Eugene's Best Hike
As a resident of Eugene, Oregon I'm extremely lucky to have this hike just 10 minutes from my house. Every day I can look out my back window and see this butte. Often times there is fog drifting through the trees gives the pine trees a signature Pacific Northwest look. But the day of this hike was particularly clear and sunny, which was a treat since January is in the middle of our rainy season. Eugene is actually considered a temperate rainforest, which means we usually have 6 months of solid rain from the end of fall to the middle of spring. The upshot of this is that most plants remain green all year which is especially nice when you hike through the woods leading up to Spencer Butte's summit.
Here's a quick preview of a view from the summit:
The Ridgeline Trail
There are three hikes available to climb Spencer Butte, but my favorite is the Ridgeline Trail. This one takes about 2 hours and seems to be one of the less popular trails. I believe the reason for this is that the trailhead isn't well known and that the parking lot is pretty small. It is also slightly steeper than the main trail, although not as steep as the third trail. This makes for a nice middle of the road degree of difficulty compared to the two other trails.
After you arrive at the Ridgeline parking lot you must cross the road to begin the trail. This can be a bit confusing as the start of the trail isn't immediately obvious after you arrive but if you walk north up the road just a bit you'll see the sign.
After a few minutes of hiking the tree cover envelops you and you're surrounded by moss covered trees and ferns. Walking through the lower section almost feels like walking through a scene in Jurassic Park.
Here you can really see the affects of the constant rainfall in western Oregon. Everything is wet and growing. You'll also notice how quiet everything is. Due to the tall trees and the low undergrowth, there aren't many birds close to the ground. This gives the impression that most of the life along the trail is plant based.
About a third of the way through the hike the sun came out. This made for particularly nice moments. We turned a corner and started walking into the sun. The moss covered undergrowth was lit up by the sunlight casting beautiful shades of green light throughout the forest. Although it is difficult to take pictures directly facing the sun I did my best to capture what I saw.
Most of the trail is just packed dirt but at some points there are wood or stone steps. Near the base of the butte most of the steps are wood and seem to just hold dirt in place, while near the summit the steepness requires steps carved out of the rock. The wood steps are sided with small logs which makes for some lovely leading line in photos.
As I continued the hike the trail got steeper, particularly around the top. Looking off to the left or right you can use the trees as a gauge of how steep things are getting, which is a nice way to maintain perspective.
Finally, I broke tree cover about four fifths of the way up. At this point the trail was pretty rocky and consist mostly of stone steps.
The Summit
After about an hour and fifteen minutes of hiking we made it! There's a spectacular view in almost every direction so it's difficult to figure out where to look once you're on top of the butte, but its not a bad problem to have!
If you look due north you can see the city of Eugene:
The view from the north west is equally pretty, especially with the rocks and trees in the foreground:
But my favorite view is facing south west as you might have guessed form the thumbnail of this post:
The Descent
After hanging out, chatting, and taking some more pictures at the summit, I began my descent. Took a few more pictures on the way down but by now you probably have the gist of the trail so I'll keep the explanations to a minimum.
This may help convey the height of the old trees which line the trail:
There are quite a few felled trees along the way and if you're interested in the age of the trees heres picture where you can count the rings! I haven't done it so if you actually do please let me know in the comments!
I almost forgot, but we actually saw a couple deer on the way down! While these aren't wildly exciting to see in some parts of the country, they are pretty uncommon in Oregon. Unfortunately, my flash turned on when I took this picture and scared off the deer.
There was also a pretty gnarly overturned tree along the way.
After about 45 minutes, we were back at the car. We drove home and as the sun set I took this picture of the butte we just hiked. As I mentioned at the beginning, I'm extremely lucky to live so close to such a nice hike.
Thanks so much for reading!
If you have any questions about the hike or the area in general please let me know in the comments below!
