The Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail is a proposed

long-distance trail A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents excep ...

through the

Columbia River Gorge The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Thou ...

and

Hood River County, Oregon Hood River County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,977. The county seat is Hood River. The county was established in 1908 and is named for the Hood River, a tributary of th ...

. The trail will be approximately , although the trail is still unofficial and its exact course is yet to be determined. The trail was first proposed by Tom Kloster on June 20, 2010, and suggests the Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail use existing trails from

Multnomah Falls Multnomah Falls is a waterfall located on Multnomah Creek in the Columbia River Gorge, east of Troutdale, between Corbett and Dodson, Oregon, United States. The waterfall is accessible from the Historic Columbia River Highway and Interstate 84 ...

to Starvation Creek. Prior to this suggestion, the Talapus Trail, connecting the

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

and Larch Mountain was slated for construction in 1974. Hikers openly used trails in the Bull Run Watershed into the 1980s, including the Talapus Trail (never officially constructed).

Sights

The Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail features several

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s, forested land, mountains and valleys. Views from the trail include larger volcanoes in the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

including

Mount Hood Mount Hood is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc. It was formed by a subduction zone on the Pacific coast and rests in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located about east-southeast of Portlan ...

, Mount Adams,

Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United St ...

, and

Mount Rainier Mount Rainier (), indigenously known as Tahoma, Tacoma, Tacobet, or təqʷubəʔ, is a large active stratovolcano in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, located in Mount Rainier National Park about south-southeast of Seattle. With a s ...

. The trail runs along the southern valleys and peaks on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. At times the river is visible during travel on the trail. Common vegetation seen on the trail includes

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

vine maple ''Acer circinatum'', the vine maple, is a species of maple native to western North America. Description It most commonly grows as a large shrub growing to around tall, but it will occasionally form a small to medium-sized tree, exceptionall ...

, and large cedar tree. The trail is in

old-growth An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

for only short sections, as

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

and the

Yacolt Burn The Yacolt Burn is the collective name for dozens of fires in Washington state and Oregon occurring between September 8 and September 12, 1902, causing 38 deaths in the Lewis River area, at least nine deaths by fire in Wind River and 18 deaths in ...

of 1902 destroyed much of the forest.

The Bull Run problem

Because the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

has not made the Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail an official trail yet, and because some proponents of the trail would rather see it run past some remote landmarks such as Mt. Talapus, Eagle Butte, and Table Mountain, the exact course of the trail is still undetermined. All of these landmarks lie within the Bull Run Watershed, which is closed to the public under Public Law 95-200 (PL 95-200 or Bull Run Act). An alternate route, which avoids the Bull Run Watershed boundary, is currently used by hikers, although they do not have the opportunity to see some of the aforementioned places deep in the

when hiking this route. Some hiking is legal in the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, "including of the Pacific Crest Trail, of the Huckleberry Trail, and of the Oneonta Creek Trail," according to

Oregon Health Authority The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is a government agency in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was established by the passage of Oregon House Bill 2009 by the 75th Oregon Legislative Assembly, and split off from Oregon Department of Human Services, O ...

's report on drinking water from 2011. This includes some usage by pack animals. The Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail would share some of the Pacific Crest Trail through the Bull Run Watershed and use some decommissioned roads (both in and out of the watershed). As of July 16, 2012, The Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, the Forest Service, nor the

Portland Water Bureau The Portland Water Bureau is the municipal water department for the city of Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. The bureau manages a water supply that comes mainly from the Bull Run River in the foothills of the Cascade Range east of the city a ...

have allowed for hikers to use any of the sections of the Bull Run Watershed, holding up an official version of the trail. On August 1, 2012, the '' Oregonian'' newspaper reported that the

Portland Police Bureau The Portland Police Bureau (PPB), officially the Portland Bureau of Police, is the law enforcement agency of the city of Portland, the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. While oversight of Portland's bureaus shifts among the five City ...

were loaning

FLIR Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

surveillance equipment to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office for the purpose of detecting people in the Bull Run Watershed. Portland City Council would need to vote on the issue of allowing additional hiking trails to be used in the watershed, but no vote is on the docket so far.

Trail name and signage

The Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail has some controversy around its name. The name comes from former

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Mark Hatfield Mark Odom Hatfield (July 12, 1922 – August 7, 2011) was an American politician and educator from the state of Oregon. A Republican, he served for 30 years as a United States senator from Oregon, and also as chairman of the Senate Appropr ...

, a key figure in conserving the wilderness through which the proposed trail runs. Some feel the name of the trail should not reflect the name of a politician or have issues with Mark O. Hatfield's legacy. Another issue up for debate is what the signage will look like on the Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail. The trail has no signs at all and

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

and backpackers must follow signs for over 15 trails and roads in order to hike the trail in its entirety.

References

External links

Mark O. Hatfield Trail Trip Report from 2011Guide and Information about the Mark O. Hatfield Memorial Trail (includes map)
{{coord , 45.5 , -121.8 , type:landmark_region:US-OR_source:googlemaps_dim:11000 , display=title Hiking trails in Oregon

Sights

The Bull Run problem

Trail name and signage

See also

References

External links