Great little trail. Mostly flat and perfect for a quick walk around a beautiful area. Bugs were present and would recommend repellent. Mosquitoes were an issue as were a few very angry flies. The trail was covered in hundreds of little black baby frogs from the surrounding wetlands. They would move around your steps and were the size of crickets. Plenty of small black snakes were also sun basking on areas along the trail edge as well. You can hear them scurry away from the trail. Great little river access as well. Some incredible stumps from great trees long cut down. Would recommend if you are in the area.

This was a great, short hike to do with kids! We had lots of nature to explore around the trail and ample berries to eat (salmon berries & thimbleberries). It was great taking a day off to recharge our vitamin N (for nature) in an easy, rewarding way. Afterwards, we walked down to the river to have a relaxing picnic lunch and play in the shallows. Would highly recommend, especially for those with little people :)

Hiked Oxbow for a short weekend day hike with kids.  Great trail for young ones as it is very flat and not too long.  

Wildflowers are in full bloom, and berries are starting to ripen.  Strawberries were ripe on the trail near the river and salmonberries along the trail are getting there.  Thimbleberries have bloomed but probably have another month.

I didn't have time for any elaborate hike this weekend (garden chores...), but I did manage to convince the family to do a quick Oxbow Loop hike today.

The Middle Fork was VERY busy today, parking at popular locations like Oxbow Loop is a matter of timing, sheer luck or divine intervention.

Oxbow Loop is a great, short family hike at all times of the year. At the moment, the Salmonberries are ripe and most bushes have been picked already!!

If you can't find any berries, maybe enjoy the wildflower bloom? The trail is framed by bright, yellow Buttercup almost all the way. And if flowers are not your thing, maybe look up instead of down. Great views of Russian Butte are to be had on this hike - today the mountain peeked through the low hanging clouds on and off.

The trail is in flawless condition.

Beautiful sunny day! Took my older parents out for a hike today. They really enjoyed being out in the woods for a hike! More elevation gain/loss than I had remembered. We skipped the river trail and I am thinking it may have been where the bench was for the beginning 1/3 of the trail. After getting back to look at a map, we should have taken it for the super quick view. Only saw a few other groups during the several hours we were there.
There was a lot of traffic coming up hwy 18 with the construction adding about 45 minutes to the morning drive. Much shorter delay on the way back.