44 min
Overview
This short loop on the southern fringes of vast Forest Park encompasses some of the original acreage of the now 5,100 acre public property. The Holman Property is a 52-acre piece of land on the slopes of Balch Creek that was donated to the City of Portland by George and Mary Holman, siblings of the well-known lawyer Frederick Van Voorhies Holman, in 1939. Holman’s property had been severely damaged in 1906 when Lafayette Pence, a former Congressman and congenital shyster, claimed water rights to the drainage and sluiced 200,000 yards of fine topsoil down the hill through an elaborate set of flumes. Pence’s plan was to fill in the area around Guild’s Lake in northwest Portland to create an industrial center. While Pence went belly up on the scheme, Guild’s Lake was eventually filled in anyway and became the industrial tract it is today. The forest has recovered and native trees and forbs abound although invasives like ivy, holly, and English laurel threaten to overwhelm the ecosystem. This loop can also start from the Aspen Trailhead. Note that Holman Lane is extremely muddy in the wet season. Tennis shoes will not work here, so wear hiking boots for this short loop at all times of the year. Across 53rd Drive, the Birch Trail leads down the forest slope from a grassy sward. Hike down through a carpet of Oregon grape, sword fern, and waterleaf under big-leaf maples and Douglas-firs. In a quarter mile, reach the Wildwood-Birch Trail Junction, and go right. The Wildwood Trail takes a meandering, generally descending trajectory from here. A man-made ditch on the uphill side of the trail was dug in the early 20th century to convey water for the hydraulic sluicing of a lower area of the hillside to provide flat land for a development. Pass some larger Douglas-firs where the trail levels and cross a creek on a footbridge. In spring, the understory here leafs out with Indian plum, red huckleberry, and salmonberry. The path rises into a gully, crosses another footbridge, and then drops again. Wind down through a car
Trail Stats
0.0 km
222 m
0 m
0 m
—
Photos
400px-HolmanLaneLoopMap
400px-HolmanLaneLoopMap
250px-Trilliums%2C_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
250px-Trilliums%2C_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
250px-Looking_down_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
250px-Looking_down_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
250px-Salmonberry%2C_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
250px-Salmonberry%2C_Holman_Lane%2C_Forest_Park
400px-Descending_the_Wildwood_Trail%2C_Forest_Park
400px-Descending_the_Wildwood_Trail%2C_Forest_Park