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H O S PI T \ |
Inge Scheve for the Emerald
Fall Creek is just a short jaunt away and offers up a cool respite from the hot days.
Fall into summertime
with a hike up the creek
By Inge Scheve
for the Emerald
I’m a kid from interior Alaska
where trees — beyond birch and
alders — are limited to stick-like
black spruce, stunted by intermit
tent permafrost and nine-month
winters with temperatures fre
quently dropping below minus
40 degrees Fahrenheit.
To me, western Oregon woods
seem like tropical rain forests. Al
though technically far from tropi
cal, the mild winters and bounti
ful rainfalls in the Western
CaSCadeS
• N#S» N#
Reporter’s
NOTEBOOK
provide
for abun
d a n t
moss, gi
g a n t i c
ferns,
larger-than-life firs and lots of
caky mud.
Fall Creek, only 40 minutes
from Eugene, is one of my fa
vorite getaways. On a beautiful
day, sunshine barely trickles
down onto the trail through the
lush, moss-covered trees, making
the understory foliage seem fluo
rescent green. On rainy days —
and there are plenty of these —
the trail’s thick canopy offers trail
runners, mountain bikers and
hikers some protection form the
rain.
Exactly what is it that protects
hikers from the rain?
Trail users will encounter yew
trees that are several hundred
years old, with their skinny, nee
dle-rich branches covered in
hanging moss, almost to the point
where the trees are invisible.
Douglas firs, cedars and western
hemlocks are among other
conifers that help shelter the trail.
Vine maple and hazelnut spread
their leaves over the trail and pro
tect trail users from whatever ele
ments the conifers let through.
Which is exactly why I love to
run along Fall Creek when soggy
Eugene winter days have me
drenched on my other, more open
running alternatives. In the sum
mertime, that rain protection
doubles as a shelter from Eu
How to get there
To find Fall Creek, take Highway
126 (business route) through Glen
wood and most of Springfield. Just
before the West McKenzie strip
mall, take a right at the road sign
toJasper-Lowell Road. Follow this
road about 11 miles to Place Road,
then take a left and follow this
road pasta covered bridge on the
left; Place Road becomes North
Shore Road. Follow this road an
other 13 mi ies through a few sma 11
dwellings and past the Fall River
Dam to a sign for Willamette Na
tional Forest. Keep going another
1/4 mile and park right before a
bridge crossing the river. If you see
the Dolly Varden campground,
you’ve gone too far. Pull out your
Willamette National Forest trail
pass (available at G.l. Joe’s, REI or
any Forest Service office in town),
place it somewhere visible in your
vehicle and start from the trail
head next to the river.
gene’s occasional sweltering heat.
The trail meanders along the
creek’s southwest bank for miles.
Any hike is an out and back, rang
ing from a few miles of easy ter
rain to more challenging trail
handling farther from the parking
area. Other more challenging op
tions exist in trails branching off
from the main Fall Creek trail.
One of those trails takes hikers to
Clark Butte, elevation 2,643 feet,
just short of two miles into the
hike. Another one leads to Jones
Creek Trail about three miles
from the parking area. If hikers
arrange for a shuttle, it is possible
to hike nine miles to Forest Road
1828.
The easiest hike, to Timber
Creek where the trail crosses over
Fall Creek, has a 200-foot eleva
tion gain. Hikers who go all the
way to Forest Road 1828 experi
ence a 700-foot elevation gain and
a terrain change to more open
meadows and sunnier forests.
Those who choose to scale Clark
Butte face a 1,763-foot elevation
Turn to Fall Creek, page 6B