13 min
Overview
The Cazadero State Trail is an ongoing project using railroad rights of way to connect the Springwater Corridor with Estacada and the Clackamas River. The Portland Railway, Light & Power Company’s (PRL & P) electric interurban railroad was constructed in 1903-04 to run from Linneman Station as far as the Cazadero Dam on the Clackamas, just east of Estacada (The dam was completed in 1907). Later the line was extended a little further to the vicinity of the current North Fork Dam (constructed in 1958). The line was abandoned in the 1940s, later allowing Oregon State Parks to take up the cause of a bike trail that reaches from Portland into the Cascade Range. Today, two impediments to a continuous trail are the deep canyon of the North Fork Deep Creek and another former trestle crossing over Eagle Creek. This section of the Cazadero Trail runs three miles to the site of the first trestle. While much of the former railroad grade parts rampant blackberry thickets, a scenic side trail ventures onto Metro property and takes you above the North Fork Deep Creek in a lush natural woodland. The trail today is primarily a destination for locals and their canine companions and is only busy after late morning on weekends. “Cazadero” is a Spanish word meaning “hunting place.” The trolley stop and dam are presumed to be named after Cazadero, California. Walk past the kiosk and row of bollards. The gravel path on the old PRLPC line makes a very gradual descent. The alder and cottonwood-shaded North Fork Deep Creek appears to your left. Pass a gated maintenance track coming in from the right, and hike a corridor lined with blackberry and shaded by Douglas firs and alders. A diversionary ditch to the left now channels water to the North Fork. Across the North Fork, you’ll see the Mountain View Golf Course. A powerline runs above the rail right of way as you descend below an ivy-choked slope of cedars and Douglas-firs. Pass a trail on your left that comes down from private property. Then, almost one mile into the hike, another
Trail Stats
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67 m
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Photos
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400px-CazaderoTrailMap
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250px-Along_the_trail%2C_Deep_Creek_Natural_Area
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400px-Looking_to_the_log_jam%2C_North_Fork_Deep_Creek%2C_Deep_Creek_Natural_Area