The Trask River is in northwestern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It drains a mountainous timber-producing area of the

Northern Oregon Coast Range The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part o ...

west of

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

into

Tillamook Bay Tillamook Bay is a small inlet of the Pacific Ocean, approximately 6 mi (10 km) long and 2 mi (3 km) wide, on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located just north of Cape Meares in western Tillamook Count ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. It is one of five rivers—the

Tillamook Tillamook may refer to: Places: * Tillamook County, Oregon, United States * Tillamook, Oregon, a city, the seat of Tillamook County * Tillamook River, United States * Tillamook Bay, a bay in the northwestern part of Oregon * Tillamook Head, a natur ...

, the Trask, the

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

, the Kilchis, and the

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—that flow into the bay. The main stem of the river is long from where its two forks join at . The North Fork, long, rises in several forks itself in the

Tillamook State Forest The Tillamook State Forest is a publicly owned forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. Managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry, it is located west of Portland in the Northern Oregon Coast Range, and spans Washington, Tillamook, Yamhill, and Cl ...

in western Washington County, west of

Forest Grove, Oregon Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a commuter town in the Portland metro area. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850, then incorpora ...

. It flows generally west into eastern

Tillamook County Tillamook County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,390. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook or Killamook people, a Native American tribe who we ...

. The South Fork, long, rises in southern Tillamook County at and flows generally northward. The river is known for its runs of

Steelhead Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...

and

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

. The river is named for

Elbridge Trask Elbridge Trask also known as Eldridge Trask (July 15, 1815 – June 23, 1863) was an American fur trapper and mountain man in the Oregon Country. Immortalized by a series of modern historical novels by Don Berry, he is best known as an early whit ...

who settled on the shores of Tillamook Bay in 1848. Trask's overland journey was described in the 1960 historical novel ''Trask'' by Don Berry, as well as two sequels. The novels are collectively known as the "Trask novels."

Course

The Trask River is formed by the confluence of North Fork Trask River and South Fork Trask River near Trask County Park in the Tillamook State Forest. It is paralleled for much of its length by Trask River Road. Flowing generally west, the river receives Rowe Creek from the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

about from the mouth, then Samson Creek from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

about later. Over the next Burton, Blue Ridge, Hatchery, Trowbridge, Little Rock, and Panther creeks all enter from the right. The river passes a United States Geological Survey

stream gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation ("stage") and/or volu ...

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle road ...

(RM) 10.95 or river kilometer (RK) 17.62, just before receiving Cedar Creek from the right. Thereafter, Gold and Hanenkrat creeks enter from the left and Green Creek from the right. The river receives Mill Creek from the left about from the mouth. About later, the stream passes under

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

and flows around the southwestern edge of Tillamook. Receiving Hoquarten and Nolan sloughs from the right, it merges with the Tillamook River and flows into Tillamook Bay near Memaloose Point.

Discharge

The

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

(USGS) monitors the flow of the Trask River at a

inland from the mouth of the river. Based on data collected from April 1996 through 2008, the average flow at this gauge is . This is from a drainage area of , about 89 percent of the total Trask River watershed. The maximum flow recorded there was on November 25, 1999, and the minimum flow was on September 11, 2007.

References

External links

Trask River Steelhead circa 1936
{{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rivers of Tillamook County, Oregon Rivers of Washington County, Oregon

Course

Discharge

See also

References

External links