Tryon Creek Hike

Where: Tryon Creek State Natural Area, Portland, Oregon

Distance: 2.4 miles

Type: Loop

Elevation gain: 350 feet

Difficulty: Easy

Map: Oregon State Parks

Overview:

Tryon Creek State Natural Area is a 658 acre preserve in southwest Portland that is much loved and well used. The area had been logged between 1870 and 1960 to make railroad ties and provide fuel for a wood-fired iron smelter in nearby Lake Oswego. In the 1960s the area was slated for development, but a group of local residents created the Friends of Tryon Creek organization that successfully lobbied to protect the area. Tryon Creek State Park was created by the Oregon legislature and opened to the public in 1975. Friends of Tryon Creek continues to be an active participant in maintaining and managing the park. For more information on the park, go to their website or click here to view an earlier post on this site.

There are a myriad of loops and out-and- back hikes possible at Tryon Creek. The park has a total of 15 miles of trails, including a short all access paved trail, a paved bike path that runs the length of the park, all-use trails open to horses, and hiker-only trails. Dogs are permitted on leash. Bikes are not permitted, except on the designated bike path. The park is a day-use area only. Camping is prohibited.

All of the trails are well used, so you’re unlikely to find real solitude here, unless you come during really bad weather. But that doesn’t detract much from the park’s appeal. In general, the farther from the Nature Center that you get the fewer people that you’ll encounter. The southern and western parts of the park are the least used. The hike described here includes two of my favorite trails, the Big Fir and Lewis and Clark trails, but they’re also two of the most traveled trails in the park.

Getting there:

The main entrance to the park is located at 11321 Terwilliger Boulevard in southwest Portland. To get there by car, take I-5 south from Portland to the Terwillger Boulevard exit (#297). Cross back over the freeway on Terwilliger and follow it for 2.4 miles to the park’s main entrance. Public transport is available via Trimet bus lines 38 and 39.

Trailheads:

The primary trailheads and largest parking area in the park (by far) are located at the main entry on Terwilliger Boulevard, and this hike starts there. There are six other trailheads scattered around the perimeter of the park.

The hike:

The hike begins at the Nature Center, where you can pick up a free map if you haven’t printed out the Oregon State Parks map linked above, and get park information from the staff. The trails in the park are well signed, but there are so many intersecting trails that a map can be very helpful, especially if you’re new to the park.

From the Nature Center take the Old Main Trail south. This is a wide gravel path that also serves as a service road. In about a tenth of a mile turn right onto the Big Fir Trail.

This short trail (less than half a mile) winds through some of the largest Douglas fir trees in the park, along with many mature bigleaf maples, and descends toward Tryon Creek. It is, in my opinion, one of the prettiest trails in the park. Stay left at the junctions with the Center and Maple Ridge trails. The Big Fir Trail then rejoins the Old Main Trail.

Turn right onto the Old Main Trail and cross Tryon Creek on Obie’s Bridge at the 0.7-mile mark of the hike. This is the lowest point on this loop. Just beyond the bridge, turn right onto the West Horse Loop. This is a mixed use trail used by both hikers and equestrians (hikers are required to give way to horses). In a tenth of a mile, turn right onto the hiker-only Middle Creek Trail, which follows Tryon Creek to High Bridge at the one-mile mark of the hike.

Turn left onto the Lewis and Clark Trail at the junction just beyond High Bridge. This trail recently reopened after being closed for several years after the original Terry Reilly Memorial Bridge washed out in a flood. The Lewis and Clark Trail might be my favorite trail in the whole park. It has a few steep sections and can be slippery when wet, but it is also one of the wildest trails in the park. The trail winds through the second-growth Douglas fir and bigleaf maple forest with a typical temperate rainforest understory of ferns, shrubs, and vine maple. You’ll cross a tributary of Tryon Creek on the new, higher, and much sturdier Terry Reilly Bridge.

From the bridge the trail climbs through the forest. This is a prime location for trilliums, the three petal white to purple flowers that are the signature plant of the park. On my latest hike here the trilliums were past their prime but there were a few still in bloom.

Three tenths of a mile from the Terry Reilly Bridge you’ll see a short connector trail between the Lewis and Clark Trail and the North Horse Loop. Stay left on the the Lewis and Clark Trail for another couple of hundred yards. This is the highest point of the hike. At the junction, turn south (right). This will bring you to another junction with the North Horse Loop.

At the junction turn left onto the North Horse Loop and follow the mixed use trail for four tenths of a mile to another junction. Stay left there, then right at the next junction at the 2.0-mile mark of the hike. Continue on the North Horse Loop for another quarter-mile, then take a short connector trail to your right to a junction with the Maple Ridge Trail. Turn left there and return to the Nature Center.

Other area attractions and activities:

Tryon Creek is only a few miles from downtown Portland, where you’ll find one of my favorite outdoor spaces in Portland, the Lan Su Chinese Garden, a true urban oasis in the middle of the city. Not far from downtown, in Washington Park, is another of my favorite places, the Portland Japanese Garden. And not far from that, also in Washington Park, is Hoyt Arboretum. Those three places, easily visited in a single day, make for a triumvirate of incredibly beautiful places for the outdoor enthusiast to relish the best of what Portland has to offer.

Posted May 18, 2023 by Alan K. Lee.