Mind & Body
(( Rain or
shine, the
climb still gets
your heart
going, and
you can
always get a
decent view,
no matter how
cloudy or
rainy it is.
Jeremy Van Buskirk
South Eugene resident
Where to go
■ Spencer Butte:
Take Willamette
Street south one
mile past 52nd Av
enue.
« Mount Plsgah:
Take 1-5 south for
about five miles,
then take the High
way 58 exit that
goestoOakridge.
Halt a mile off that
exit, take a left on
Seavy Loop Drive.
Once on Seavy
Loop, follow it for
another four miles,
and take a left at the
stop sign.
■ McKenzie Trail
System (by bus):
The number 91
leaves the Eugene
Station at4:47a.m.
and 8:20 a.m. on
weekdays and at
8:30 a.m. on week
ends. It leaves the
McKenzie Ranger
Station at 4 p.m. and
7:16p.m. on week
days and at 6:03
p.m. on weekends.
■ Kentucky Falls:
Take West 11th Av
enue out of town,
where it will become
Highway 126. Travel
35 miles west on
126 and turn south
at Clay Creek and
the Whitaker Creek
Recreation Site. Af
ter a mile and a half,
turn right at the
Kentucky Falls Trail
sign, and continue
to follow signs for
fourteen miles.
■ Eugene to Pacific
Crest Trail: Take 1-5
south, as if you were
going to Mount Pis
gah. Go past the
turnoff to Seavy
Loop and travel ap
proximately ten
miles on Highway
58. You will see
signs for Elijah Bris
tow Park, and that is
where the trail be
gins. For informa
tion regarding sec
tions of the trail that
are open for use,
contact the Middle
Fork Ranger District,
P.O. Box 1410,
Oakridge, OR.
97463.
University graduate Jean Stager, 24, takes a catnap during a hike at Mount Pisgah.
George Rowe/Emerald
Located 10 miles southeast of Eugene, Mount Pisgah offers both an easy, pleasant hike and a more vertical hike.
Happy Trails
A web of hiking trails threads through the Eugene area,
creating numerous options for hikers with or without a car
By Bryan Petersen
Oregon Daily Emerald
Hiking offers many benefits
that are hard to beat: the
majesty of towering trees,
the taste and smell of fresh
air, the sweeping vistas — and the fact
that little, if any, training is needed to
doit.
Also, even if you are somewhat ve
hicularly-challenged, you can still get
out and stretch your legs in some tradi
tional Oregon settings that are close to
home.
Spencer Butte is the most popular
local hiking destination, and for good
reason. The view from the 2052-foot
summit is nothing less than spectacu
lar, with a 360-degree view of the
greater Eugene area. The climb will get
most hikers huffing and puffing with
out being too hard for beginners.
South Eugene resident Jeremy Van
Buskirk hiked the butte last week, even
though the weather was less than pleas
ant. He says even with bad weather, the
hike is great.
“I love the butte. Rain or shine, the
climb still gets your heart going, and
you can always get at least a decent
view, no matter how cloudy or rainy it
is,” Buskirk says. “When it rains, you
just wear clothes that you don’t care
about and plan on getting a little mud
dy. It’s a blast.”
But Spencer Butte is not the only
hiking destination that is close to
home.
The South Hills Ridgeline Trail is a
series of connected trails that run along
the ridges of the hills that can be seen
circling the south end of town. There
are several different trailheads with
parking available—one at 52nd Street
and Willamette, one at Fox Hollow and
Christensen, two off of Dillard Road
and one past the KV AL studios on Blan
South Hills Ridgeline Trail
This trail system offers easy hikes and great scenery. Some of the trails may have
changed, but the changes are marked by maps at the trailheads.
SOURCE: Eugene Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, April 1987
ton Road. Mostofthese sites have maps
posted at the beginning of the trails, so
those who wish to access different sec
tions of the trail can do so easily.
The Ridgeline Trail system offers easy
hikes and great scenery, with views of
south Eugene, downtown, the Cascades
and the Coburn Hills, depending on
where you are on the system. There is
also a trail that connects with the trail
that leads to the summit of Spencer
Butte, so those looking for a full day of
hiking can simply begin there.
Those who wish to get out of town
but still keep it down to an easy day
trip also have many options.
One of the closest and most popular
is Mount Pisgah, 10 miles southeast of
Eugene. The Mount Pisgah Arboretum
is located at the base of the mountain
and is itself a nice, pleasant hike, with
easy trails that travel along the
Willamette River through a beautiful
park-like setting.
Mount Pisgah also offers a more verti
Leigh-Ann Cyboron/Etnerald
cal hike that begins at the marked trail
head that goes from the parking lot to the
summit of the mountain. From the top,
there is a great view of the Cascades as
well as the Eugene area.
Mount Pisgah is a popular destina
tion among students looking for a pleas
ant day of hiking. Dan Geiger, associate
coordinator of the University Outdoor
Program says this is not surprising.
“It’s popular because it’s close,
beautiful, there’s great bird watching
and it's hard to carve out a time niche
for students to go further out of town
out to hike,” he says. “Another attrac
tion is that Mount Pisgah is one of the
last remnants of the original
Willamette Valley ecosystem. Most of
the rest have been chopped up for
farmland.”
Another easy and beautiful hike is the
McKenzie Trail System, which travels
from the McKenzie Bridge Ranger Sta
tion up the river for more than twenty
miles. This trail is well-traveled and
marked, and it is accessible by bus.
If transportation is not an issue, the
options become limitless. One great
destination is Kentucky Falls, a bit of a
drive, but well worth it.
From the trailhead, the hike in is
mostly downhill, and the trail ends at a
pair of side-by-side waterfalls at the
merging of two creeks. Wintertime
rains swell the creeks and add to the
overall drama of the scene. Eugene res
ident Jay Aley, an avid hiker and out
door lover who has sought and hiked
many trails in Oregon, considers this
one of his favorites.
“Kentucky Falls is awesome! The
trees create a canopy, making the hike
very green, and I almost always see a
deer or two. You just get a feeling that
you’ve left civilization and entered the
forest primeval,” he says.
If you have the experience and the
willpower, there are trails in the vicin
ity that are ready to put you to the test.
One favorite is the Eugene to Pacific
Crest Trail, which is a 74-mile trail that
extends from Lowell, southwest of
Springfield, to the Pacific Crest Trail
in the Cascades, near the famous Wal
do Lake. Parts of the trail are still under
construction, but the majority is ready
for use.
The trail is open to both horseback
riders and hikers, and along the way
there are numerous stops in parks and
on the summits of various buttes and
mountains. The last part of the trail
winds along the edge of Waldo Lake.
For those who want more informa
tion on hiking, the University Outdoor
Program is putting together a hiking
bulletin board in the Erb Memorial
Union that will explain in detail these
and other nearby trails. So get out the
hiking boots, grab a jacket and experi
ence Oregon in one of the best ways
possible: from a trail.