Tryon Creek Outer Loop Hike

Overview

Tryon Creek State Natural Area is an urban jewel, a lush, wooded reminder of the thick vegetation that once cloaked the southwest hills of the Portland area. This state park, formed in 1970, spans both Portland and Lake Oswego and offers an intricate network of well-loved hiking, biking and horse trails. Volunteers have tamed some of the invasive ivy, cherry laurel and English holly although much work needs to be done. The area was logged intermittently into the 1960s and fires and windstorms also raged through here, so visitors hike under a 50-100 year canopy but a surprising variety of native forest flowers are fully established. So too are a wide variety of forest critters, such as coyotes, deer, skunks, foxes, flying squirrels, shrew moles, brush rabbits, and six species of salamanders - this spectrum includes the impressively large Pacific giant salamander! Beaver are sometimes active along the creek, and the striking pileated woodpecker is present all year. Several species of owl inhabit the woods here. The loop described takes you around the outer edges of the park and requires a stroll along suburban Lake Oswego streets before diving back into the lush greenery via an old orchard. These are wide, well-signed trails, but they can get muddy and slick when wet. There is a concerted effort to restore spawning habitat to the creek, so keep all two- and four-pawed creatures out of the water. The park is named after Socrates Tryon, Jr., who owned these 645 acres in the mid-19th century and then sold out to the Oregon Iron Company in 1874. The forests here were heavily logged by Lake Oswego's iron industry for charcoal production. Go left at the Nature Center and then left again on the Ruth Pennington Trillium Trail. This is a paved loop under Douglas-firs, cedars and maples, with grand fir, yew, and cedar also present. Sword fern dominates the understory. Many different kinds of plants are labeled. Keep left at a junction for the Upper Loop in a carpet of waterleaf. Reach a viewing platform over a lush fore

Trail Stats

Photos

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