Chehalem Ridge

Metro's newest park is a haven for off-road cycling, nature-watching, and mountain photography

Entering the park

Chehalem Ridge Nature Park opened in 2021 after over a decade of planning. Depending on your age or where you grew up, you may know this area as Dixon Mill or Iowa Hill (so named because an early settler had relocated from Iowa).

It has been timber land since at least the 1940s, until Oregon Metro purchased it from Stimson Lumber in 2008. After an extensive campaign of tree-thinning and non-native plant eradication, the place is looking great.

I am a big fan of the park for a few reasons. It's very close to home, so it's often the best way to get out into nature without driving far. It's less subject to seasonal weather than the mountains or coast; I'm equally likely to visit any season. The extensive, well-maintained trails in a compact space allow me to do whatever I'm in the mood for: bird-watching, hiking, biking, or trail running. Horses are welcome on many trails, too, but I don't have the budget for both bicycles and equestrians.

Today, of course, the two of us are biking but I can't do anything the easy way. Instead of starting at the park entrance on a mountain bike, we push off from Forest Grove on road and gravel bikes.

On the gravel road into the park

We start on pavement, traveling through farms and riparian areas along the same route we took to Molthrop. Near Gaston, we turn east on Dixon Mill Rd and start climbing. And climbing.

And climbing.

The loose gravel starts about a mile before the park entrance but we keep climbing. It's about 900 vertical feet to the park entrance. We're not done yet.

There's plenty of parking, a pavillion, and bathrooms at the entrance. We head straight for the trail (and keep climbing).

Most of the trails are single-track of either crushed gravel or compacted dirt. They are designed for mountain biking with banked turns and rollers but they are in such great shape that I had no problems on a road bike with 35mm tubed tires.

There are about 10 miles of cycle trails here that are shared with hikers. I visited on a Friday and saw an even mix of cyclists and pedestrians. The most remote trails are windy and less-maintained. I didn't ride them and would probably want a proper MTB to tackle the climbs.

As a former tree farm, the forest does look managed and less wild than an older forest. Still, we saw native Western Gray Squirrels (Nearly all squirrels in Hillsboro are the invasive eastern gray), warblers, native flowers, yellow-faced bumble bees, and bee flies.

There's also the views:

That's Mt St. Helens (right) and Mt Rainier (left) in the background

Chehalem Ridge has a few viewpoints scattered throughout the park with views of all your favorite PNW volcanoes.

The high point of the park is the summit of Iowa Hill, an open prairie with views down to Gaston and Wapato Lake.

I'm not a mountain bike rider, but Chehalem Ridge could turn me into one. the trails are mellow. Uphills are a moderate workout and downhills are a lot of fun. We spend about two hours in the park.

Rather than returning the way we came, we decide to make a loop and continue east from the park entrance. It's downhill and packed gravel for less than a mile. From there, it's pavement with some absolutely brutal rollers. Our steepest climbs of the day are out of the gullies of Dixon Mill and Iowa Hill Rd. On the plus-side, more mountain views:

If you think this is a lousy picture of Rainier and St. Helens, keep in mind that I was barreling down a hill a 35MPH, steering 1-handed while snapping this photo.

There used to be a schoolhouse (Iowa Hill School) along this descent. Like a lot of rural one-building schools, a lot of smaller farms cropped up around it. If the building is still there, the owners have disguised it well behind a massive remodel. Farms dot the roads all the way back to the valley floor.

When we're not slowly ascending, we're rocketing downward. We coast down to Blooming where we join up with the Tualatin Valley Scenic Bikeway. From there, it's a few flat miles back to Forest Grove.

I strongly recommend anyone who likes doing anything outdoors, regardless of hobby or skill level, check out Chehalem Ridge. Learn about local flora and fauna, go for a hike, try not to step in horse droppings. It can all be done close to home.

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