Molalla River Recreation Area campground — Attraction in Oregon

I've been there once before a few years ago when my body was less healthy. It was a hard but not impossible hike. Now, after some exercise and eatin' right, it's a great invigorating hike through a network of trails. We planned for 5 miles and it came to just shy of 9 due to a few accidental loopbacks -- Bring an accurate map and GPS. There are some short but serious climbs, so wear good boots, doubly so when it's muddy. Very key is if you park at Hardy Trailhead and take the South Loop, don't try and walk back on the Yellow Gate; That'll be a couple hours on road. Take the Huckleberry Trail back (or Rim Tie or Loop Trail).

Let's be honest; I'm biased toward Oregon. But the sublime, subtlety of this place...

The 1-star is not regarding the scenic corridor because all rivers have a 5-star rating in my book. It is for the utter disregard that some folks "recreating" in this area have for the river. The amount of trash I picked up IN the river is depressing. Not to mention the amount of trash picked up in the pull outs. There is zero respect and love for the land here. Please pick up if you see trash here. I guess a wild fire wasn't enough to convince people they should cherish the places they want to...

The road follows the Mollala River, and it several different spots with parking, pit toilets and more. Not too far down to the river from the parking area, and it's lined by trees. There's places that camp as well as park and go down to the river all along this area. Once you get a several miles up, you'll see a sign that warns you are entering a burn zone. The road up into that is open for a good while, but the side roads and the logging roads are all closed due to danger from the...