Alder Ridge Loop Hike

Overview

The Homan Road Trailhead is the back door to Oxbow Regional Park's network of trails and is the official equestrian trailhead; there are no fee stations here although all park rules, such as a ban on pets, still apply. From here, you can hike down a series of switchbacks in lush coniferous forest to a 10-acre ridge top meadow. This meadow was carved out of the forest in the mid-1990s to provide a grazing area for elk and keep them away from surrounding farmland and nurseries. However, hikers are far more likely to spot the resident deer herd here than elk. From Marker H, on the northwest side of the meadow, a maintenance road leads down to connect with Oxbow's trails along the Sandy River. Hike on a level trail past the Oxbow Regional Park sign on the left side of the dead end – to the right is a private driveway. These are lovely, lush woods of Douglas-fir, western red-cedar, big-leaf maple, and sword fern. Note that many of the cedars have had strips of bark peeled off of them; it is unknown why this was done or if this was an act of vandalism. Such stripping of cedars, which usually doesn’t kill the tree, was done by Pacific Northwest Natives: the inner bark of the cedar was processed into clothing. There’s a viewpoint to the right where you can look across the Sandy River Gorge although the river itself is not in view. The trail drops down the ridge crest, making fourteen switchbacks (the upper ones have railings) to the edge of a small forested plateau. Reach a three-way junction at Marker I. An Area Closed sign blocks a steep trail, now much obscured by blowdown and slides, that originally led from here down to the Ancient Forest. Keep left at this junction and hike to a maintenance road and Marker H. From here, you can hike down the road to connect with the network of trails described in the Oxbow Loop Hike. Go right on the road to get a view of the meadow and see if any deer are out grazing. Elk from the Sandy River Gorge herd also visit the meadow, but are usually seen around sunrise and sunset. Bac

Trail Stats

Photos

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