Waterloo Loop Hike

Overview

Waterloo is a 128-acre Linn County Park on the South Santiam River next to the village of Waterloo. Settlement here began with the harnessing of Waterloo Falls, really just a five-foot rapid in the river, for a grist mill. The park itself has large grassy spaces, a two-loop campground, and a one-mile front on the river itself. The main trail loops around the park and passes through its disc gold course. Numerous minor trails and connectors make navigation a little confusing, but the open central space is never far away and often in sight. You’ll see a hiker sign to the right of the restrooms. Walk up to an avenue of blackberry and ivy-draped alders, and go right. Keep straight at a crossroads to reach the park road. Find the trail on the other side which leads down to a rocky bench on the river from where you can observe the narrows and Waterloo Falls. Return to the road the way you came, and drop to an ADA fishing platform. Get views up and down river from here, and then continue walking along the edge of a wide grassy expanse under tall cottonwoods. Ground squirrels are numerous here, and their burrows perforate the lawn. You’ll see a covered picnic shelter and some play structures before the trail burrows into snowberry/ blackberry/ hazel thickets. Cross a damaged boat ramp, and resume the trail under rustling cottonwoods and Oregon ash trees. Tracks lead left to the cobbled bars of the South Santiam River and right into the campground. Eventually, the trail curves right up a low bluff. Make a left at a large cottonwood, and emerge at the campground B Loop. Cross the camping area to the other side of the loop, and go right on the loop road. When you come to the campground entrance station, go left past a storage building, and find steps leading up a bluff to the disc golf course. Continue up a second terrace, and bear right along a wide, open corridor. Keep straight, and drop off the bluff to pass under hazel bowers and tall Douglas-firs. Keep left at a junction, and then stay right where another spur t

Trail Stats

Photos

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