21 min
Overview
An ambitious loop plan overseen by Metro foresees a trail network that heads up Rock Creek from the Clackamas River to Scouters Mountain, Gresham Buttes, and the Springwater Corridor, and then south up Veterans Creek to Mount Scott, and down Mount Scott Creek to Mount Talbert. The small Hidden Falls Nature Park in Happy Valley, dedicated in 2019, is part of the plan and contains one of its prettiest natural sights, Hidden Falls. The walk down to Hidden Falls is short, but you can use neighborhood streets to connect with other short trails in the area, including the natural corridor along Rose Creek. From the parking area in Hood View Park, you can get sightings of Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens. Walk through the turnaround circle at the end of the parking lot to a wide gravel path. Make a sharp left at a shed, and walk out to 162nd Avenue. Turn right, and then bear left past a white gate marked for Hidden Falls Nature Park. A wide paved trail leads down a slope, making two looping switchbacks into Rock Creek’s forested gorge. Tall Douglas-firs and cedars tower overhead. A path leads right to a picnic table and view over the top of Hidden Falls and up Rock Creek, but the best view of the falls is from the big timber bridge that spans the gorge. You’ll get more views of the fern-draped ravine before the path loops up to a junction. To make the neighborhood loop, bear right and descend below a new development before hitting the end of Cherry Blossom Way. Walk up past the brand new homes on Cherry Blossom to Nightingale Avenue, and make a right. After about a block, find the gravel path leading left that passes along the edge of a wood of cottonwoods and willows. Keep left at a junction, and then stay straight to arrive at Ashley Meadows Park. Turn right and walk past the park’s play and picnic structures to reach Oregon Trail Drive, where you’ll make a left. Keep along Oregon Trail Drive for several blocks, crossing 152nd Avenue and passing above Oregon Trail Elementary School and getting views north to Sunr
Trail Stats
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106 m
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Photos
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