This hike on the Wilson River Trail winds through dense forest filled with moss and ferns, passing numerous small creeks and opening to views of the Coast Range mountains along the way.

distance: 6.2 miles (out and back)
elevation gain: 1,150 ft.
difficulty: moderate
trailhead: Diamond Mill
drive time from Portland: 1 hour
parking pass: none

Located in the Oregon Coast Range, the Wilson River Trail runs for about 24 miles with multiple access points from Highway 6. The Keenig Creek trailhead marks the west end of the trail, while the Idiot Creek trailhead currently marks the east end. There are many options for covering the sections of this trail as out and back hikes or as shuttle hikes, with most trailheads located right off the highway.

This hike begins at the Diamond Mill Trailhead near Jones Creek. A large staging and camping area for off-road vehicles, this trailhead also provides access to the Wilson River Trail, which the OHVs are not allowed on. From the parking lot, the trail starts at a large bridge over the North Fork of the Wilson River. To see Lester Creek Falls, before beginning the hike, backtrack about 1/10 mile to a view of the waterfall on the other side of the river.

For a map of this hike, see the end of this post.

After a week of heavy rains, the lower section of this hike was filled with spider webs covered with dew which made them more visible from the trail. There were literally hundreds of webs in this area, which was both very cool and kinda creepy.

The Coast Range forest is dense with many shades of green – a mix of Douglas fir, sitka spruce, and alder trees – and the understory is almost completely filled with ferns.

While never too steep, this hike is still a good workout with a couple of sections that head uphill steadier than others. Several small streams cross the trail along the way.

Near the highest point of the hike, the trail levels out along a ridge with big views of the surrounding Coast Range mountains.

We stopped at a viewpoint where the trail widens enough to allow several people to sit and we had our lunch before continuing a short distance to Lester Creek.

Based on all of the recent rain, I was expecting Lester Creek to be running higher than it was. On previous hikes, it was a bit difficult to cross without getting water in my hiking shoes, but it would have been easy to do on this hike. However, we were doing a shorter hike on this day so we turned around at this point and headed back to the trailhead.