1.6 hr
Overview
NOTICE: Trails in this area were affected by the 2020 Beachie Creek Fire. Please check current closures in the Willamette National Forest before planning an outing. This hike heads west from the French Creek Ridge Trailhead, making an undulating path along a rugged ridge crowded with features and views. Old growth trees and blooming wildflowers complement the rock formations, the last of which is a fifty-foot high natural arch which frames the montane woodlands. Don’t let the short 4.6 mileage fool you. The trail has a lot of steep up and down in both directions, and as of 2019 more than a third of the route is quite brushy. Head back to the road from the parking area and go left for about 40 yards before picking up the signed French Creek Ridge Trail #3349. The path rises among huckleberry, bear-grass, Alaska yellow-cedar, and mountain hemlock. Soon it enters a shady forest of old growth Douglas-fir, silver fir, and noble fir. Seasonal seeps foster the lushness of this slope. The trail rises to the ridge crest and then drops off its north side before passing along a talus slope below Dog Tooth Rock. You will rise through a dense thicket of thimbleberry, salmonberry, and goat’s beard before dropping steeply to find yourself on the ridge crest again. At 1.1 miles the path rises below a rocky prominence. A short spur trail leads up to this viewpoint, which offers an excellent vista north over the Opal Creek Wilderness, including Opal Lake, and back to Dog Tooth Rock, Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington, Three-fingered Jack, and the Three Sisters. From this vantage point, the main trail drops down to a saddle which cradles little Cedar Lake. Here also is the point where the French Creek Ridge Trail ends at its junction with the Elkhorn Ridge Trail, which heads down the north slope of the ridge to FR 2207, whence you can access the Opal Lake Trail 0.3 miles down the road. You will continue steeply up the ridge from Cedar Lake to an open knoll. The trail undulates along this plateau-like crest, which sometimes of
Trail Stats
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469 m
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Photos
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