TRAILHEAD NW Saltzman Road, 0.7 mile off St. Helens Road
DISTANCE 2.6 miles round trip
DURATION One hour and ten minutes
ELEVATION A total change of 407 feet, with a low point of 249 feet and a high point of 656 feet
CONDITIONS This easily accessible loop can be walked briskly or at a civilized amble.
FROM DOWNTOWN This hike begins 5.3 miles from West Burnside and Interstate 405. Travel north on Highway 30 (also called St. Helens Road). Drive past the Burlington Northern/Southern Pacific rail yard and the intersection with NW Kittridge Avenue. Proceed through some gentle curves to a straight stretch of road, where you will see some homes and some commercial and industrial sites hugging the bottom of the forest. Midway through the straight stretch, just past the right-hand exit for NW Balboa Avenue, you will see the left-hand entrance to NW Saltzman Road. Take this small road to the park gate (0.7 mile) that marks the beginning of the hike.
TriMet: From downtown, take bus 16 (Front Avenue/St. Johns) or 17 (NW 21st Avenue/St. Helens Road). Disembark at St. Helens
Road and NW 60th Avenue (bus stop 5363). Walk southeast 0.1 mile to Saltzman Road and proceed to the gate.
This short walk is perfect for a summer day, when the cool, deep forest is a welcome respite from the heat. The Lower Maple Trail boasts some beautiful big timber as well—a wonderful sight.
Saltzman is a broad, relatively smooth roadway ascending 407 feet in elevation from the gate to the point where it meets Leif Erikson Drive. This road is one of the four original routes across the Tualatin Mountains that allowed settlers to transport food from the fertile Tualatin Valley to their communities along the tidewater reaches of the Willamette River. Not surprisingly, the road was originally constructed by an early settler of the same name, and by 1889 it was designated as a county road. Today this access to the park is favored by runners, bicyclists, and walkers alike, though in lesser numbers than trails closer to downtown. The roadway is wide enough to accommodate them all.
During the late 1800s this area was the center of much of the logging activity that eventually stripped these slopes of their virgin old growth. In some areas huge stumps remain, giving mute testimony to the giants that towered over these hills. Most of these behemoths fell to stoke the settlers’ fireplaces and steamship boilers, while others served as round timbers for building log cabins. It is still possible to spot evidence of the rough skidder tracks that were used in those early days to slide logs down the ravines to tidewater, where they could be collected into log rafts for easier transportation.
Streaked tricholoma (Tricholoma portentosum)
At the northern end of the park, logging of old growth continued into the mid-twentieth century. As recently as 1951, high-lead logging was used to extract large-scale timber from the park’s steep slopes. This traditional logging method employs an elevated cable that is passed through a pulley atop a tall tree. As the cable is reeled in, the logs are dangled from the line so that only the bottom ends drag along the ground as they are pulled uphill to the collection point. The half-suspended logs are eventually deposited at the base of the elevated hoist, from whence they can be loaded onto a truck or railcar.
Even after the disappearance of most of the virgin timber in this area, the City of Portland continued to encourage more smallscale logging for firewood. In 1914 and again in 1937 the city operated a wood-cutting camp between Springville and Saltzman roads west of Leif Erikson to provide work for the unemployed and to supply fuel for impoverished families.
But logging was not the only reason why much of Forest Park was reduced to blackberry bushes by the 1950s. At least two catastrophic forest fires swept the park during those years. The first was the Bonny Slope fire of 1940 (described in the Fire Lane 3 and Upper Maple Trail Loop), which started in the vicinity of Fire Lane 2. Eleven years later, in August of 1951, the most devastating fire ever to affect Forest Park originated just north of Saltzman Road. Over three days it developed into a crown fire, sweeping across 25 percent of the park and burning more than 1200 acres. The fire was finally brought under control through a combined effort of the Portland, Multnomah County, and Washington County fire departments and the U. S. Forest Service. As with the Bonny Slope fire, Portland’s lack of preparedness became an intense political issue.
And yet today our state of readiness is hardly assured. In 2005, Portland State University graduate student David Kuhn published a report entitled “Development and Assessment of a Fire Model for Forest Park,” an investigation into the likely consequences of a major forest fire. Combining data on historic weather patterns and detailed information about the current fuel load in the park, Kuhn simulated fires at six separate locations and demonstrated how the fires could leap into the lower branches of the conifers and thence climb into the treetops. Once a fire has reached the crown of a tree it can leap as far as half a mile downwind and start a new conflagration. The simulation showed that such a fire could easily sweep across Skyline Boulevard and inflict massive property loss upon the residents of Forest Heights.
Since the fire of 1951 the Saltzman Road and Springville Road portions of the park have recovered their stands of Douglas fir and western hemlock, which are now providing ample forest cover—especially in the steeper ravines, where the ample groves of maturing trees provide shade on a hot day.
Follow Saltzman Road up around a couple of bends, approximately a quarter of a mile, to where the Maple Trail descends to cross Saltzman as it turns sharply around another ridgeline. In the curve here the Maple Trail slips off the roadway on the right and descends into a steep canyon studded with beautiful, large Douglas firs. Any time of year this canyon of big timber exudes an aura of sylvan majesty, but during the hot summer months it can be especially refreshing as the cool atmosphere and shady slopes offer a welcome respite from the heat. And for any thirsty four-legged friends that may be accompanying you, there’s a creek running along the bottom.
On the far side you will climb out of the canyon and pass into a mixed forest of Douglas fir, hemlock, and alder, dodging in and out of shallow ravines, whose creeks usually run dry in the summer.
In June and July you may spot the brilliantly colored red baneberry (Actaea rubra) along this winding stretch of trail. Though unassuming, it is among the Northwest’s most poisonous plants. Its sparse, crinkly leaves with saw-toothed edges often have one or two smaller alternate stem leaves. Overall the plant is stalky, with small white flowers and smooth, glossy, red or white berries. As few as six berries can induce vomiting, bloody diarrhea, and finally respiratory paralysis. The common name derives from the Saxon bana, meaning “murderous.” The Stl’atl’imx Indians’ name for this plant originated from their word for “sick.” They were said to chew the leaves and spit them on wounds.
Near the north end of the Maple Trail you will be traveling just above a large cliff that surrounds a narrow valley cut deep into the hillside. The floor of this narrow valley is the home of Portland’s car impoundment center and can be seen from Highway 30. Do not stray off this trail, as the cliff is at least 100 feet high. A chain-link fence runs along the top of the cliffs to prevent serious accidents.
As the trail crests the ridgeline, you will encounter a side trail that turns straight up the slope. The Maple Trail continues around the ridge before turning westward to join up with Leif Erikson Drive a mile or so further along. However, on this hike you will turn left at this intersection and climb the hill. This side trail immediately doubles back and runs southward just above the section of the Maple Trail you just traversed.
After 50 feet or so the trail turns westward and ascends the ridgeline until it emerges at the intersection of Saltzman Road and Leif Erikson Drive. At this point you have climbed 407 feet from the gate to an elevation of 656 feet and have traveled about a mile.
On a hot summer’s day the cool, deep woods of Forest Park can bring relief, especially to those who insist on wearing a winter coat.
This intersection is often busy with bicyclists resting, walkers choosing which route to take, and dog walkers trying to keep their hounds from getting tangled up with the others. A pile of lumber used for trail maintenance makes a nice spot to rest your legs.
The return trip down Saltzman Road is both shady and easy walking, with occasional glimpses of the Lower Maple Trail below. Another quarter of a mile finds you back at the gate.
