Coyote Wall Long Loop Hike
From Portland Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Coyote Wall Trailhead
- End point: Coyote Wall Trailhead
- Trail Log: Trail Log
- Hike Type: Loop
- Distance: 9.0 miles
- Elevation gain: 1950 feet
- Difficulty: Moderate
- Seasons: Year round
- Family Friendly: Yes, but some cliffs
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Not yet
- Extras:Flowers
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Hike Description
This hike begins at the Coyote Wall Trailhead. Start by crossing Courtney Road and head east on closed Highway 8. This was the main highway up the Washington side of the Gorge in an earlier era. You'll soon come to an abandoned cattle chute and a junction with the Coyote Canyon Trail. This hike is a loop, so you can go either way. I've found that if you start early, the canyon can be shaded early in the morning. For this page we'll head up the top first and come down the valley.
Continue east on the old highway. You'll pass a several boulders that have fallen from the wall on to the roadway. It's pretty obvious why they relocated the highway away from the cliffs! The old road rounds the end of the wall and continues straight east. The wall here are good places to find Pungent Desert Parsley and Prairie Stars early in the season. About 0.6 miles from the trailhead, you'll come to another trail junction. Turn left on the dirt path and head up the hill. Once you're up on the first set of rocks turn left again on an old road toward the west. About 1/4 mile later turn left again on to a single track bike path. All of this is simpler than it sounds, just keep turning left as you ascend, to stay close to the top of the wall.
This is a wild flower heaven early in the season. Look for Grass Widows first, in late February, then a succession of Prairie Stars, Yellow Bells, Poet's Shooting Stars and Camas dot the area. You'll be climbing over 1500 feet and the flowers change some with elevation, blooming later as you go up. There's a great viewpoint of Coyote Wall about 1/4 mile beyond the second left turn. From here, you can look straight down at your car, or farther up the wall at the work ahead of you.
Soon you'll come to another trail. This trail (old 4 wheel drive road) goes east and eventually connects up to the Catherine Creek trail system. There's more information on this trail on the Catherine Creek to Coyote Wall Hike page.
Continue up the trail as it works its way along the crest of the wall. You'll pass through a fence about half way up, evidence that this was recently private land. Above the fence there is a downhill path that provides an almost arrow straight shot up (or more likely down) the mountain. A more hiker-friendly path switches back and forth crossing the downhill run. You'll cross under a set of powerlines and pass through a couple more fences. Above these fences, take a left fork and follow the single track path, once again near the edge of the cliffs. You'll pass a memorial for a biker that died in a tragic accident when he accidentally went over the edge of the cliff. Eventually you'll reach the top of the biker's downhill run, marked by a large pine. We've called this the Coyote Wall Upper Viewpoint. Take some time here to eat lunch and relax. You've got a bit of climbing left, but it's a lot easier now.
Leaving the viewpoint, you have a couple of options. You'll see a trail junction a few feet north of the viewpoint. The easy way is to take the right fork. There's an easy twisting path for about 1/10 of a mile, where it comes to a closed road. Turn left here and follow the easily graded road for 0.9 miles to the Atwood Road Trailhead. For the more adventurous take the left fork back at the viewpoint. This is the Crybaby Trail. It's narrow, it's narrow and it's narrow. It also rests right at the edge of the cliffs. This isn't the route for kids, horses or anyone uncomfortable with heights. On the plus side, it offers great views back down the Coyote Canyon and it's often a great place to watch large birds floating on the breeze. The Crybaby Trail is less than a half mile long and it ends with a 30 foot scramble up to the closed road. You'll come out at a road intersection. Turn left and follow the road about 1/2 mile to the Atwood Road Trailhead.
Follow Atwood Road for about 1/10 mile and then continue downhill on Courtney Road. You'll pass a wonderful view to the west including Hood River and Bingen. You'll road walk about 0.9 miles down Courtney Road to the Courtney Road Trailhead. Turn left on to the Coyote Canyon Trail.
This trail works it's way up and down through the woods. At one point there's an unmarked junction where you'll follow the heavy bike tracks. You'll pass a cement foundation overgrown by trees and then enter an area filled with piles of brush. There's a trail junction with the Wizard Trail that's almost impossible to spot.
Now the trail turns into a pleasant walk down through an oak forest. There's room here for the mind to wander and you'll notice that the trail was built for bikes instead of feet. There are area where the path loops from side to side in a lazy S, where a hiking path would take a straighter course across the meadow. There's one point where the trail suddenly drops 50 feet, only to rise just as steeply back up. A hiker path could have stayed on the ridge. It's all really more thought provoking than troubling. Most importantly, the trail provides access to a beautiful area to hikers and bikers alike.
There are several viewpoints of Coyote Wall as the trail drops down the hill. There are patches of Grass Widows, Glacier Lilies and Oaks Toothwort in the spring. Watch out for poison oak, if you step off trail. Lower down the trail comes near a creek and then crosses a seasonal stream twice. Eventually there's one last S and you'll arrive at the Cattle Chute. Turn right for the 100 feet back to your car.
Note:This is a fairly new hike in a relatively new addition to the National Forest System. This is an area used primarily by bicyclists. There are places in wilderness-like areas where bicyclists can seem to be out of place to more sedate hikers. Sometimes, the rush and clatter can be intimidating when we're looking for quiet solitude. This is not one of those places. This is an area developed by responsible bikers for bike use. Bikers design and maintain the trails, as well as having a huge involvement in ongoing Forest Service management discussions. Bicycling is the leading form of recreation here and hopefully will remain so in the future. In my experience, the bikers have always been friendly and I've always felt welcome to share their trails in my own, slower, step by step fashion. Hikers are very welcome, but bikers call this home. Be sure to look uphill often.
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
Regulations or Restrictions, etc.
- No parking permit needed
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Coyote Wall Long Loop Hike
Coyote Wall 3-16-08 4/30/06 7/30/06 12/6/06
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Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Coyote Wall Long Loop Hike
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Guidebooks that cover this hike
- 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon - 3rd Edition, by William L Sullivan
Contributors
- Jim Sifferle (creator)
- stevefromdodge