Afoot and Afield: Portland/Vancouver. Douglas Lorain
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HIGHLIGHTS This accessible hike is a welcome addition to the rapidly developing system of hiking and biking trails in Tillamook State Forest. Although less attractive than the route along Gales Creek (Trip 15), which starts from the same trailhead, this circuit gives you a better workout and views from the wooded ridges north of Rogers Pass.
DIRECTIONS Drive west on State Highway 6 toward Tillamook. Just before you reach milepost 35, turn right on the well-signed gravel road to Gales Creek Campground. After about 1 mile, pull into the day-use parking lot on the left just before the road crosses a bridge over Gales Creek. This campground is closed from November to May when a gate blocks the access road from Highway 6. If you are hiking in the off-season, start at the busier Summit Trailhead on the east side of Rogers Pass another 2 miles up Highway 6 from the Gales Creek turnoff.
For a counterclockwise loop, take the Gales Creek Trail to the right (northwest) from the parking area and begin a slow steady climb. After traversing the woodsy hillside above Gales Creek for 0.8 mile, a narrow log bridge takes you over an unnamed side creek. You immediately reach a junction with the Storey Burn Trail.
Turn left (uphill) and begin a steady climb that keeps pace with the small cascading creek on your left. You travel through second-growth forests composed of the usual Coast Range mix of Douglas fir, western hemlock, western red cedar, bigleaf maple, and red alder. Although the forest canopy is quite dense in places, it allows ample sunshine to reach the forest floor in order to support a thick growth of sword fern and Oregon grape. About 1 mile after starting on the Storey Burn Trail, you splash across a small creek right beside a pretty, stair-step waterfall—a great place for a leisurely rest stop. Above this point the trail slowly winds uphill through a partially logged area to a junction with the gravel Storey Burn Road.
To relocate the trail, find a dirt jeep track directly opposite where you hit the road; walk 80 yards up this track to the large gravel parking lot for the little-used Storey Burn Trailhead. Your signed trail loop continues on the west side of this parking lot.
The Storey Burn Trail now travels gently up and down for 0.5 mile taking you past forest openings offering good views of heavily forested Larch Mountain to the north and the upper reaches of the Wilson River Canyon to the west. Past these openings the well-graded trail winds down through attractive woods to Highway 6. You avoid the traffic by crossing under a tall road bridge. About 0.2 mile later is a signed junction with an all-terrain vehicle trail.
Go straight. For the next 0.3 mile you cross the flats beside Devils Lake Fork Wilson River. These often muddy flats are covered with a tangle of mixed deciduous trees. Look for the tracks of elk, deer, raccoons, and black bears. After leaving the flats, the trail climbs a hillside for 0.1 mile to a junction with the Gravelle Brothers Trail (Trip 13). Turn left (uphill) and walk 120 yards to a junction with an old jeep road. Go left again (uphill) and walk 0.3 mile on this road to a large highway department facility at Rogers Pass. After you hike around the highway facility, go 300 yards east along the shoulder of the busy highway to a large gravel pull-out signed as the SUMMIT TRAILHEAD.
The trail angles down from this pull-out and drops fairly steeply for 0.4 mile through relatively dense woods. When the reddish-orange clay becomes wet—a depressingly high percentage of the time in this rain forest—it is difficult for hikers to maintain their dignity on the slippery surface. After the steep section ends, the trail goes up and down (mostly down) beside small Low Divide Creek for another 1.3 miles to a signed junction. Either direction will take you back to Gales Creek Forest Camp; the most direct route is the one on the left. This trail soon crosses a wooden bridge over Low Divide Creek and then continues another 200 yards back to the day-use parking lot and your car.
Falls along Storey Burn Trail
TRIP 15 Central Gales Creek Trail
| Distance | 10.1 miles, Out-and-back | |
| Elevation Gain | 1200 feet | |
| Hiking Time | 4 to 6 hours | |
| Optional Map | Tillamook State Forest | |
| Usually Open | All year (except during and shortly after winter storms) | |
| Best Time | April to June | |
| Trail Use | Good for kids, dogs OK, backpacking option, horseback riding, fishing | |
| Agency | Forest Grove District, Tillamook State Forest | |
| Difficulty | Moderate | |
| Note | Good in cloudy weather |
HIGHLIGHTS This new trail is not yet known to most Portland area hikers, but it’s bound to draw more admirers as word spreads about this attractive and relatively easy creekside ramble through the second-growth forests of the Tillamook State Forest. Despite heavy rainfall, this is a good winter hike, because the tread drains well and remains in good shape with relatively few mud problems.
DIRECTIONS Drive west on State Highway 6 toward Tillamook. Just before you reach milepost 35, turn right on the well-signed gravel road to Gales Creek Campground. After about 1 mile, pull into the day-use parking area on the left just before the road crosses a bridge over Gales Creek. This campground is closed from November to May when a gate blocks the access road from Highway 6. The gate is sometimes open during the off-season, but even if it is, do not drive through it—it may close at any time without warning.
Take the Gales Creek Trail to the right (northwest) from the parking area and begin a slow steady climb. For the next 0.7 mile you travel across a hillside about 50 feet above Gales Creek generally staying near the transition line between the second-growth coniferous forests on the slopes above you and the alder woodlands near the stream. The forest floor beneath these trees is covered with a dense mat of sword fern, which grows so profusely it forces out nearly all other understory species.
After 0.8 mile you take a narrow log bridge over an unnamed side creek and then immediately reach a junction with the Storey Burn Trail (Trip 14). Turn right and travel up and down on a trail that alternately hugs 15-foot-wide Gales Creek or traverses the woodsy hillside above the water. Much of the time the trail follows an old road, long since abandoned and now just a wide, well-graded trail. A little more than 1 mile from the Storey Burn junction, the trail crosses a small side creek. Look left to see a 20-foot-tall, sliding waterfall. In winter or early spring when the water runs high and the waterfall is not obscured by foliage, it’s at its best.
Falls