04-17-26
John
joined me for a Friday hike as
I took a day off work. We met at the High Point trailhead for a hike on
the Grand Ridge Trail. With the low elevation I hoped for a good
wildflower trip. I arrived at 8:53 am. It was sunny and in the high
40s. More than a year ago, the chain link fence at the start of the
parking was knocked down. It was laced with blackberry vines. The
result was that the first three spots were closed to parking with
traffic cones as well. I decided to take a look. I pulled the fence
back and it moved. Then I picked up dozens of dead vines and tossed
them aside. In five minutes, there parking spaces were restored. It is
a small lot and that makes a big difference. John arrived as I was
finishing up. We grabbed our packs and were on our way at 8:59 am. The
creek was running pretty well. The first .60 miles is on a gently
descending old railroad grade. It did not take us long to reach the
junction. We turned off to the right and began climbing.
It did not take long to see the first yellow violets. They have been our for several weeks. Surprisingly, we did not see a lot more. Next came blooming bleeding hearts. We saw lots of them at lower elevations but not many higher up. The highest point of the trip was less than 1100' so we really only saw them at quite low elevations. Trillium came a little later. We saw them off and on but not in large numbers. The trail is gently graded and allowed us to maintain a good pace on the ascent. We reached the ridge top without seeing anybody. It guess it was some workday solitude. At the first bridge there was no skunk cabbage. We would still have a couple more places where it might be bright yellow. We crossed the road and could see a construction crew at work already. Soon we reached the first junction with the Water Tower Loop Trail (WTL). I already had another hike planned for the next day so how far did I want to hike this day? Doing the loop and back would be about 8 miles. The trail is pretty easy so maybe we could do a bit more. We stayed on the main trail.
So far we had seen many spring beauty flowers but they were no fully open. I hoped that they might open later in the day. From the WTL junction the trail begins a long gentle descent. We started to see a few people but not many. We passed the second WTL junction and then a third. The trail then reached the low spot where a small creek runs. This spot often has skunk cabbage in the spring. There were some leaves but no yellow spathes. The trail climbs again. We reached the Mitchell Hill junction and again decided not to hike it now. The WTA Bridge was now the target. If we felt really good we might go for the Mike O Bridge and the other end of the Grand Ridge Trail. We saw some more trillium and a nice display of many small mushrooms. We took a longer photo break for the mushrooms. It was an excellent display. The trail drops again heading for the WTA Bridge. We crossed one bridge and then continued descending. We reached the bridge at 10:54 am. We were a little over 4 miles into the hike.
We had a big surprise at the WTA Bridge. Canyon Creek is fairly small here. Just before the bridge was a creek flowing over the trail. Where did that come from? We did not bring waterproof boots as there are no creeks to rock hop. There was one today. A giant beaver dam now crossed the valley and has impounded a lot of water. At this end it was leaking and that was the new creek. We hopped to a board and across. I had nearly dry feet. From the bridge we could see that the new dam was about 4+ feet tall. It was taller than the bridge deck level. It must be nearly 100' across. So far this year I have seen a big dam at Red Town on Cougar Mountain that is still there months later and this one. We were soon back on our way. Just beyond a big rock which I call Jim's Erratic, is the 4.5 mile mark. 9 mile would make for a good day. We both felt good and decided to just go for a long trip. The forest along here has a lot of cedar trees. They are a good size though not giant.
The trail remained fairly flat then began the descent to the Mike O Bridge.We saw a really good display of turkeytail fungus. That was another extended photo opportunity. The trail drops at a very gentle grade with some long switchbacks. At one point we left forest for a more open short section. The sunshine did its work. We now had bleeding hearts in bloom along with trillium and a bunch of colorful spring beauty. These were the first spring beauty that were fully open. Then we found another really good mushroom display. The mushroom we were seeing were small and brown with the caps still tight around the stem. They were in green grass and the contrast was excellent. As we descended the bleeding heart show really improved. It lined the trail. We started seeing more spring beauty too. At long last we arrived at the Mike O Bridge at 11:52 am. We had now covered 6 miles. I was in for at least a 12 mile day. John had not been this far previously so we crossed the boardwalk/bridge and climbed up to the road at the end of the trail. I paced off the bridge and it came to about 620' long. That is more than a tenth of a mile. We reached the north trailhead at 12:03 am. It was time for lunch and there is a bench there. After that we cross the road to the Duthie Hill bike park. Then it was time to head back.
We made pretty good time on the way back. We had fewer photo stops. We did find a couple more big mushroom displays that we had entirely missed on the hike in. They required longer stops for photos. We did see more people in the afternoon though the trail was never crowded. We made it back to the railroad grade at 2:57 pm. The last .60 miles is at a gentle uphill grade and we were moving pretty good at the end. We reached the cars at 3:07 pm. I was tired but pleased. I would not be hiking very fast the next morning. For the day we hiked 13 miles with about 1900' of elevation gain. The wildflower show was okay at the start and not great in the middle but really good nearing the north end of the trail. The mushroom show was really outstanding. Even the turkeytail fungus show was really good. I was glad to have a day off work and we had excellent conditions for a fun close to town hike.
