Veterans Creek to Mount Scott Hike

Overview

At 1,091 feet, Mount Scott is the highest point in the Portland Metropolitan Area. Mount Scott’s summit is within the Clackamas County city of Happy Valley, but its lower northern slopes are in Multnomah County and the City of Portland. This hike follows user trails on recently acquired City of Portland property in the Veterans Creek Natural Area, crosses forested slopes belonging to the Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, negotiates a tangled web of mountain bike trails, and reaches the crater rim of Mount Scott, a member of the Boring Lava Field like Mount Tabor, Powell Butte, Rocky Butte, Mount Sylvania, and Larch Mountain. You’ll come close to the actual summit by hiking along Ridgeway Drive. A diversion to the Happy Valley neighborhood of Lincoln Heights is also described. Note also that mountain biker groups are sometimes creating new trails and features here, especially in the upper portion of the area, so the network is a work in progress and trail options are multiplying. Walk down 98th Avenue, and cross Mount Scott Boulevard at the Portland Pentecostals sign. Walk up the gravel road with a chain across it: This is the Veterans Creek Natural Area. Cross Veterans Creek, and continue up the road, which is an old driveway for a property that was acquired by the city in 2011. Douglas-fir, red-cedar, and big-leaf maple shade the valley, while stretches of split-rail fencing edge the bluff above the creek. Stay on the left side of a flat area that once hosted a private home. The building was demolished, and the area has been replanted by Friends of Trees. Then stay right rather than drop to the creek, and bear right again in an area thick with English laurel and ivy. Pass under a triangular ivy “arch,” and cross a trickling rivulet on a plank. Wind up the slope and come to an obvious trail junction. Break left here - the trail leading right takes you up through private property now posted with No Trespassing signs. This trail dips to cross an ivy-carpeted gully and then rises steeply to an old road. Turn righ

Trail Stats

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