Alder Flat Trail #574(edit)

Overview

The Alder Flat Trail offers a short but rewarding hike to a swimming hole and primitive campground on the Clackamas River. Despite being overlooked by many hikers, it boasts impressive features such as old-growth trees, a lush forest understory, a beaver pond, skunk-cabbage bogs, and a tranquil bend in the river. Steelhead fishermen particularly enjoy this spot during the spring. While the trail can be busy on warm weekends, it serves as an ideal first backpacking trip for families with young children.

Beginning at the Alder Flat Trailhead, hikers descend through lush old-growth forest with towering Douglas-firs and western hemlocks. Spring brings an array of wildflowers, including trillium, Oregon grape, and vanilla leaf. A shallow draw leads to Dry Creek Pond, once shaped by a family of beavers. The main trail continues to a junction, with a dead-end trail on the left that leads to the old beaver dam and nesting boxes. By staying right, hikers encounter a plaque commemorating the trail's construction by Job Corps volunteers in 1966.

The trail traverses a slope above a swampy gully with skunk-cabbage marshes and tall cedars. Several footbridges allow passage over skunk-cabbage/wood fern creeks, leading to a grove of majestic old-growth cedars. One final boardwalk takes hikers through a horsetail swamp before reaching Alder Flat. This shaded camping area sits on a bend of the Clackamas River, surrounded by bending alders and an eroding bluff. A notable feature in the river is Skull Island, a breccia-like rock formation. Although the campsite has become more primitive over time due to vandalism and lack of maintenance, the swimming hole remains safe as long as caution is exercised in the current.

Getting Started

From I-205, take Exit 12A for Highways 212 and 224E, Clackamas and Estacada.

After exiting, drive 3.2 miles and make a right on Highway 224E for Carver and Estacada.

Go 15.4 miles through Estacada and, at the junction with Highway 211S for Molalla and Woodburn, keep straight on Highway 212 for North Fork Lake.

Continue for 24.9 miles and turn right into the parking area for the Alder Flat Trail. If you reach the Ripplebrook Guard Station, you’ve gone too far.