Weldon Wagon Road
Oregon white oak woodlands with open ridgetop meadows, wildflowers, and views of the White Salmon Valley make this a delightful hike that is off the beaten track.
The trail begins on an old road just about 1 mile off of Hwy 14, but as it ascends the ridge the mixed forest gives way to open meadows and the trail narrows to a wide foot-path climbing higher and higher up the ridge. The first couple miles are on private land so stick to the right-of-way on the trail. Another reason to stay on the trail is the abundant poison oak. The upper most portion of the hike goes through the White Salmon Oak Natural Resources Conservation Area managed by the DNR. The twisting and curvy oaks are like a sculpture garden and the broad sloping meadows are beautiful in springtime. At about 2 1/2 miles the trail ends at the upper trailhead at Sanborn road.
Driving Directions:
From Hood River, cross the Columbia River and turn left on Hwy 14. Go 1.6 miles and turn right onto State Route 141A. Head north for about 2 miles then turn left to continue north on Hwy State Route 141. Go 3.8 miles and turn right onto Indian Creek Road. Follow this gravel road for .6 miles, then go left on Indian Cemetery Road and continue .4 miles further. Look for the unmarked jeep road on your right and a wide spot on the left where you can park. Recent Trip Reports
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Day hike
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Wildflowers blooming
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This is a delightful 5.4 mile RT hike with a gradual elevation gain of 1290 feet. There is a brush a...
This is a delightful 5.4 mile RT hike with a gradual elevation gain of 1290 feet. There is a brush at the TH to brush off weed seeds before you begin your hike. At 0.2 miles you turn right off the jeep road to walk through a forest of pine, oak, and Douglas fir. Here we saw a pair of pileated woodpeckers. At 0.7 miles you begin to walk in a meadow lined by oaks. Great Hound's Tongue was prevalent in the forest floor and continues along the trail beneath the oaks. At 1.8 miles you reach a large sign telling you that you are now entering the White Salmon Oak Natural Resources Area. At 2.2 miles you enter the oak forest and continue to 1900 feet where you now leave the NRCA to continue on to the Sandborn Road and the end of the trail where old farming equipment can be seen. Over 25 varieties of wildflowers were seen with Great Hound's Tongue, buttercups, balsam root, Bigroot cucumber, ball head waterleaf, and lupine being the predominant ones. A few naked broomrape were seen. We saw bear scat just before the sign for the NRCA. No one else was on the trail today.The wildflowers should continue to improve over the next 2 weeks. Poison oak is growing well!
Day hike
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Wildflowers blooming
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Directions to the TH are accurate in Craig Romano's Day Hiking Columbia River Gorge. The road was bu...
Directions to the TH are accurate in Craig Romano's Day Hiking Columbia River Gorge. The road was built to transport apples from Husum in the White Salmon River valley to the Upper Snowden Road. The hike is 5.4 miles round trip with 1290 ft elevation gain. After climbing through forest for about.7 miles the trail opens up to traverse slopes which today were covered with balsamroot, yellow desert parsley, and several wild cucumber plants. Below and above are beautiul white oak trees. Our timing for prime bloom couldn't have been better! Words and even pictures can't show the awesome beauty of the flowers and white oaks! You had to be there! The display of old farm equipment at the eastern TH was interesting. There is a large sign at 1.8 miles where you enter the DNR White Salmon Oak Natural Resources Conservation Area. We saw our first Great Hound's Tongue in the forest at the beginning and again at the top. A few calypso orchids, deep pink pea flowers, striped coral root, 2 dogwood trees, and blue violets were also seen.
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming
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Lola and I ventured on our first hike together. I picked the Weldon Wagon Road since I figured it wo...
Lola and I ventured on our first hike together. I picked the Weldon Wagon Road since I figured it would be wide enough for her jogging stroller and that we might escape the rain and see some wildflowers.
Well we got two out of three. We did see some cool wildflowers lit with bright sunshine through the cloud breaks. The hike starts out on a jeep road then it gets narrower and narrower as it climbs out of the woods and into the open Oak woodlands. The tread is really a single-track by the time you reach the border into the DNR Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA). So to keep Lola level I had to keep two wheels on the trail and hold the stroller up so the third wheel hung out over the steep trail edge. (the stroller was leashed to my wrist!) Craig Romano's Day Hiking in the Columbia River Gorge has a nice write up and useful map. We only hiked up to the edge of the NRCA (about 1.8 miles up) so next time I'd like to go all the way. We did see some lovely Calypso Orchids in the mixed forest near the start of the trail and several other flowers that I didn't recognize. I also thought I recognized some balsam root leaves just starting to poke out. The Oak trees were really incredible; such interesting shapes and textures. Aside from the steep side slope higher on the ridge, the other hazard to be aware of is poison oak, it hasn't leafed out yet, but I swear I saw its evil twigs just beyond the trails edge. |
 R. Ojerio
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