30 min
Overview
The southern reaches of vast Forest Park are naturally more visited and especially popular on weekends. There are more genuine trails here, though, as opposed to fire lanes and old road tracks, and several short loops can be made for those seeking a quick outing close to the heart of the city. The Dogwood and Wild Cherry Trails put on a display of spring blooms, such as trillium, woods violet, fringe-cup, coast toothwort, Indian plum, red flowering currant, and Cascade Oregon grape, and the hidden picnic table at the bottom of the Wild Cherry Trail is a worthy lunch spot. From the parking pullout, walk to the trail sign and, at a memorial junction for Larry Mauritz, keep left and uphill on the Dogwood Trail. This is leafy, mixed Douglas-fir and big-leaf maple forest. At another junction, go right. To the left here is a blocked off area with signs saying campfires prohibited, patrolled nightly - an area once favored by transients. Walk a boggy trail up through swaths of spring-blooming trilliums. In the forest mix are western red-cedar, some grand fir, a few western hemlocks, Oregon grape, thimbleberry, Pacific waterleaf, colt’s foot and invasive English holly. Descend the spine of a ridge, switchback down and keep dropping. Cross the Wildwood Trail at a little park map. The trail descends the north side of the ridge, where you get glimpses of the Willamette River through the trees. Look for large pileated woodpeckers flitting about. Switchback down to a wooden footbridge and come to the Leif Erikson Drive-Dogwood Trail Junction. Winding Leif Erikson Drive, originally Hillside Drive, was constructed in 1914 and platted as a subdivision. Several homes were built along the drive, but landslides were frequent on these soft slopes that accumulated wind-blown deposits: the ambition was abandoned and much of the land near Leif Erikson Drive was acquired by the City of Portland through foreclosures. The road was renamed in the 1930s after a successful petition by the local Sons of Norway chapter. Go right here and g
Trail Stats
0.0 km
152 m
0 m
0 m
—
Photos
400px-DogwoodWildCherryMap
400px-DogwoodWildCherryMap
250px-DogwoodWildCherry2
250px-DogwoodWildCherry2
250px-DogwoodWildCherry4
250px-DogwoodWildCherry4
250px-DogwoodWildCherry3
250px-DogwoodWildCherry3
400px-DogwoodWildCherry1
400px-DogwoodWildCherry1