Oak Island Loop Hike

Overview

Surrounded by Sturgeon Lake on Sauvie Island, Oak Island is part of the Sauvie Island Wildlife Area and is open to hikers only seasonally, from mid-April to the end of September. The best times to visit are right after and just before the closure, when migrants such as sandhill cranes may still be present. Look for raptors in the grasslands and woodpeckers and passerines in the woodlands. Vegetation includes typical shoreline trees such as Oregon ash and willow but also extensive meadows and copses of Oregon white oak. Pick up a nature trail brochure if there are some in the dispenser. From the trailhead, walk past the gate on a vehicle track. At a junction, go left through snowberry thickets under oak, willow and ash trees. At a junction with two trail signs, the beginning of the loop, keep left on the vehicle track. Cross an open field and get a view of West Sturgeon Lake to your left, with the Tualatin Hills behind. There are oak woods are to your right. The trail heads into an ash forest, passing a couple of gnarly old trees. Spurs left leads to the waters of Sturgeon Lake. Where the trail turns south, you can head left through the thick grass to the water's edge at The Narrows, a channel which connects Sturgeon Lake with its western arm. The trail turns south, with several spurs leading to the willow-lined shore of Sturgeon Lake (Since the island was extensively diked, there have been no more sturgeon in Sturgeon Lake). From here, you can get good views of Mount Saint Helens looming rather large. The road bed is a carpet of white clover. Blackberries ripen in profusion here in late summer, so come prepared with containers! Pass through a grassy expanse sprinkled with young ash and cottonwood trees. The green oak forest is to the right. The trail turns right again (left is to a stony beach) and passes a bench and a memorial plaque to Keith Bolles Lobdell. Enter oak forest and reach the loop junction, where you turn left back to parking. From the port-a-potty at the parking area, a short trail leads to a

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