Hiking North Fork Middle Fork Willamette River

That’s a mouthful. Yet, a wonderful trail. My partner and I hiked this several years ago and it was not this nice – the trail is in great condition, and one can hike further than All Trails curated trail. This was the last of 3 hikes this week; Monday = Hardesty Mountain, Tuesday / Wednesday = Middle Fork Willamette NRT. A short drive out to Westfir and an amazing local trailhead park.

The Route (recorded track)

Start at the th, hike up-river until time / energy used and turn around. This is a great river trail in good condition and in right weather and season would be a top close-in choice. A couple of forest roads are crossed along the way, but the river is too grand to detract.

I arrived at the th before 06:00 and was immediately met by a woman and her dog out walking … my kind of park! Sunrise was perfect.

Parts of this trail (just around the TH) overlap with mtb trails – mtb folks use this trail, but not heavy – too hard 🙂

The River

I thought this fork of Willamette more interesting than the Middle Fork – it was raging at times, quiet at others. The trail also hugs the river much more on this trail. The downside is that if you hike with all the leaves fully grown, the view of river is obstructed – go before the leaves come out.

The ground

Flowers were also popping.

Oldest bridge?

Of all the bridges I crossed over the 3 days along the river, this was probably the oldest based on how the timber was cut. Surprisingly, it was probably one of the sturdiest too!