Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021 | 1B
OUTDOORS
The Stayton Trails travel through forest and along the North Santiam River. ZACH URNESS / STATESMAN JOURNAL
The Best Hikes in the Area
Trails feature emerald forest, waterfalls, wildflowers
Zach Urness | Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
T
he Willamette Valley has been
bathed in sunshine the past
few weeks, but knowing
where to hike will be more dif-
ficult than ever this spring and summer.
Last September’s Labor Day fires torched
many of Salem’s favorite trails, east and
northeast of town, and will keep most
closed for an extended period.
Opal Creek, Shellburg Falls, Abiqua Falls and
the Little North Santiam Trail — to name just a
few — are closed indefinitely. This season, Sa-
lem hikers will need to expand their horizons to
enjoy spring sunshine on the trail.
To help, we’ve put together a list of 26 of our
favorite hikes in and around the capital city,
with an assist from guidebook author Adam
Sawyer, whose book “Best Easy Day Hikes Sa-
lem and Eugene,” just went on sale.
Many of the hikes near Salem are beautiful in
spring and often overlooked. Here’s how we
broke it down:
h Within city limits of Salem and Keizer, such
as parks and community trails
h Just outside city limits, such as local wild-
life refuges (10 to 25-minute drive)
h Hikes on the edges of the mountains, wa-
terfalls, old-growth (one hour’s drive or less).
See the online edition of this story on States-
manJournal.com for links to maps for the vast
majority of these trails.
Hikes within Salem & Keizer
These are all pathways within city limits of
Salem or Keizer. Some might be more walks
than hikes, but that’s OK.
Riverfront to Minto-Brown Island Loop
It’s hard to overstate the importance of the
Peter Courtney Minto Island Bridge that con-
nects Riverfront and Minto Brown Island parks.
Finished in 2017, the bridge connects Salem’s
three signature downtown parks.
My favorite route is to begin at Riverfront,
head across the bridge to Minto Island’s play-
ground (a great spot to stop with kids for a pic-
nic). Then, we head north on the Red Osprey
Loop and along the Willamette River and back
over the bridge to Riverfront Park and our car.
The entire trek is about 4 to 5 miles and features
two playgrounds (I often bike this route with my
kids).
It’s quite possibly the most frequently trav-
eled route in Salem — and you’ll often find jog-
gers, bikers and hikers here. But that’s the
whole idea.
Trailhead location: Just drive to the parking
lot for Riverfront Park and carousel. If it’s too
crowded, there’s pretty good street parking on
nearby downtown streets. Coordinates:
44.9417378,-123.0425665.
Minto Brown Island Park west
You don’t have to start at Riverfront to enjoy
Minto Brown Island Park. There are big and ob-
vious trailheads at the park that more easily al-
low exploring the park’s glorious west side.
Sawyer said his favorite route is the 3- to 4-
mile Purple Rabbit / Blue Heron loops that
weave through wetlands, dense forest and ox-
bow lakes.
Trailhead location: Navigate into Minto-Is-
land Park and follow the main road all the way
to its back at a large parking lot and trailhead
signs. Coordinates: 44.924777, -123.072774.
Croisan and Skyline Trails
The Croisan and Skyline Trails located in the
Red Clay Hills are two “pocket trails” tucked
into forested areas of a South Salem neighbor-
hood. Thanks to the Salem Area Trail Alliance,
these former user paths are now regularly
maintained hiking trails. You can enjoy them
individually, but if you’re willing to take a short
walk through a pleasant neighborhood, you can
connect both into a delightful, 3.4-mile urban
out and back/semi-loop.
You can make a very pleasant 1.3-mile loop
out of the Skyline Trails, an equally enjoyable
1.4-mile out and back with a bit more elevation
loss and gain on the Croisan Scenic Trail, or if
you’re willing to walk the few blocks in be-
tween, combine everybody into one 3.4-mile
excursion. It’s also the recommended route be-
cause while the Skyline Natural Area Trailhead
has plenty of public parking available, especial-
ly during non-school hours, while the Croisan
Scenic Trailhead begins at the end of a residen-
tial drive with very limited on-street parking.
See HIKES, Page 2B
A vaccination celebration at low tide
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
There is this giddy, almost euphoric
feeling that washes over you when after
you get your second dose of the Pfizer or
Moderna coronavirus vaccine.
And that solidifies after the two-
week lag for maximum immunity.
At least that’s the consensus among
fellow two-jabbers who we’ve talked
with recently, all of whom expressed a
profound sense of relief and gratitude.
Thus tentatively emboldened, Kay
and I actually ventured out on a clam-
ming expedition on the last day of
March to Garibaldi, mask-less on the
mud.
The experience proved to be produc-
tive both as a confidence- and a chow-
der-builder.
We both got our limits of cockles, al-
though raking was more laborious and
Crowds were light on the first post-vaccination clamming outing of the pandemic. HENRY MILLER/SPECIAL TO STATESMAN JOURNAL
less productive than during previous
trips, the last of which to that stretch of
the coast was more than a year ago.
Theories ranged from a deteriorating
skill set during the bivalve drought, or
more likely the lack of muscle tone after
a yearlong hiatus from the gym.
Or in the case of shellfish-collecting,
one might say that it was a dearth of
mussel-tone.
Sorry.
And in the interest of public-service
announcements and also of full disclo-
sure, we both had our masks in our
pockets in the event of extended close
encounters.
The whole experience was almost,
dare I say it, a return to feeling almost
normal.
Meanwhile, back at the tide tables,
which have taken on a new planning im-
petus.
See MILLER, Page 2B