Hackleman Creek Old-Growth Trail features wheelchair access

The Hackleman Creek Old-Growth Trail has a unique feature that is not shared by many trails in our area: it is wheelchair accessible. A significant portion of this trail system is hard-packed gravel and is specifically designed for wheelchairs. The trailhead parking area is paved and large enough to accommodate multiple recreational vehicles; it also has a restroom.

If you know of someone who is wheelchair-bound and misses the opportunity to get out into the woods, this may be the answer. There is a self-guided nature trail here, and interpretive brochures are available at the trailhead. There were no brochures on the occasion of our visit, but Forest Service officials assured me that they have since been restocked. Availability remains dependent on demand, however; and the information is not presently available online.

Except for the numbered nature trail interpretive stops, most of the signage was also missing but is in the replacement process. The brochure explains various features of forest ecology at each of the sites, including the Hackleman cutthroat trout - a sub-species found only here. The new signage, which is scheduled for completion next spring, will include an interpretive panel with natural and cultural history.

One existing sign at the trailhead gives a general idea of the trail layout. A second, identical sign appears later on but is confusing because the "you are here" arrow is the same as the one back in the parking lot.

There are three essentially parallel trails. The north and middle loops are the segments accessible by wheelchair, and this complete loop is about one mile. The "Spur Trail" drops down toward Hackleman Creek, and its appearance is more that of a traditional forest trail. It is not wheelchair accessible. Hackleman Creek is named for Abram Hackleman, one of the first settlers of Albany, who came to Oregon in 1847 and was one of the organizers of the Santiam Wagon Road.

Part of the northernmost trail segment, nearest the highway, utilizes the old bed of the Santiam Wagon Road, which was built in the 1860s. The road stretched from Sweet Home across the pass, down Indian Ford Creek, through Camp Polk, and eventually reached the Deschutes River north of present-day Redmond. Little more than a wide trail, the road was a principal trade route between western and eastern Oregon through the remainder of the nineteenth century and on into the twentieth.

The Spur Trail takes off from an area near the junction of the wheelchair segments and is marked by a brand-new, but signless, post. The other end of this trail rejoins the main trail system at a "scenic turnaround" loop by interpretative stop #7. The middle loop showcases most of the big trees, and the south spur trail along the creek features the most varied forest habitat.

Traversing all three trails requires doubling up on one of the loops, and I would recommend doubling the middle loop, where most of the really big trees are found. Making two loops will result in a hike of about two miles. Thimbleberries are ripening all along these trails. This thin, dome-shaped raspberry wannabe is edible, but compared to other offerings in the berry world, really doesn't have a lot to offer in the way of flavor.

The old-growth giants here are mostly Douglas fir, and it's like visiting a Big and Tall store for trees. Some are well over six feet in diameter, and so tall you can get a sore neck just trying to see their tops!

Douglas fir is named for botanist David Douglas, who first observed the tree in 1825, although it was earlier discovered by Archibald Menzies on Vancouver Island in 1791. The scientific name, Pseudotsuga menziesii, honors him. Pseudsotsuga means false hemlock and is testimony to the fact that taxonomists had a hard time classifying this tree until they came up with an entirely new genus (family). The common name continues to cause confusion, since it is not a "true" fir of the genus abies.

While most of the big Douglas firs are on the middle trail, one of the largest trees that we saw was down in the creek bottom on the spur trail in a grove of old-growth silver (true) firs. Old-growth hemlocks are also present in this forest.

This trail is only about a quarter of a mile west of the turnoff for the Echo Basin Trail (see The Nugget, August 25, page 12, or online under "columns" at http://www.nugget

news.com). Since Echo Basin is also a short (2.5-mile) hike, combining the two hikes into one outing is an easy thing to do. We also stopped for a picnic at the nearby Lost Prairie Campground.

To reach the Hackleman Creek Old Growth Trail, travel west from Sisters to the Santiam "Y" and turn left to stay on Highway 20. Travel another 3.5 miles and stay straight on Highway 20 at the Eugene turnoff. From there it's another 5.5 miles to the Hackleman Grove. Another landmark is that, less than a half-mile after passing the Lost Prairie Campground on the left, a sign proclaims that the Hackleman turnoff will be on the left in half a mile. This is not a fee-use area and does not require a Forest Pass.