Canada plum (Prunus nigra), Springbrook Park (bobcat)

Interpretive signs at the site of the Prosser Iron Mine, Iron Mountain Park (bobcat)

View to Cooks Butte from Iron Mountain (bobcat)

• Start point: Sundeleaf Drive Trailhead
• End Point: Iron Mountain Overlook
• Trail Log:
• Hike Type: Loop
• Distance: 3.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 355 feet
• High Point: 465 feet
• Difficulty: Easy
• Seasons: All year
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Description

Two parks on the slopes north of Oswego Lake, Springbrook Park and Iron Mountain Park, preserve a variable mixed woodland that includes Pacific madrone and Oregon white oak. You can connect the two using quiet neighborhood streets. The Iron Mountain Park trails are part of Lake Oswego's new Iron Heritage Trail, and the area was the site of the Prosser Iron Mine. The hike directions begin from Sundeleaf Drive, but there are many options for accessing this loop.

Head into Springbrook Park and, at a junction, go right. Go left at the next junction and head downhill. This is a deciduous woodland of big-leaf maple, cherry, sword fern, Indian plum, and Oregon grape. At the next junction, keep straight and then straight again at a four-way junction. Drop down into a dip and head up to Wembley Park Road. Bear right on a paved sidewalk and cross to the left side of Wembley Park at the junction with Fir Ridge Drive. Cross Glen Eagles Road and come to a junction. Here, go left on Twin Fir Road. Walk one block, go left on Edgemont Road, and hike to a dead end.

At the dead end, find a trail heading down to the right into Iron Mountain Park. This is a mixed woodland of Douglas-fir, big-leaf maple, western hemlock, and western red-cedar. The trail switchbacks down four times and heads across a footbridge over a small creek. Head left on a trail. At a junction, keep left and make a horizontal traverse in the woods. There’s a large stables and horse exercise area (the Hunt Club) to the right. The trail reaches a very different madrone, oak, and Douglas-fir woodland. Indian plum blooms everywhere in early spring. Head up to a junction, and go right here for a level walk along the Iron Mountain bluff on an old wagon road turned railroad bed which served to take ore from the Prosser Iron Mine. Reach a dead end at an unpaved street and return to the junction. Go right and head up below an oak-forested hillside. Reach a picnic table and get a view across to Cooks Butte, described in the Luscher Farm-Cooks Butte Loop Hike. Oswego Lake is barely visible beyond a low ridge. Interpretive signs tell about the Prosser Iron Mine. A couple of shafts went into the hill behind the signs, but they are well-disguised now. There’s an overlook platform here as well.

Reach Glen Eagles Road and head up to the right. At the junction with Prestwick Road, turn right and head around to Crest Drive, turning left and dropping to Wembley Park Road. Cross the road and go left on a paved sidewalk along the rim of Springbrook Park. Take a trail leading in on the right before the first house. At a junction, go right under maples, cherries, and cottonwoods, with an understory of Indian plum, sword fern, holly, ivy, and Oregon grape. Keep left at a junction and cross a boardwalk in a wet area. The trail curves left at a junction. At another junction, go right. Keep right and then left at a spur leading to the grounds of the Uplands Elementary School. At a four-way junction, keep straight and head up along the boundary of Springbrook Park. The trail hooks left and then right back to the trailhead on Sundeleaf Drive.

Fees, Regulations, etc.

• Dogs on leash
• Park hours 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Maps

• City of Lake Oswego Trails and Pathways (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
• Springbrook Park (City of Lake Oswego)

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Iron Mountain-Springbrook Park Loop Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Iron Mountain-Springbrook Park Loop Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• none

More Links

• Springbrook Park (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
• Friends of Springbrook Park
• Springbrook Park/Uplands Elementary (Portland Family Adventures)
• Iron Mountain Park (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
• "Lake Oswego's new Iron Heritage Trail offers walkers and bicyclists glimpses of the city's industrial past" (The Oregonian)
• Oswego Iron Heritage Trail (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
• The Prosser Iron Mine (Lake Oswego Parks and Recreation)
• Iron Mountain Trail (Property Blotter)

Page Contributors

• bobcat (creator)