Salmon River Trailhead — Attraction in Sandy

Good trail. Bad people on this trail. Introducing Karen (Heather!) and her horrible K-9! ⚠️ for my dog trail hikers. Beware of this local and her off least dog. Not only did it pass a 50 foot range and 5 humans to get to my dog, it almost bit me! Had I not had winter gear on, this would of been a different experience with more legal action. Don't worry Karen, Rangers and my prior employees at Clackamas County are now aware of your beautiful behavior in this National Treasure in my beloved OR. 😇 Ok, now for the real review of the trail from a geographic aspect. The river part of the trail was great! Alot of coverage and I was not so worried about rain due to the number of trees on the ridge. Make sure you bring the right pass for parking. Parking is right and left of the bridge. Alltrails is a good app for this location. We sadly didn't make it to the peek due to the Karen. However, I suspect it is nice. I think a 10 yr old or plus kiddo can easily do this trail to the view point. No bathrooms here and make sure to bring all valuables. We noticed broken glass in the parking lot, so just be mindful to not have valuables here. Oh, plus for the local Clackamas County Sherriff Search and Rescue down the road. Just hanging out and answering questions from tourists....

Beautiful hike with zero trash on the trail. The campgrounds are pretty small so be wary of going on weekends for space. The parking area at the trailhead is filled with broken glass from smashed windows and we were very worried our car would be damaged while we camped overnight.

If you're going to do the entire loop you absolutely must be an experienced hiker, especially with a heavy pack. There's a 2000+ foot elevation gain from the main campsite about 5 miles in to Kinsel Lake and even as young, athletic guys my group was absolutely exhausted during the second part of the trip.

Speaking of the "lake", prepare to be very disappointed. There's no way to actually get to the water without stepping in foot deep swamp water and the actual lake is very small, not to mention the turn off to the lake is a small red ribbon used to show danger areas on the trail, not a sign pointing to the lake.

Overall, it's a very nice hike to the first set of campgrounds with beautiful views, but past that prepare to work your butt off and go through absolute hell unless you're an...

This trail follows the Salmon River through a pretty, moss-laden forest. Plenty of wildflowers in spring. In the first two miles there are a number of campsites and spots to access the river. After that you enter the wilderness and the trail climbs steadily up and around the dramatic Salmon River gorge. You can catch a couple obstructed glimpses and hear the roar of distant waterfalls, but there aren't any real viewpoints from the trail. Most people pass by the off trail waterfall overlooks, and for good reason--they are hard to find and require scrambling down steep slopes with loose rock above large cliffs. Even though this trail has no sweeping vistas, I really enjoy the beauty of the forest and river.

You can do an out and back trip, a through hike, or tap into the other trails in the Salmon Huckleberry wilderness for a longer backpacking trip. The first few miles of the trail are fairly popular on the weekends, so expect to see plenty of other groups and...