Champoeg to Butteville Hike
From Oregon Hikers Field Guide
- Start point: Champoeg Visitor Center Trailhead
- End point: Butteville Store
- Hike type: In and out
- Distance: 5.8 miles
- Elevation gain: 300 feet
- High point: 175 feet
- Difficulty: Easy
- Seasons: All year
- Family Friendly: Yes
- Backpackable: No
- Crowded: Yes
Contents |
Description
Heading down from the Champoeg State Heritage Area Visitor Center, there are two directions one can go. A loop around the west side of the park takes you to the area of the Champoeg Townsite and the Provisional Government Monument (See the Champoeg Loop Hike). Going east takes you past the campground, a nature trail loop where Champoeg Creek joins the Willamette, and then a two-mile jaunt along a paved bicycle trail and roads to reach historic Butteville and its 1863 store and museum. Both walks can be combined for about eight miles of hiking.
Before beginning the loop, take a tour of the small Visitor Center, which is well-worth your time. Here you can also pick up a map of the state park. A paved trail heads along behind the Visitor Center and past a gate leading to the grounds of the Manson Homestead. The 1862 barn has been restored; there’s also an apple orchard and a kitchen garden. Take the switchback downhill and cross Mission Creek on a footbridge. Then cross the park road and go right on a paved bicycle trail. Enter an open prairie and cross a branch of Mission Creek. Follow the trail as it parallels the road along an oak grove. Reach the junction with the Townsite Trail and keep on the bike trail.
From here, the paved path crosses Champoeg Creek on a road bridge. Soon, there’s the junction with the Kitty Newell Trail, where you go left. This chip trail soon branches. Head left under cedar, grand fir, big-leaf maple and hazel to Kitty Newell’s Gravesite. The trail continues farther across a grassy field dotted with English daisies. There’s a lone picnic table. The trail becomes a narrow, muddy track that heads into the thickets above the creek and drops a little, ending up in a blackberry patch. Return to the junction and go left on the Nature Trail. At a junction, turn left in grand fir woods. Toothwort, trillium, and violets all bloom here in the spring. The trail reaches the bluff above the river and runs along it under Douglas-firs and cottonwoods. Reach a junction with a cutoff trail and keep left. At the next junction, go left to the bike trail and go left again.
The bike trail heads along the edge of the campground and crosses a bridge over Ryan Creek. Then, the path enters lovely, shady woods. There’s a junction with a gravel road and then the trail passes above a small wetland near a stretch of private property. The path rises and then drops to narrow Schuler Road. Keep right and head uphill to the junction with Butteville Road. Here the bike trail heads along the left shoulder of the road downhill into Butteville. The trail ends at the historic Butteville Store, operated by the Friends of Historic Champoeg, and open from May through October. Return to the Visitor Center the way you came.
Before leaving, you can walk from the Visitor Center parking lot to the reconstructed Robert Newell House (1852). The grounds here include the jail (1849) and schoolhouse (1858) from nearby Butteville.
Fees, Regulations, etc.
- $5 day-use fee
- No pets allowed
- Visitor Center, museum, picnic area, campground, bicycle trails
- Guided tours in the summer
- Butteville Store open May through October
- Newell House open 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, holidays - March through October ($4 admission)
Maps
Trip Reports
- Search Trip Reports for Champoeg to Butteville Hike
Related Discussions / Q&A
- Search Trail Q&A for Champoeg to Butteville Hike
Guidebooks that cover this hike
- Wild in the Willamette edited by Lorraine Anderson with Abby Phillips Metzger
- 100 Hikes: Northwest Oregon by William L. Sullivan
- Biking Portland by Owen Wozniak
- Off-Street Paved Bike Paths in Oregon by Rick Bronson
- The Willamette River Field Guide by Travis Williams
- Hiking Oregon's History by William L. Sullivan
- Oregon Campgrounds Hiking Guide by Rhonda & George Ostertag
- Oregon State Parks: A Complete Recreation Guide by Jan Bannan
More Links
- Champoeg State Heritage Area (Oregon State Parks)
- Champoeg Campground (Oregon State Parks)
- Hike of the Month: Champoeg State Park (Trailkeepers of Oregon)
- Friends of Historic Champoeg
- Historic Butteville Store (Friends of Historic Champoeg)
- The Robert Newell House (Oregon State Society of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution)
Page Contributors
- bobcat (creator)