TRAILHEAD NW Skyline Boulevard between Moreland Road and Johnson Road
DISTANCE 4.5 miles one way, 9 miles round trip
DURATION Three hours and thirty minutes
ELEVATION A total change of 720 feet, with a low point of 580 feet and a high point of 1300 feet
CONDITIONS The logging roads on this hike are mostly maintained and graveled, but some are partially overgrown, and there is one slippery, rutted descent from the highest point. There are no paths or thickets to contend with. Discarded logging cables remain in evidence on the trail from past timber harvesting.
FROM DOWNTOWN This hike begins 17.8 miles from West Burnside and Interstate 405. I recommend positioning a second car at the final waypoint, where the route runs into NW Rocky Point Road. To do this, drive north on Highway 30 (also called St. Helens Road) past Linnton, Burlington, Cornelius Pass Road, Logie Trail, and the Wildwood Golf Course. Turn left onto Rocky Point Road and follow it 1.4 miles until you reach the first gate on the left. Park one car at this gate, and then continue up Rocky Point Road in the other car until you reach NW Skyline Boulevard. Turn
left onto Skyline. Look for horses in the pasture on the right as you pass the Sky Ranch located at the intersection with Moreland Road. You will drive past a modern house on the left and two further gates on either side of the road just beyond the driveway. After this the road curves right and then swings to the left again. Shortly beyond this bend, the road curves sharply to the right. On the left (on the outside of this elbow curve) is a blue gate. Park your second car here.
If you prefer to take just one car, begin by turning left onto Logie Trail from Highway 30. Follow this steep, winding road up the mountainside to NW Skyline Boulevard. Turn right on Skyline and proceed north for 1.3 miles until you reach a sharp elbow curve to the left. Park near the blue gate on the right.
This remote hike along a half-hidden trail in the Crabapple Creek area takes you through young forest as well as some mature stands, with beautiful views on the way down into the basin, wide vistas across logged slopes, and majestic views of the Columbia River, Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.
The Crabapple Creek area is a vast tract of privately managed timberland between Logie Trail to the south, Rocky Point Road to the north, Skyline Boulevard to the west, and Highway 30 to the east. The area is traversed by two year-round creeks, Crabapple and Patterson.
The gate at the beginning of this trail marks the only southern entrance to the Crabapple Creek watershed. It is an area with an interesting past.
While Rocky Point Road contributed to the establishment of the unique community of Dixie Mountain in the 1880s, the Logie
The view from near Rocky Point Road
Trail has a history that precedes the arrival of the Europeans. Had you walked the Logie Trail two hundred years ago you would have encountered lots of Tualatin (or Atfalati) Indians traveling between the Columbia River and the main Tualatin village, Cha-kepi (“Place of the Beaver”), located near present-day Beaverton. While the women might not have shocked you with their simple blouses and plaited-grass aprons, the men might have stopped you in your tracks, since they rarely wore any clothing at all through much of the warmer months.
The Logie Trail ended at the Multnomah Channel, where canoe travel provided access to Sauvie Island and the Columbia River. In hopes of benefiting from this Indian trading hub, Nathaniel Wyeth built Fort Williams on Sauvie in 1843—directly across from the trail. Unfortunately, by then disease had already reduced the Tualatin from many thousands to a mere six hundred people encamped near present-day Gaston. Six years later only sixty Indians remained, and the few survivors were eventually resettled to eastern Oregon.
Beyond the forest gate the trail splits. The right-hand trail dead-ends almost immediately, so follow the left-hand road. This track ascends gradually from the gate, at an elevation of 1200 feet, to the highest point on this hike, 1300 feet, 0.3 mile up the slope.
Near the top the road splits again. This time take the right-hand trail. The trail crests about 100 feet further along and then begins to drop gradually. Look for an overgrown, rutted path leading off to the right about a tenth of a mile past the intersection and just beyond the high point in the trail. When you spot it, leave the main trail and descend this minor tributary path.
In late winter keep your eyes open for mountain quail (Oreortyx pictus). Although these birds are rarely found around Portland, they reportedly frequent these remote cleared areas along the eastern flank of the Tualatin Mountains.
The side trail you’ve now entered is what I call the Cable Trail, a name inspired by the old logging cables laying in the grass across the trail. It proceeds steeply downhill, with deep ruts through overgrown vegetation. The initial portion of the descent can be slippery in wet weather, but take heart: this scramble is the most difficult part of the hike. The Cable Trail levels out at an elevation of 1070 feet, having dropped 233 feet in a mere 0.3 mile—that’s a 15 percent grade!
Now the Cable Trail turns northeast and continues for another 0.3 mile through a young forest to the end of the ridge.
At the end of the ridge at an elevation of 1068 feet you will observe another trail spur heading off to the right. Pass it and continue along the road to the left, which leads downward for 0.4 mile to the base of the slope.
Take a moment to look out over the valley in front of you. This is the Crabapple Creek watershed, which comprises the northern half of the privately managed forestlands situated between Logie Trail to the south and Rocky Point Road to the north. Immediately to the right, south of the ridge you’re standing on, a small creek cascades down the slope to become Patterson Creek. This creek comprises the southern watershed of this lovely, secluded forest basin.
The base of the hill lies at an elevation of 780 feet. There you’ll see one spur leading off to the right and another to the left—both dead-end about 100 feet back in the woods. Continue along the main track, skirting just to the left of a thick, young conifer forest.
