Guadalupe Loop Hike

Overview

There aren’t many places to walk off a tasting when you’re in Yamhill County wine country, but this serene haven north of Lafayette does offer you such a respite. The Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey sits on 1,300 acres of mixed woodland and oak savanna. The monks moved here from New Mexico in 1955. In order to support themselves, the 25 to 30 Trappist brothers who live here run a hardcover bookbindery, a bakery, a climate-controlled storage facility for local wineries, and a guesthouse. They also lease 400 acres of the property out to local farmers. In 2010, the entire Abbey property became a wildlife conservation easement that protects this endangered Willamette Valley habitat. The monastery accepts overnight visitors on retreat but also day visitors who would like to walk their property. Note that when you’re in the building area or the area around the ponds, please keep silent to respect the monks and those who are here on a meditative retreat. The trail system here has been worked on recently, with new trail names and a major outer loop, the Guadalupe Loop, which we will follow. Please leave your pets at home, stay on the trails, and beware of poison oak! From the parking area, take the road leading up under the Douglas-firs to the right. You'll pass around a gate and walk up the road, passing a quiet pond on the left. Soon you'll come to the beginning of the loop at a large map kiosk. Bear left, and head up through the oak savanna, keeping right on the main track to pass above the gaping pit of St. Joseph's Reservoir, an old quarry that was dammed with an earth wall. You'll pass the junction with the Monk's Trail, one of three connector trails in the trail system here. The long grass here blooms with both meadow and Nelson’s checkermallow, brodiaea, cluster lilies, centaury, and ox-eye daisy. Watch for deer grazing, gray squirrels scurrying, and acorn woodpeckers swooping among the oaks. The trail enters a Douglas-fir forest, passes the Hermit's Trail, and ascends the slope in a lush understory of

Trail Stats

Photos

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