Airport Park Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Airport Park Trailhead
- End Point: Mushroom House
- Hike Type: Two loops
- Distance: 1.4 miles
- Elevation gain: 30 feet
- High Point: 150 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
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Description
This small woodland next to the McMinnville Municipal Airport was dedicated as a park in 1977. Galen McBee, director of McMinnville’s Parks and Recreation Department as well as its airport, used a CETA grant to hire a crew to build two loop trails around the property. Sam Gandusa, a local sculptor, installed several decorative concrete fountains and a whimsical “mushroom house.” The fountains no longer work, but you can enjoy a short stroll around the 20-acre park on both sides of a tributary of the South Yamhill River. The woods bloom with trillium, toothwort, and woods violet in the spring, and an added bonus - for some - is the occasional activity at the adjoining airfield.
Take the trail leading into the woods to the left of the port-a-potty at the top of the parking lot. You’ll pass a picnic table and the first of Sam Gandusa’s fountains. Keep right under a canopy of white oak, Douglas-fir, and big-leaf maple. At a junction marked by a post, go left and drop to cross a wide footbridge over a creek. Reach the Mushroom House with its mossy cap, and bear right past another fountain to join the outer loop again at a fancy fountain inlaid with oyster shells.
Make a right, and pass a small fenced enclosure that protects a patch of Pacific hound’s tongue (Cynoglossum grande). Pass through a dense thicket next to the airport, and wind around past some spurs that lead out to the airfield. Then you’ll note a grass field and enter a Douglas-fir/maple wood. Cross a footbridge over the creek, and walk by a big Douglas-fir next to a bench. Reach the junction for the short loop again, and make a right.
Retrace your steps over the creek to the Mushroom House and to the junction with the outer loop. Go left to take a sturdy footbridge over the creek and return to your car.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Port-a-potty, picnic tables
- Dogs on leash
Maps
- Maps: Hike Finder
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Airport Park Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Airport Park Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- none
More Links
- Galen McBee Airport Park (City of McMinnville)
- Galen McBee Airport Park (Visit McMinnville)
- Galen McBee Airport Park (The Intertwine)
- Galen McBee Airport Park (Hike It Baby)
- Galen McBee Airport Park, McMinnville (Oregon Runs)
- “A fairy tale park, forgotten by time in McMinnville” (Oregon Live)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)