At this stage the road levels out for half a mile as it follows the base of the hillside, which was logged from 2002 to 2006 (and which in places is still being actively logged). These hillsides are crossed with elk and deer trails, so a quiet observer might be able to spot these animals moving among the waist-high seedlings and brush. The purple flowers of broadleaf lupine (Lupinus latifolius) are easier to spot, however, as they color the roadside in late summer. On warm summer days red-tailed hawks and bald eagles ride the updrafts, patrolling these slopes in search of some fast, scurrying food. In midwinter a fresh snowfall will provide ample evidence of the heavy traffic through the area. I once followed a cougar up this road after a very early morning dusting provided me with clear tracks of the cat’s nocturnal passing.
As you approach the northern end of the hillside clear-cuts, the road enters into a downward-sloping S-bend. At the beginning of this bend you’ll note a side track on the right heading off into the center of the dense replanted forest you’ve just circled. Continue down the main road as it twists and turns for the next 0.3 mile. In the second bend you’ll encounter another side spur heading off into the woods to the right. Both spurs are dead ends.
As you come around the second bend you’ll find yourself on a lovely, straight stretch of road that crosses a minor creek. This road is flanked on both sides by tall, leafy maples that provide ample shade in the summer and brilliant foliage in the fall. You may suddenly feel as though you’ve walked into a French Impressionist painting.
Keep a watchful eye skyward as you ascend the northern end of this verdant tunnel. When the main trail turns to the right you will note a road heading straight up the hill. This spur leads to two fine vantage points: the first one faces northeast across a clear-cut and out toward Sauvie Island, and the second one, about 100 yards further along, looks out over a clear-cut valley and provides a good view of the entire area. On one walk up the spur I was buzzed by a big baldie who presumably didn’t like me in his front yard. This ten-minute detour is delightful, but keep your eyes peeled for our fine feathered friend.
Within about 500 feet you will reach an intersection with another strategic track. This one eventually leads down to the Wildwood Golf Course and is hereafter referred to as the Lower Golf Course Road (see the Double Cross Loop).
At this intersection take the left-hand option and continue to head north, ascending the hill from the present elevation of 620 feet. About 500 feet beyond this intersection the road crosses Crabapple Creek, which flows off these slopes and eventually runs through the Wildwood Golf Course and out to the Multnomah Channel.
As you walk further the track skirts the bottom of a large clear-cut that extends across the upper slopes of the Crabapple Creek watershed. The last portion of this clear-cut was harvested in 2005.
After climbing to an elevation of 750 feet in 0.4 mile from the intersection with the Lower Golf Course Road, you will encounter a logging road apparently emerging out of the clear-cut area above you and entering the Cable Trail from the left. This trail is used in the Beaver Ponds Loop.
From here the road dips down and crosses another creek as it resumes its way north toward Rocky Point Road. Flanked by mature timber, the road rises gradually until it turns eastward. Since there are few roads into this forest, this one is full of wildlife.
Another 0.4 mile brings you to a T-intersection. Turn right. The left-hand turn leads up the slope and is described in the Beaver Ponds Loop.
As you travel these back roads, keep an eye out for one of our most ubiquitous companions. The common raven (Corvus corax) is one of the most visible residents of these woods and can be distinguished from a crow by his ruffed throat, more prolonged soaring, and unmistakable guttural croak. Pacific Northwest Indians revered this bird as a powerful, aggressive trickster to whom we owe creation itself. In the wonderfully illustrated Stories Told in Winter, Douglas Hadley describes it thus:
Vast were the western forest reaches, wondrous their scented halls and arches, housing a quiet to halt men’s motion, demanding that all be still while it listened: then in the topmost limbs was heard the rushing spirit of the air.
From the North came Tchamsen, the raven, Maker of all the world. That his people should know the sky and the earth, and should see what he had made, Raven sought light. With a glittering throng would he scatter the night, and with broad light character day.
At this point the Cable Trail slopes downhill gently, losing 60 feet in 0.2 mile until it reaches the intersection with a track leading to the base of Runaway Ridge. Just prior to that junction you will pass a spur leading up the hill to the left. This leads to the base of a clear-cut that can be accessed from Rocky Point Road.
The active timber management of this land provides varied environments that support a higher density of wildlife. This view was photographed from the summit of the clear-cut described in waypoint 9.
Continue past the road to Runaway Ridge, climbing about 100 feet in elevation to the summit of the hill that leads out of the Crabapple Creek watershed. On the way you will pass beneath a set of power lines, a terrific spot to view the entire Crabapple Creek basin.
From the crest of the hill (762 feet elevation) the trail to Rocky Point Road takes you through stands of nearly mature timber for 0.9 mile. You will pass beneath power lines one final time just before rounding the last bend.
You are now approaching Rocky Point Road, built by the original homesteaders on Dixie Mountain in the 1880s. For years it remained little more than a trail, but with volunteer labor it was eventually widened to accommodate wagons and buggies. Even then it remained treacherous, however—locals joked that “in the winter it was a mile deep” (Nelson and Tannock 1998). As late as the 1920s it was reported that although it only took an hour to reach Portland from this road in the summer months, the same trip took the better part of a day during the seven months of the rainy season. During county proceedings to close this challenging road, an unsympathetic judge hearing a local appeal advised the residents “to move out to civilization where there were good roads.”
If you were to continue up Rocky Point Road you would encounter the northern terminus of Skyline Boulevard and a series of rural roads that connect with Scappoose to the north and Washington County to the west. The settlement of Dixie Mountain, established by John Dix and his son, is one of the most interesting communities in the area. Be sure to visit the Dixie Mountain Strawberry Festival that takes place each Father’s Day—it’s a unique backcountry celebration!
Over the last 4.4 miles you have covered most of the northern portion of the Crabapple and Patterson creek watersheds. This is the only known walking trail lengthwise through the area. Access to the southern portion is more difficult due to private development across the access roads and steep terrain near Logie Trail. For tips on how to access the Patterson watershed, consult the trail description for the Double Cross Loop.
