21 min
Overview
When out in wine country, you can try this shady little trail, actually a confusing network of interlocking trails, as a respite from your oenophiliac tippling. The destination is a lovely, quiet cemetery on the top of a hill that looks out over the Willamette Valley. The stately oaks here shade pioneer grave sites and rustle with the activity of squirrels and chipmunks. From the trailhead, you can also walk about 0.4 miles up Red Hills Road for a tasting at the Purple Hands Winery (For aficionados, this activity is known as “wiking”). Note that the trails up the slope from Harvey Creek can be muddy in the wet season. It's also possible to begin the hike at the Dundee Cemetery Trailhead. From the Harvey Creek Trailhead, walk around the gate, and hike down a wide trail under a shady canopy of Douglas-fir and big-leaf maple with a few yews and grand firs. Reach the footbridge over alder-shaded Harvey Creek. In spring and summer, large wood ferns give the creek an almost tropical look. Walk up an old road bed and, at a junction, keep left. Pass through a flowering meadow dominated by ox-eye daisy and hairy cat’s-ear before switchbacking to the right. At a four-way junction, keep left and switchback up through a dense understory of hazel, sword fern and candy flower. At another junction, stay left and hike up the slope to a fourth junction, where you keep left again to reach the Dundee Cemetery Trailhead at a gate (In 2016, the trail sign was gone). Go right here to amble among the headstones of the Dundee Pioneer Cemetery, established in 1855, which is stretched along the crest of a hill on Viewmont Drive. A wall of oaks forms the western boundary of the area. The older graves are near the crest of the hill above a water tank. From the shady copse of oaks here, you can get views west across the Willamette Valley to Mount Jefferson. Look for graves from the 19th century, old family plots, and even a plain marker for an “Unknown Indian.” Return to the Dundee Cemetery Trailhead and follow the trails back down th
Trail Stats
0.0 km
105 m
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Photos
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