Bell Creek Old Growth Hike

Overview

The spectacular old-growth hemlocks, Douglas-firs, and cedars in the Bell Creek and upper Oneonta Creek drainages can be reached fairly easily on this in and out excursion from the Upper Oneonta Trailhead on Larch Mountain Road. (Longer, and far more strenuous lollipop loops to Bell Creek include the Bell Creek via Multnomah Creek Loop Hike from the Larch Mountain Road 315 Trailhead and the Bell Creek Loop Hike from the Oneonta Trailhead .) For this hike, most of the elevation will be on the way back as you will descend from the last big bend on Larch Mountain Road along the eastern rim of the Larch Mountain crater. You can also park at the Larch Mountain Trailhead 0.3 miles up the road, but that requires a Northwest Forest Pass. The Oneonta Trail enters dense secondary forest at a gap in the crash barrier and a trail sign. You'll soon pass a kiosk and realize you're on an old logging road. The road bed descends gradually, and you may notice a spur to the left which leads you to a rock with a view to Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams over the treetops. Douglas-fir, western hemlock, noble fir, and silver fir dominate the conifer mix, and bear-grass spreads in the understory. No Trespassing signs on the right designate the boundary of the Bull Run Watershed. The trail continues to drop down the rim, and you'll see a massive, 10-foot wide cedar stump sprouting a number of nursing hemlocks. Other stumps have springboard notches, attesting to the logging that denuded this part of the mountain over 100 years ago. The trail is now level and joins an old logging railroad grade to reach the Multnomah Creek Way Trail where the latter comes out of an old cutting. Keep right on the Oneonta Trail, which follows the railroad grade a short distance longer. You're now in an open forest with scattered clumps of bear-grass. The trail switchbacks down and uses several turnpikes in an area where small springs, headwaters of Oneonta Creek, issue from the slope. When you reach the junction with the Bell Creek Trail #459 , turn righ

Trail Stats

Photos

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Big cedars on the Bell Creek Trail (bobcat)

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The shortest route to the old-growth stands near Bell Creek (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo/TF Outdoors

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Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus) , Bell Creek Trail (bobcat)

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Crossing a tributary of Oneonta Creek, Bell Creek Trail (bobcat)

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View to Mt. St. Helens from the Oneonta Trail (bobcat)

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