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Trips - 2026
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It did not take long to see the first yellow violets. They have been our for several weeks. Surprisingly, we did not see a lot more. Next came blooming bleeding hearts. We saw lots of them at lower elevations but not many higher up. The highest point of the trip was less than 1100' so we really only saw them at quite low elevations. Trillium came a little later. We saw them off and on but not in large numbers. The trail is gently graded and allowed us to maintain a good pace on the ascent. We reached the ridge top without seeing anybody. It guess it was some workday solitude. At the first bridge there was no skunk cabbage. We would still have a couple more places where it might be bright yellow. We crossed the road and could see a construction crew at work already. Soon we reached the first junction with the Water Tower Loop Trail (WTL). I already had another hike planned for the next day so how far did I want to hike this day? Doing the loop and back would be about 8 miles. The trail is pretty easy so maybe we could do a bit more. We stayed on the main trail.
So far we had seen many spring beauty flowers but they were no fully open. I hoped that they might open later in the day. From the WTL junction the trail begins a long gentle descent. We started to see a few people but not many. We passed the second WTL junction and then a third. The trail then reached the low spot where a small creek runs. This spot often has skunk cabbage in the spring. There were some leaves but no yellow spathes. The trail climbs again. We reached the Mitchell Hill junction and again decided not to hike it now. The WTA Bridge was now the target. If we felt really good we might go for the Mike O Bridge and the other end of the Grand Ridge Trail. We saw some more trillium and a nice display of many small mushrooms. We took a longer photo break for the mushrooms. It was an excellent display. The trail drops again heading for the WTA Bridge. We crossed one bridge and then continued descending. We reached the bridge at 10:54 am. We were a little over 4 miles into the hike.
We had a big surprise at the WTA Bridge. Canyon Creek is fairly small here. Just before the bridge was a creek flowing over the trail. Where did that come from? We did not bring waterproof boots as there are no creeks to rock hop. There was one today. A giant beaver dam now crossed the valley and has impounded a lot of water. At this end it was leaking and that was the new creek. We hopped to a board and across. I had nearly dry feet. From the bridge we could see that the new dam was about 4+ feet tall. It was taller than the bridge deck level. It must be nearly 100' across. So far this year I have seen a big dam at Red Town on Cougar Mountain that is still there months later and this one. We were soon back on our way. Just beyond a big rock which I call Jim's Erratic, is the 4.5 mile mark. 9 mile would make for a good day. We both felt good and decided to just go for a long trip. The forest along here has a lot of cedar trees. They are a good size though not giant.
The trail remained fairly flat then began the descent to the Mike O Bridge.We saw a really good display of turkeytail fungus. That was another extended photo opportunity. The trail drops at a very gentle grade with some long switchbacks. At one point we left forest for a more open short section. The sunshine did its work. We now had bleeding hearts in bloom along with trillium and a bunch of colorful spring beauty. These were the first spring beauty that were fully open. Then we found another really good mushroom display. The mushroom we were seeing were small and brown with the caps still tight around the stem. They were in green grass and the contrast was excellent. As we descended the bleeding heart show really improved. It lined the trail. We started seeing more spring beauty too. At long last we arrived at the Mike O Bridge at 11:52 am. We had now covered 6 miles. I was in for at least a 12 mile day. John had not been this far previously so we crossed the boardwalk/bridge and climbed up to the road at the end of the trail. I paced off the bridge and it came to about 620' long. That is more than a tenth of a mile. We reached the north trailhead at 12:03 am. It was time for lunch and there is a bench there. After that we cross the road to the Duthie Hill bike park. Then it was time to head back.
We made pretty good time on the way back. We had fewer photo stops. We did find a couple more big mushroom displays that we had entirely missed on the hike in. They required longer stops for photos. We did see more people in the afternoon though the trail was never crowded. We made it back to the railroad grade at 2:57 pm. The last .60 miles is at a gentle uphill grade and we were moving pretty good at the end. We reached the cars at 3:07 pm. I was tired but pleased. I would not be hiking very fast the next morning. For the day we hiked 13 miles with about 1900' of elevation gain. The wildflower show was okay at the start and not great in the middle but really good nearing the north end of the trail. The mushroom show was really outstanding. Even the turkeytail fungus show was really good. I was glad to have a day off work and we had excellent conditions for a fun close to town hike.
 Whitewater |
 Yellow Violet |
 First Bleeding Heart |
 First Trillium |
 Wet Trillium |
 Mossy Arch |
 First Mushrooms |
 Mushrooms Close Up |
 Salmonberry Flower |
 First Big Bridge |
 New Beaver Dam |
 Mountain Biker |
 Very Mossy Log |
 Lit Up Moss |
 Turkeytail Fungus |
 A Closer Look |
 First Spring Beauty |
 Bright Trillium |
 Bunch Of Bleeding Hearts |
 John On Trail |
 Lots Of Bleeding Hearts |
 Past Prime Trillium |
 John At Work |
 More Small Mushrooms |
 Nice Contrast |
 Ground Level View |
 Upside Down |
 Mike O Bridge |
 Rest Bench |
 Skunk Cabbage |
 North End Of Trail |
 Back At Mike O |
 More Skunk Cabbage |
 Hiking In Sunshine |
 Colorful Spring Beauty |
 Back To Bleeding Hearts |
 Best Spring Beauty |
 Jim's Erratic |
 WTA Bridge Dam |
 John Crosses Wet Trail |
 More Trillium |
 Witches' Butter |
 Mushrooms Again |
 Shrooms Climbing Snag |
 Final Mushroom Spot |
 Many Mushrooms |
 Herb Robert |
 Back On The RR Grade |
Trips - 2026
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