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TRIP 2 Northrup Creek Loop

Distance		8.5 miles, Loop; 3.8 miles, Out-and-back
Elevation Gain		1500 feet, Loop; 300 feet, Out-and-back
Hiking Time		2 to 5 hours
Optional Map		USGS Nicolai Mountain (trail not shown)
Usually Open		All year (except during winter storms)
Best Time		Any
Trail Use		Dogs OK, mountain biking, horseback riding
Agency		Clatsop State Forest
Difficulty		Moderate
Note		Good in cloudy weather

HIGHLIGHTS Built in 2005, the Northrup Creek Trail cobbles together existing logging roads, abandoned roads, and sections of new trail to form a pleasant loop through a little-known valley in the Coast Range. Although walking the road sections can be tedious, the scenery is generally quite attractive, including forested ridges, riparian areas, meadows, and a lovely creek. The trail is designed for equestrians, but is open to all nonmotorized uses and has surprisingly little of the mud so often associated with horse trails. If you do not have time to do the entire loop, then settle for a much easier out-and-back hike along Northrup Creek. This segment has the nicest scenery and involves no road walking.

DIRECTIONS Drive west on U.S. Highway 26 to the junction with State Highway 103 (the Jewell Road) near milepost 22. Go 9.2 miles north to the junction with Highway 202, turn right (east), and proceed 5.9 miles to a signed junction with Northrup Creek Road. Turn left (north), go 1.7 miles to the end of pavement, and then drive 3.3 miles on good gravel to the large day-use area and trailhead parking lot just after a bridge over Northrup Creek.

For a clockwise circuit, which saves the best scenery for the end, turn right on the woodchip-covered trail and go 100 yards downstream beside clear Northrup Creek in a loop around the trailhead parking lot. When you come to the road, cross the creek on the road bridge, then pick up the trail again on the left as it briefly loops around a small picnic area. At 0.1 mile you cross a spur of Northrup Creek Road and then begin climbing in a lush second-growth forest of Douglas firs. Just 100 yards later, you go left at a junction with a spur trail to Northrup Creek Horse Camp.

Now on a long abandoned road, you hike uphill for 0.2 mile and then veer right onto a narrower trail that gradually ascends in a dense forest of young trees. There are no views, but the setting is pleasant and shady. So shady, in fact, that very few understory plants survive beneath the trees. At 0.8 mile you pass an area that has been selectively logged and then come to a spur road. The trail follows this road uphill for 50 yards to a junction with gravel Bovine Mainline Road. You turn right and walk along this good gravel road over a little hill then in a long curving downhill atop a forested ridge. After 0.7 mile on the road, just as you enter a large clear-cut, you turn sharply left on a more primitive road that follows the edge of the clear-cut. This road goes gently downhill for 0.4 mile to its end beside Cow Creek. Turn left (upstream), and follow a closed road for 0.1 mile to a bridgeless crossing of the creek. There is usually a convenient log across this small creek just upstream from the horse crossing.

After all the road walking it is a pleasure to be back on trails as you go very gradually uphill, first beside a seasonal creek and then looping to the right as you ascend a forested hillside. The alder- and fir-lined trail winds uphill all the way to a junction with Cow Ridge Road at about 4 miles. You turn right, walk along this gravel road for 0.1 mile, and then go straight on an abandoned road blocked by a berm.

This wide route goes steadily but not steeply downhill for 0.8 mile to the upper edge of a large clear-cut, where you gather the hike’s only significant views of the Northrup Creek Valley and a forested ridge to the south. Instead of crossing the clear-cut, turn right and follow a trail that skirts the edge of the logging scar down to the Northrup Creek Road. You turn left, walk along this gravel road for 0.15 mile, and then turn right onto a signed foot trail.

The path goes 150 yards through a lovely, low-elevation deciduous woodland featuring dappled sunshine and tiny wildflowers to a bridgeless crossing of Northrup Creek. By midsummer you can usually rock hop across this stream, but for most of the year getting to the other side requires a chilly ford. Just 100 yards past the ford the trail reaches the edge of a large meadow that is a favorite haunt for a small herd of elk. The trail turns sharply right here, entering the forest rather than crossing the privately owned meadow, climbs rather steeply for 0.25 mile, and then levels out shortly before coming to the end of a primitive dirt road. Turn left and follow this little-used road for 0.3 mile to a gravel pit, and then walk along a better gravel road to a junction with Foster Mainline Road.

Meadow along Northrup Creek Trail

You turn right (downhill), crossing the road at an angle, and then veer left onto an unsigned primitive road. Walk gradually downhill along this tree-lined road, keeping left at a junction after 0.2 mile, all the way to the end of the road. From here, a good foot trail descends a series of short switchbacks to a hop-over crossing of a small creek.

This creek marks the start of the trail’s wildest and most scenic section. For the next 1.7 miles the route remains a true trail (no road walking) as it goes up and down in the lowlands near Northrup Creek. The way alternates between dense forest, riparian areas, and tiny creekside meadows where wildlife such as deer and elk are common. The section also includes some huge moss-covered bigleaf maples that are well worth admiring. The only downsides are several muddy areas and so many elk droppings that they are hard to avoid. After 1.2 miles the trail climbs a switchback away from the creek, crosses a low ridge, and then descends to Northrup Creek Road. After crossing this gravel road, the trail curves to the right through attractive forest back to the trailhead.