12 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
This was the first hike described in the 2001 edition of "50 Hikes in the Tillamook State Forest". I can only recommend it as a winter hike. Gentle climb on logging road with a few bits of mature forest. However, I will definitely return on mountain bike! Lots of roads to explore, behind locked gates, no OHVs allowed. No sign of party pigs. The summit road leads to a landing that overlooks a gravel pit. Got to travel some lovely abandoned roads, scramble through two gravel pits and do some fun bushwacking. I even found single track trail that is well maintained, but very lightly used. Did a loop and trespassed onto Weyerhauser land for a bit.
Unfortunately, the only people I saw were two forest engineers who were surveying for a timber sale along Wildcat Mountain road- they made it seem like it was imminent, bummer.
