter the Opal Creek Wilderness. The trail then drops as rhododendron, bear-grass, huckleberry, Douglas-fir, and noble fir enter the mix. The trail rises again and traverses up a slope. The basalt columns of the north sibling of the two Marten Buttes appears ahead: these prominences were so-called because trappers often remarked on the abundance of pine martens in the area. There are open views of ridges in the Opal Creek and Bull of the Woods Wilderness areas as you pass above a talus slope capped by lush thimbleberry and goat’s beard thickets. The path becomes rougher heading through huckleberry thickets and then reaches an open slope with some views south to Detroit Lake and the central Cascades. The tread crosses more talus squeaking with the alarm calls of pikas. You will see an old road bed below and then cross over the ridge crest below an outcropping of platy andesite. The trail rises to another ridge carpeted with pinemat manzanita and common jun
Trail Stats
0.0 km
644 m
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Photos
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