Woods Park Loop Hike

Overview

Part of the Fanno Creek watershed, Woods Creek runs through the center of Woods Memorial Natural Area, a 36-acre pocket of native forest in Southwest Portland. Much effort has been made in recent years to control trail erosion and subdue non-native invasives such as English laurel, holy, ivy, and Armenian blackberry. This loop uses trails in the park and a few blocks of neighborhood streets to maximize the walking opportunities. Walk down the road from the trailhead to a grassy area. The Stairway Trail leads down from here past a garbage can. This is a Douglas-fir, big-leaf maple, western red-cedar, and Indian plum forest. There are even a few oaks; deer often pass through. Ivy and Armenian blackberry are the major invasives. At a trail junction, head down some steps. At the next junction, keep straight and drop steeply to a cedar grove at the confluence of Woods Creek and a tributary. The Low Bridge crosses the creek here. Go right on the opposite bank and then take a trail heading uphill to the left. At the next junctions, keep right. (Keeping left at the first junction takes you out to 45th Drive; this spur takes you across 45th and then switchbacks up to Marigold Street.) Keep straight and head down over a footbridge on the Marigold Trail. The trail heads along a fence line and drops to Woods Creek, where you go left on the Woods Creek Trail (don’t cross the footbridge here). The trail heads up the salmonberry-lined stream. Keep straight at a trail junction and recross the creek on the Woods Creek High Bridge. The trail heads up steps and then winds up. At a junction, go right on the Alice Trail. The trail heads over a footbridge below a new drainage construction and then traverses above a bowl through woods blooming with trilliums in the spring. Then a huge open swath appears below on the slope - an area cleared of blackberries a few years ago. The trail reaches gravel S.W. 43rd Avenue. Follow this track one block to Taylors Ferry and cross the street to a sidewalk and then go right. The sidewalk drops

Trail Stats

Photos

250px-WoodsPark1

250px-WoodsPark1

250px-WoodsPark6

250px-WoodsPark6

Tags