Tryon Creek Upper Loop Hike

Overview

This easy loop in Tryon Creek State Natural Area keeps you on a forested bluff above the creek itself, which you do not visit. The level trails wind around above gullies and are an ideal testing ground for infant hikers. You’ll get to see most of the native plants found in the park as well as the stumps of the massive conifers that once lived here. As you approach the Nature Center, make a left and cross the stone Friends Circle. Then take the paved Ruth Pennington Trillium Trail past a kiosk. This short ADA loop will give you an introduction to native plants of the area as many have botanical labels. Keep left on the Upper Loop as you walk under a canopy of maple, cedar, and Douglas-fir. Oregon grape, stream violet, and trillium bloom here in early spring, while vine maple, sword fern, and Pacific waterleaf predominate in the understory. A viewing platform looks over a forested gully where you might spot pileated woodpeckers. Keep left at a junction to begin the Lower Loop, and pass a second viewing platform. To complete the Trillium Loop, stay left and left again to reach the Old Main Trail. Turn left on this wide trail, and soon pass the junction with the Big Fir Trail. You’ll be hiking under a canopy of tall Douglas-firs as you stay right at the junction with the Red Fox Trail, which descends to Tryon Creek itself. Keep right at the next junction to begin the Big Fir Trail, and then stay right again to pass the Middle Creek Trail. The Big Fir Trail loops around the head of the first of four blackberry-choked gullies above Tryon Creek. On your right, as you pass above a second gully, you’ll see a curiously bent cedar, once pinned to the ground by a fallen tree. At the junction with the Center Trail, bear left to reach a third gully, where big cedar stumps with springboard notches attest to 19th century logging of the area. Then go left on the Maple Ridge Trail, which lives up to its name as it proceeds under an exclusive canopy of big-leaf maple. You may notice spring blooming non-native daffodils and s

Trail Stats

Photos

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