Cathedral Tree-Coxcomb Hill Hike

Overview

The forested ridge of Coxcomb Hill, which rises above the city of Astoria, holds a couple of extraordinary sights that can be visited using a small network of trails. One is a 300+ year-old Sitka spruce that sprouted from a nurse log and has now reached about 8 1/2 feet in diameter and 200 feet in height. The final destination of this hike is the top of the Astoria Column, only 125 feet high but whose observation deck can be reached via a spiral staircase. From the deck, take in the views south towards Saddle Mountain and west towards the mouth of the Columbia River. From the small Irving Avenue Trailhead, take the Richard Fencsak Cathedral Tree Trail behind a white gate (Fencsak was a trail builder and owner of a local bike shop). Coltsfoot and skunk-cabbage bloom along here in early spring. The trail, initially a wide gravel path, rises under Sitka spruce, western hemlock, salmonberry, salal, and red elderberry. The area is more open now since a big December 2007 windstorm. Little interpretive signs explain some plants along the trail. Keep ascending into woods that are less devastated and reach a wooden staircase that leads to a boardwalk. At a junction, go left about 40 yards to the Cathedral Tree, a large Sitka spruce with a buttress-like base that remains standing although the devastation around it leaves it rather isolated. Head back to the junction and keep left along the boardwalk. The trail rises straight up on steps and then begins a meandering, rooty, muddy path through the mossy woods of hemlock and alder. Drop down to the right and pass through an elderberry/ salmonberry/ alder thicket before reaching a junction at a saddle. The trail down to the left leads to a private quarry. Ascend past a second junction; the trail to the right descends to Irving Avenue: this is your return route for the lollipop loop. Hike through an elderberry thicket, and note the lush oxalis carpet under the hemlock and spruce. Pass a communications tower that is neatly set back among the spruce and cross the road to the

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