Elk Rock Island Hike

Overview

The oldest place in the Portland area is not a mansion on Nob Hill, nor even the small Boring volcanoes, such as Mount Tabor, that dominate Southeast Portland - it is an island (only at high water) in the Willamette River, the 40-million-year-old exposed volcano of Elk Rock Island (as known as the Waverley Basalt). The island is reached via the Spring Park Natural Area in Milwaukie via a rocky channel which is left partially dry for most of the year. Here, native oaks and madrones crown a forested remnant donated to the City of Portland by businessman Peter Kerr in 1940, and officially known as Peter Kerr Park. Before Kerr's donation, the island, part of the original land claim of Milwaukie founder Lot Whitcomb, had been a riverside playground with a dance hall and other attractions. In April 2016, Portland formally transferred Elk Rock Island to the City of Milwaukie. Scabland vegetation has reasserted itself, with vernal pools rimmed by wildflowers and views west to Elk Rock itself, once reputedly a Native American hunting site where elk were herded over the cliff to their deaths as in a buffalo jump. Walk past the play area in Spring Park. A large deodar cedar stands in the corner of this small space. A paved path heads through this area before dropping on a log-lined sandy universal access trail to a cottonwood, willow, and alder bottomland. The trail then crosses a new footbridge in a sedge-filled depression and rises up a bank supporting a few Douglas-firs. There may be a bald eagle couple nesting in this area, so look for them up in the cottonwoods. There's a viewing area here overlooking a backwater: this is as far as wheelchairs can go. A path takes you down to the rocky shoreline of the Willamette River. A natural rock causeway leads out to Elk Rock Island. Reach the open rocky area on the south end of the island. Canada geese often congregate here. Pacific madrones lean over the island's ramparts - the island being the remnants of an ancient volcano now situated in the currents of a major river. R

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