Old Salmon River Trail - Mt. Hood National Forest

The Old Salmon River Trail is a family-friendly trail through a gorgeous old-growth forest not far from Portland. The trail follows the path of the Salmon River through a forest of massive Douglas Firs, western redcedars, and western hemlock. Moss encircles bigleaf maple trunks, snags host cavity-nesting birds, and downed logs melt into the forest floor and riverbed. Salmon spawn in the cold, flowing waters before dying and offering their nutrients back to their forests of origin. One keenly feels the cycles of birth and death and rebirth here, and is reminded of - in the words of the great Mary Oliver - “our place in the family of things”.

Eager hikers can continue on through the “keyhole” (an area excluded from Wilderness protections that Oregon Wild is working to include within the Wilderness boundary), and beyond, up the Salmon River trail to experience even more old-growth forests as one gains elevation.