The Real Oregon

It’s been a while since we tried Amtrak, so — feeling optimistic — we took the train back up to Eugene from our recent trip to Klamath Falls.

The bad news: We arrived home two and a half hours late. That’s on a four-hour trip. The Coast Starlight is so perpetually late on its northward run that, rumor has it, Amtrak no longer sells tickets to board the train from Eugene north. That’s probably because passengers were dying of boredom in the train stations.

The good news: The run from K Falls to Eugene is utterly spectacular. We sat transfixed in the observation car for hours as the train made its way over the Cascades, through high desert Ponderosa pine on the east side and dense, wet Douglas fir forest on the west. That’s one huge forest, with practically nothing in it except the scars of the Forest Service’s industrial tree farming.

The train track clings to high cliffs, causing passengers to gasp in delight. It goes through an abundance of tunnels and avalanche sheds.

This would make a lovely fall trip; the colors are only just beginning to show at higher elevations this year.

And we would love to go back in winter and see the mountains under snow.

If you don’t mind being late, the fare’s a bargain: $27 one way.

Old growth forest is kind of like pornography — no one can define it but all Oregonians know it when we see it.

The easy definitions you hear are pretty good but you don’t want to push them to the wall. “A forest that’s never been logged.” “Trees that haven’t been cut for 500 years.” “300 years.” “250 years.”

Problem is, of course, that none of the definitions quite captures what it is that makes old growth so spectacular and so essential. It’s not just that loggers haven’t driven through yet on their D-9s.

When Oregonians talk about “old growth” they’re almost always envisioning the rich rainforest of the western Cascades slopes, low enough in elevation for there to be real big Doug fir trees and high enough to be up off the valley floor.

But there’s more to old growth than just big trees. The handful of uncut patches in the Willamette National Forest, just east of Eugene, have a primeval, ancient quality to them. They remind some people of cathedrals.

The trees are not uniform. A good number of them have fallen down and begun rotting into the forest floor; you’ll find young healthy trees sprouting from the rotten carcasses of old dead trees — “nurse” trees, they’re called. This, of course, drives loggers crazy. They want to sell those old trees — not let them rot.

Old growth makes for great logging. Instead of cutting 20 or 30 or 50 small trees, you cut one giant. The wood is straight and clear because the big trees have few branches to create knots. Those big trees make a lot of money. Correction: They made a lot of money. Problem is, most of them are gone.

Logging aside, traditional old growth forest offers a rich and varied habitat for wildlife. It has multiple canopies in one forest; the holes left when big trees fall allow for lower deciduous trees to spring up. This creates a lot of biological opportunity for, lets saw, the Northern spotted owl, which prefers not to live anywhere else.

To take a look at a traditional Oregon old growth forest that doesn’t take much walking — it’s even wheelchair accessible — try Delta Old Growth Grove, a gorgeous patch of old growth near the McKenzie River less than an hour from Eugene. Head up the McKenzie Highway toward the mountains, turn right on Aufderheide Drive, which is past Blue River but before McKenzie Bridge. Delta Campground is on your right just past the bridge, perhaps a quarter mile from the highway. Drive into the campground, park at the free parking lot and walk. It’s an easy half-mile loop trail.

For a more extensive list try this book:

Best Old Growth Forest Hikes: Washington & Oregon Cascades (Best Hikes)