Spring Wildflowers on Our Favorite Forest Park Loop

We enjoy living in St. Johns partly for easy access to parks and quiet spaces. 

One of our favorite places is Forest Park, especially the trailheads along Germantown Road. Scott and I hike there often, whether we need a longer walk, a training hike, or simply a reset.

This time, it was the trilliums that called me.

Driving back from a doctor’s appointment in Beaverton, I caught sight of a trillium blooming along the roadside. That was all it took.

“We’re hiking tomorrow,” I told Scott.

And so, after a late breakfast the next day, we headed to the woods.

Our Forest Park Start Point

We started at the Leif Erikson Germantown trailhead and pieced together one of our favorite flexible loops.

Our standard loop is about three miles:

– Leif Erikson to Waterline
– right on Waterline
– right on Wildwood
– back via Cannon Trail

Because we’re training for a hiking/rafting trip to Southern Oregon this May, we stretched this one closer to five miles by skipping Waterline and heading farther out before looping back.

That’s one of the best things about hiking in Forest Park: you can make the day what you need it to be.

The Leif Erikson Trail

The one downside to Leif Erikson is that it’s mixed use.

Even midweek, mountain bikers can come flying downhill. Riders climbing up usually give plenty of warning, but downhill traffic can sneak up on you fast, despite the wide gravel road.

If you’re hiking with kids, dogs, or are someone like me who gets distracted taking photos, stay alert. More than once, I’ve been startled out of a flower-induced trance by the sudden ring of a bike bell or Scott hollering «Bike!» to get my attention. 

Once you turn off Leif Erikson, though, the experience changes. The forest settles in, and it’s mostly just you, birdsong, and other hikers.

Trillium & Birdsong at Midday

Even at the trailhead, trillium greeted us. And it persisted all along the trail on both side, through wet or dry soil, sun or shade.

It almost seemed as if we were seeing two different kinds of trillium, though it may simply have been variation within the same species of Pacific Trillium. Some stood tall, nearly a foot high, with broad white petals and bold yellow stamens that made each bloom feel almost theatrical. Others sat lower to the ground, their flowers more delicate, with slender petals and a quieter presence.

Most were a brilliant, almost luminous white, but those in sunnier spots were already beginning to fade, their snow-bright petals blushing the palest pink. In time, they will deepen to a rich mauve before dropping to the forest floor, where they will disappear until next spring. 

Birdsong provided the soundtrack for our hike.

At one bend in the trail, where the hillside formed a natural amphitheater and a small stream helped carry sound, we stopped in our tracks. One bird was singing so loudly we assumed it had to be something sizable.

Instead, we found an LBB — a little brown bird.

Merlin helped confirm it was a Pacific Wren, somehow producing a soundtrack far larger than its tiny body suggested. It flicked its tail at us, gave us a quick look, and then moved on once it realized we were not, in fact, potential mates.

Judging by the sound overhead, it had plenty of other options.

Wildflowers At Every Turn

But Pacific Trillium and Pacific Wrens were only part of the show.

All along the trail, spring was pushing up through the forest floor in flashes of color and texture. Bold yellow stream violets glowed against deep green, heart-shaped leaves, their lower petals lined with fine purple-black stripes like whiskers on a cat. Oregon grape was just beginning to bloom in the sunniest openings, its tall yellow spires catching what light filtered through the trees. 

Fringecup rose from low mounds of leaves, their cream-colored flowers tinged with reddish mouths and fringed edges inviting bees to gather and maybe leave a little pollen. Tiny bright Candy Flower popped up on the dryer slopes, looking like lost cherry blossoms on the forest floor.

Hot pink salmonberry blossoms were impossible to miss, bright sparks against dark foliage that made me smile every time I spotted one. Even the coltsfoot, mostly past its peak, had its own quiet beauty. A few flowers still clung on while broad green leaves spread over boggy patches, shading the damp ground as the days warm.

A Dry Spring in Portland

Even in spring’s abundance, signs of a dry year were already impossible to ignore.

This has been one of the driest years on record, with low rainfall and a disappointing snowpack in the Cascades. On trails like Wildwood, the forest already felt drier than usual.

Moss looked faded in places. Tree ferns were already beginning to curl and shrink back.

It was hard not to think about how fleeting Spring can seem and to worry about the summer ahead.

My advice? Get out and enjoy the beauty while you can. Sometimes the best reason to go for a hike is simply because the trillium called your name.

Information For Your Hike

Forest Park trail access and parking are free. Trails are well marked though a map can come in handy. We use Forest Park Trail Map No. 426S to plan our routes in advance. Germantown Road trailsheads are on the reverse side.

Come prepared to share the trail as this popular trail system can be very busy on weekends and holidays, with parking lots filling early in the day.

There are several access points but the one we use most often is Leif Erikson Trailhead, easily accesible by car from St. Johns with alternate spots before and after along Germantown Road. It has a portapotty and informational signs.