Pathfinder Genesis Loop Hike

Overview

A neighborhood trail of various styles (paved, boardwalks, unpaved) takes you up the quiet drainage of Derry Dell Creek, beginning with expertly restored wetlands in Tigard’s Woodard Park. When you reach Gaarde Street, there’s a full-on view of Mount Hood and then you can loop back to the Pathfinder Genesis Trail via St. Anthony Cemetery and short pathways between suburban streets. The boardwalk across Derry Dell Wetlands in Woodard Park is universal access. From the small parking area in Woodard Park, take the paved Fanno Creek Trail under magnificent spreading oaks past a playground. The path soon enters a mature wood of ponderosa pines and oaks and then winds across oak-shaded lawns to cross Fanno Creek on a footbridge and reach Johnson Street. Make a right on Johnson Street, and follow it past Johnson Court to a dead end and the beginning of the raised boardwalk over the Derry Dell Wetlands. Tall cottonwoods rustle on the fringes of the marsh, and plantings of alder, red osier dogwood, snowberry, and spiraea have enhanced this once neglected lot. Make a left at the junction in the boardwalk, and walk on a paved trail up to Walnut Street past willows and an oak. Look for the beaver lodge and dam in the pond to your right. Cross Walnut, and take Pathfinder Court almost immediately across. At a cul-de-sac, a red and white post marks the trail where it descends to a pond frequented by mallards and teals (look out also for colorful wood ducks here). When you arrive at the cul-de-sac for Pathfinder Way, walk up the sidewalk and cross 107th Court to find the trail leading into tall cottonwoods on your left. Now you’ll be following Derry Dell Creek in a dense thicket of salmonberry, dogwood, and planted cedars under a canopy of red alder. When you arrive at a four-way trail junction, keep straight. (You will be returning from the left to complete the lollipop loop.) The trail continues to gradually ascend the creek valley behind landscaped back yards and crosses Genesis Loop. Young redwoods are a feature of so

Trail Stats

Photos

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