Finding Oregon: Clackamas River Hike #10 (1/6 of the way done!)

Completed: 4/1/11

Time: 3.5 hours

Distance: 7.2 miles

Difficulty: Moderate

Stars: 3.5

In our book, the hikes are divided by region:

In the Columbia River Gorge

     Around Mount St. Helens
     Up the Clackamas River
     Up the Santiam River
     Around Mount Hood
     The Coast and Coast Range
     In Portland and the Willamette Valley

So far, we have only done 2 regions: In the Columbia River Gorge and In Portland and the Willamette Valley. This is mostly due to hikes around Mt. St Helens and Mt. Hood don’t even open up until June or July, its super rainy on the coast in the spring (it will be better in the summer and fall), and the hikes up the rivers are pretty far away or not open until May. This hike, the Clackamas River hike, is one of the few that we were able to do that was within a reasonable distance.

Kyle really happy to be out hiking!

It was my turn to drive to the trailhead which was a bummer because the drive was even really pretty! I knew right away the hike was going to rock just because of the scenery while driving there. Our original plan was to hike the entire trail and back, which is a total of 15.6 miles and would have taken approximately 8 hours. Springtime is known for “big water” according to the author of our book because there is a lot of runoff from Mt. Hood/surrounding mountains, so all of the creeks are really high. Throughout the hike we had to cross a few creek/runoff areas, and at about halfway there was one creek, Pup Creek, that was just too deep to cross. So we ended up sitting down and eating lunch, and then turning heading back to our car. The author actually recommends turning around there anyways or parking a car at both trailheads so you don’t end up with such a long hike; Kyle and I just wanted a challenge!

Throughout the entire hike we were walking along the Clackamas River which was really cool; the river is good size with lots of rapids! There were times when we were at water level and then others when the trail climbed and we were along a steep cliff looking down at the water. The trail was similar to a roller coaster that it would keep going up and down, up and down with some parts definitely very steep. There were other parts of the trail where we were basically walking in sand, and at one of those times we detoured off the trail right up to the water’s edge.

Pup Creek Falls

Thankfully we were also out on a really nice day: low 60’s and not a cloud in the sky! There was also a side trail that we took to check out Pup Creek Falls, which is the waterfall that feeds into the same creek we were unable to cross! Throughout the hikes we have done so far, we have seen a lot of waterfalls, but they keep amazing me! One thing cool about Pup Creek Falls was that we got really close to the falls so there was a lot of moisture in the air and the trail was basically just mud. By the time we got back to the main trail we were both pretty wet which is why it is a good thing we always have our rain jackets!

This is a hike we definitely want to do again because the hike offers different things each season! In spring time there is “big water” and lots of flowers; summer it is a cool, shady place to beat the heat; in fall there are beautiful fall colors; not sure what exactly there is in winter, but the hike is open year-round so at least there is an option to hike this trail!