Circle Creek Loop Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Circle Creek Trailhead
- End point: Wetlands Walk Loop Junction
- Hike Type: Two loops
- Distance: 3.2 miles
- Elevation gain: 25 feet
- High Point: 40 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: No
Contents |
Hike Description
The North Coast Land Conservancy’s Circle Creek property, just south of Seaside, offers two loop trails: the 2 ½ mile Wetlands Walk and the ¾ mile Legacy Loop. The former trail takes you across former pastureland that gets flooded at times of high water. In 2013, the conservancy destroyed berms to complete a restoration plan that allows the Necanicum River to flood freely in this area, thus mitigating the perennial problem of flooding across a neighboring stretch of Highway 101. The second trail takes you into a boggy forest and up a Sitka spruce hillside. The location is great for birdwatching, and a herd of about 100 elk seems to stay in place for most of the year. The public is welcome to walk on the property, but note that no dogs are permitted, and you must sign a release form before setting out on a hike.
Enter the large barn on the north side of the vehicle turnaround. There should be a table with a visitors’ book with a Trails Use and Release Form, which you need to sign. Walk through the barn, and turn right past a trail sign that points up a gravel tread. The route passes through plantings of Sitka spruce and takes a bridge over Circle Creek. Keep straight (don’t get distracted by elk trails) on a grassy track that winds through young spruce and cedar. Gnarly old alders overhang Circle Creek to your left. The route bends right and then left following trail posts. You’ll tunnel through more cedar and spruce before bearing right across the north end of an open field, with a thicket of alder to your left. Turn left onto a grassy track at a trail post. The track dips into a muddy avulsion channel – this is where the nearby Necanicum River spills into Circle Creek in times of high water. Come to a trail post near a powerline pole.
Go left here to begin the Wetlands Walk Loop, but first scan the open expanse to the north for any sign of the resident elk herd. The trail uses a lengthy boardwalk, put where there was once a dike, in a dark and boggy spruce forest. Huge nurse stumps are remnants of the massive old growth that once towered over these marshes. Then there’s a shorter boardwalk and then a longer zigzagging one before you exit the swampy woods and reach a wide mowed path that takes you south. The Necanicum River flows to the left as you pass through plantings of spruce and cedar. When you reach the loop junction, go left to return to the barn.
If you’re standing on the north side of the barn facing north, you’ll head left for the shorter Legacy Loop Trail. A wide grassy track takes you past a Rotary Club plaque as Circle Creek meanders to your right. Bear left at a trail sign, and cross a footbridge and boardwalk over a skunk-cabbage swamp. Entering the dark lushness of the spruce forest, you’ll pass a massive nurse stump hosting several spruce and hemlock trees. Turn left at the beginning of the loop, and hike through a sedge/sword fern/alder bog and cross a footbridge over a creek. The trail ascends the base of a slope and then drops to pass over a footbridge and plank walk next to a small creek. Complete the loop and return to the barn.
Maps
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- Open to the public dawn to dusk
- Sign the release form in the north barn
- No dogs permitted
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Circle Creek Loop Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Circle Creek Loop Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Urban Hikes Oregon by Adam Sawyer
- Day Hiking: Oregon Coast by Bonnie Henderson (Legacy Loop only)
More Links
- Welcome to Circle Creek Conservation Center (North Coast Land Conservancy)
- Circle Creek (North Coast Land Conservancy)
- About Us (North Coast Land Conservancy)
- “Birdwatching, botanical drawing and more at Circle Creek (Seaside Signal)
Contributors
- bobcat (creator)