Hiking summer solstice on Alpine and Tire Mountain trails

Summer solstice seems a good day to be in the woods — last year. This year the weather was cool, potentially cloudy but no rain in Willamette Valley, and after last week’s long trip (Ochoco, Smith Rock, McKenzie River) a close-in hike was necessary for carbon karma. Three options were on the table: Alpine and Tire Mt (Oakridge), Mary’s Peak, and upper Middle Fork Willamette. Mary’s Peak is crowded in summer and well know ground without many surprises. Middle Fork Willamette still has snow in far upper range so would be muddy / wet. Alpine / Tire Mt is the shortest drive and completely new – plus, I love supporting the small towns of Westfir and Oakridge. -> Alpine / Tire Mt was the obvious choice – with the key caveat that these are mixed-use trails, primarily mountain biking (mtb).

Arriving at the TH at this wonderful city park (same th as North Fork Middle Willamette and my post), I learned that the next day (Thursday, June 22) is a large 4-day mountain bike event at the park and on those trails. Key question leaving the trailhead would be how many mtbs would disrupt my hike.

The Route / Trail (recorded track)

The Westfir Covered Bridge park is the trailhead and wonderful place to start. From the park, up Alpine to the Tire Mt junction then off to Tire Mt. Back down to Alpine and up a bit further to get views of S. Sister, then back to the car. The trail is in perfect condition – clean, soft, and well maintained. MTB damage was much less than expected. There’s a good elevation gain but it’s all up then all down. I found the trail entertaining and had a great time – but expectations need to be clear up-front: a) mixed use trail – there will be MTBs, b) this is a forest trail – views are not to be expected, and c) this is in mixed use forest – not wilderness. For a 45 minute drive, this cascades foothills hike >20 miles is a solid choice as long as one has right expectations and avoids weekends (more MTBs). For the ~21 miles, I encountered a dozen MTBs and all in the last 1/3 of the hike … worked great! All riders were perfectly polite. (map image below, click on ‘track’ above if you want map details)

Leaving early

I tried to start hiking as early as possible around 5am to get as many hours on the trail before MTB riders were out and about. A bit of fog hugged the valleys and the cloud layer thin to burn off quickly

Forest and flowers

A mixed-use forest will be logged, but this operation was pretty tame. Fire damage is quickly disappearing in this section and the vibrant green and forest flowers were on full display.

Tire Mountain summit (a joke?)

After a good 3,500 ft climb to the top of Tire Mountain, my earlier expectations were accurate – there is no view – just a clearing in the trees and an earlier rocky meadow only had views upward (right photo).

Views going up further on Alpine

After returning to Alpine Tr and heading more up the hill toward Alpine Tr TH #3, views of S Sister, Broken Top and Diamond Peak finally reward the hiker.