I had the day off (bless you, Martin Luther King Jr.!) so I took advantage of the dry weather and went exploring. I'd been meaning to hike the two backdoor approaches into Oxbow Park for years, so the holiday felt like the right time.
Through the back door into Oxbow Park.
I started at the Oxbow Bluff trailhead on the east side of the river and followed a well-graded road down to the Sandy River, where the road became a trail. I followed this trail 1 mile upriver until I met an inlet that was too deep to cross. So I turned around before the official end of the trail, but I was quite satisfied with everything I saw. This is a nice little trail that sees very little use.
Following that, I drove back down the Sandy, across the Stark Street Bridge (did you know that Stark Street begins on the east side of the Sandy River, almost in the Gorge itself?) and then drove backroads for about 15 minutes to the Homan Road Trail above the Oxbow entrance. I followed the Alder Ridge Trail down to the meadow above the main part of the park, where I followed the loop trail around the meadow and then hiked back uphill to my car. This was a nice trail! There was a nice view of Mount Hood (which was impossible to photograph today with the grey skies), some nice cedar trees and a few views down to the Sandy through the trees. I only saw a few people here, and when I got back to the trailhead, I was the only car there.
Overall these are two nice hikes - short enough to do if you've only got a couple hours, or long enough to combine with other hikes for a more complete day. I wanted a short drive so I could be home early in the afternoon, and this did the trick. 2020 is off to a great start!
Hikes: 6 miles out and back (3.2 and 2.8 round-trip, respectively)
Elevation Gain: 900 feet (500 feet, 400 feet)
Drivetime from Portland: 35 minutes each way
Map of my hike. The two backdoor routes into the park are in purple, while the hike in PDX Hiking 365 is in orange.