We got up early on the 4th of July and drove up to Mary’s Peak, which is located southwest of Corvallis and, at about 4,097 feet, is the highest point in Oregon’s Coastal Range. (Interestingly enough, exactly one month ago, on June 4th, I’d expressed interest in Mary’s Peak in our entry about Alsea Falls.) Our goal was to hike the Meadowedge Trail to the summit. This is a slightly longer trail and more of a real “hike” than the trail that leaves from the car-accessible viewpoint. The trail forms a short loop and offers a spur to the summit midway.

For a couple of new parents trying to get back to hiking (and eventually camping and backpacking), this was a perfect destination. Before Evan was born, we always preferred longer, more remote trails. And as luck would have it, we’d always skipped over Mary’s Peak. Well, now that we’re trying to hike with Evan, we’re going back through our William L. Sullivan books (1, 2) looking for closer, shorter hikes like this one!

The Meadowedge trail passes through a rare stand of old-growth noble fir. The forest floor was surprisingly clean and covered with low, lush greenery. The meadows yielded several beautiful wildflowers such as the Western Columbine and Turk’s Cap Lily shown here.

At the summit, you’re supposed to be able to — on a clear day — see across the Coast Range to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and across the Willamette Valley to the Cascades in the east. But even on a less than clear day, such as the day of our visit, Mary’s Peak offers an amazing perspective on the region. Upon our arrival at the summit, we were sandwiched between a cottony layer of clouds above and a rolling sea of fog below. Seeing the tips of other Coastal Range peaks rising above the fog created the impression that we were in the midst of a mystical island chain.

A sea of fog surrounds Mary's Peak on the morning of July 4

After completing the loop, we drove back up to the viewpoint, had a picnic, and enjoyed the view that was finally starting to open up as the fog burned off and the clouds lifted.

I’ve put some photos into a public gallery, but I also added a couple close-up photos of Evan from the trip to his June/July album.

This entry was posted by Steve on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Family, Local/Regional, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.