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TRIP 15 Central Gales Creek Trail

Distance		10.1 miles, Out-and-back
Elevation Gain		1200 feet
Hiking Time		4 to 6 hours
Optional Map		Tillamook State Forest
Usually Open		All year (except during and shortly after winter storms)
Best Time		April to June
Trail Use		Good for kids, dogs OK, backpacking option, horseback riding, fishing
Agency		Forest Grove District, Tillamook State Forest
Difficulty		Moderate
Note		Good in cloudy weather

HIGHLIGHTS This new trail is not yet known to most Portland area hikers, but it’s bound to draw more admirers as word spreads about this attractive and relatively easy creekside ramble through the second-growth forests of the Tillamook State Forest. Despite heavy rainfall, this is a good winter hike, because the tread drains well and remains in good shape with relatively few mud problems.

DIRECTIONS Drive west on State Highway 6 toward Tillamook. Just before you reach milepost 35, turn right on the well-signed gravel road to Gales Creek Campground. After about 1 mile, pull into the day-use parking area on the left just before the road crosses a bridge over Gales Creek. This campground is closed from November to May when a gate blocks the access road from Highway 6. The gate is sometimes open during the off-season, but even if it is, do not drive through it—it may close at any time without warning.

Take the Gales Creek Trail to the right (northwest) from the parking area and begin a slow steady climb. For the next 0.7 mile you travel across a hillside about 50 feet above Gales Creek generally staying near the transition line between the second-growth coniferous forests on the slopes above you and the alder woodlands near the stream. The forest floor beneath these trees is covered with a dense mat of sword fern, which grows so profusely it forces out nearly all other understory species.

After 0.8 mile you take a narrow log bridge over an unnamed side creek and then immediately reach a junction with the Storey Burn Trail (Trip 14). Turn right and travel up and down on a trail that alternately hugs 15-foot-wide Gales Creek or traverses the woodsy hillside above the water. Much of the time the trail follows an old road, long since abandoned and now just a wide, well-graded trail. A little more than 1 mile from the Storey Burn junction, the trail crosses a small side creek. Look left to see a 20-foot-tall, sliding waterfall. In winter or early spring when the water runs high and the waterfall is not obscured by foliage, it’s at its best.

Falls along Gales Creek Trail

The forest scenery remains unchanged as you continue up the canyon of Gales Creek for another mile to a sturdy log bridge that takes you over the creek. After another 0.5 mile, you come to a second log bridge and cross the flow again. As it slowly gains elevation, the trail goes over several side creeks. Quaint wooden bridges sometimes convey you, but more often you simply hop over. Although these side creeks are small, they make up a large percentage of Gales Creek’s volume, so the main stream gets noticeably smaller as you continue up the canyon.

Near the 4.5-mile point, you pass a nice campsite after which the creek and accompanying trail curve to the east and the canyon narrows. The ascent now gets more strenuous as the grade becomes moderately steep. Just beyond the 5-mile point, Gales Creek has diminished to the point where it barely deserves to be called a creek. Here the trail pulls away from the water to ascend a woodsy hillside. Most hikers will want to turn around here because the scenery is less interesting away from the creek. If you prefer to make this a longer one-way hike, however, stay on the trail as it climbs another mile to a wide, forested ridgeline where it crosses remote Bell Camp Road. From there the trail is described in Trip 16.

The author on a log bridge over Gales Creek