There isn't much parking space at the trailhead, and ours was the only car. There are a very clean toilet with hand sanitizer and a reader board with information about the Northrup family who settled the area and whose homestead still remains.  This area is now owned by the state and is part of Steamboat Rock State Park, the main part of which is three miles south and on the other side of the highway. 

We passed through the gate and went left on the Northrup Canyon Trail, which looks like a road. To the right is the Old Wagon Road, which looks like a trail.  

The road-trail curves a bit and goes up the canyon, above and not far from the creek.  Nor far into the trail, we saw two ravens mobbing a falcon carrying some prey, which the falcon dropped.  The prey was apparently the now-dead offspring of the two ravens, as they circled and dropped down with mournful cries, which they kept up for a half-hour at least, as we continued to walk up the canyon.

We enjoyed the open road and former farm fields, with a few flowers along the road, including larkspur.  Basalt cliffs, home to many birds, tower over the canyon.  We reached the Northrup homestead, with its house and four other buildings falling into ruin and with lilac and irises surviving from the homestead years.  The trail goes to a building upwards and to the left, on the left of which there is a sign for the continuation of the trail.

The next part of the trail was a typical trail, not a road, and was in pretty good shape except for one stretch (about 0.2 miles) which is a bit steep and slippery on the descent.  We began to see more flowers -- alumroot among them.  We were buzzed by a hummingbird, heard a mourning dove, and heard and finally saw a meadowlark.  The trail passes by a series of marshes and then mounts to higher country, from which it descends to lovely Northrup Lake with its abundance of bird life.  We saw a coot and a goldfinch.  

Following the suggestion of the one man we had met on the lower trail, we continued to the right one quarter of the way around the lake to a ledge overlooking the lake. After a brief pause to admire the lake, we continued as the trail ascended to a jeep track which cut  through the sagebrush in the general direction of some power lines in the distance.  We thought we might reach a road which we could identify but soon gave up and headed back, our curiosity satisfied.  

Back at Northrup Lake, we sat to eat our lunch and admire the ambience and the bird life, including another hummingbird that buzzed us and a redwing blackbird which perched near us. As we sat, we saw the only other people today -- three young men. 

On the way back we saw a flower which Walks Ahead tentatively identified as a Howell's triteleia, as well as a white-stemmed frasera and a lemonweed. After we reached the homestead, we sped up as we returned on the road-trail.  This was our second time on this hike, the last time being in 2008  While this is not one of our must-do hikes, we enjoyed it, as before, and will probably do it again.