1.1 hr
Overview
As early settlers populated the low valleys of the eastern foothills of the Coast Range, a need was recognized for a direct route from the Luckiamute River valley to the nearest town, Corvallis. Benton County surveyors drew up a plan and constructed County Road No. 10, now known as the Cardwell Hill Road. The road was never more than a fairly rough, narrow track used by wagons and early automobiles, but it saw important use from 1856 to 1865, when Fort Hoskins, an outpost near the western boundary of the vast Siletz Indian Reservation, was staffed (See the Fort Hoskins Loop Hike). Still a county right-of-way, the section of the Cardwell Hill Road described here has been closed to vehicles for decades. More recently, a 308-acre section of logged-over mixed forest hillside and wildflower meadows was acquired by Elsie Fitton Ross and Charles Ross, who founded the Greenbelt Land Trust: this parcel of land, now administered by Benton County Parks as the Fitton Green Natural Area, is being restored to its native state. For hikers, these roads and trails are a rare opportunity to experience the foothill forest and savannah. An in and out option keeps you to the trail sections, but you can also end with a quiet loop through Corvallis' leafy western suburbs. Walk up a narrow, graveled road bed sunk five to ten feet in the forested hillside. This section of the road bed ascends through a forest of Douglas-fir, Oregon white oak, Pacific madrone, grand fir and big-leaf maple. Calypso orchids and giant white fawn lilies bloom along the path in the spring. Note a pair of bullet-riddled autos rusting in the bushes on the left. Pass through an open area under power lines as you continue up. The road becomes muddier and then descends. Pass a strange, many-trunked Douglas-fir in a woodland carpeted by invasive false-brome grass. Lichen-draped maples extend mossy limbs, and in spring, hound's tongue, toothwort and fawn lilies bloom among the oak leaves and clusters of poison oak. After crossing a creek, the road curves to the le
Trail Stats
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327 m
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Photos
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