Cottonwood Canyon State Park

Saturday, April 3, 2021

Today we visited Cottonwood Canyon State Park, which neither of us have visited before. Our first hike of the day was the Pinnacles Trail, which follows an old ranch road downstream along the John Day River.

A quick note about this hike. We had heard that the trail was closed at some point because of eagle nesting. We saw not a single sign about this anywhere. Later I wrote to the park staff and they replied that yes the closure was in effect and that there should have been signs. You can read more about the eagle closure here.

We parked along the road to the campground and started hiking the trail that ran parallel to the road. Wildflowers greeted us right away:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

It was pleasant out, with no wind, although it was completely overcast and stayed that way all day. We could hear canyon wrens, red wing blackbirds, and meadowlarks:

Pinnacles Trail

We hiked 0.3 miles to the end of the campground, we discovered there was a proper Pinnacles Trailhead with parking. Well, now we know for next time.

Pinnacles Trail

We continued down the Pinnacles Trail:

Pinnacles Trail

And soon passed an info kiosk:

Pinnacles Trail

Looking upriver:

Pinnacles Trail

Looking downriver:

Pinnacles Trail

More wildflowers:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Saw some of these fuzzy caterpillars:

Pinnacles Trail

Continuing:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

We reached a junction with the Upper Walnut Trail and took it:

Pinnacles Trail

This trail parallels the old ranch road we had been walking on:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Showy phlox:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Nice bench for admiring the view:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

We reached an open gate:

Pinnacles Trail

Not long after the gate we stopped at a river bend with a view across the river to the Pinnacles. We stopped for a snack and made this our turnaround point:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

We spotted a belted kingfisher on a branch:

Pinnacles Trail

We hadn’t seen anyone else all morning but three backpackers passed us heading back to their car. Dogs are required to be on-leash in the park, but theirs was running around off-leash.

After our break we headed back:

Pinnacles Trail

Pinnacles Trail

Big old tree:

Pinnacles Trail

Next up was the Hard Stone Trail, which was an old ranch road going upstream (unlike the Pinnacles Trail, which had gone downstream):

Hard Stone Trail

Right by the trailhead are these stone ruins. In his hiking book, William Sullivan calls this a “century-old stone house” and says it “dates to the days when Irish shepherds had the time to pile rocks while watching their flocks”:

Hard Stone Trail

We passed through a very similar landscape to the earlier Pinnacles hike:

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

We saw this cave high up on the cliff on the other side of the river:

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

We reached what looked like an old stone corral:

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

A riverside bench for enjoying the view:

Hard Stone Trail

This butterfly was kind enough to hold still for a photo:

Hard Stone Trail

Saw saw wildflowers:

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

After 45 minutes and 1.6 miles we reached our turnaround point at a sharp bend in the road and river where there’s an eddy:

Hard Stone Trail

Hard Stone Trail

There is an old broken gate here:

Hard Stone Trail

At some point the river got high enough to deposit debris on the road here:

Hard Stone Trail

After a break we turned and headed back:

Hard Stone Trail

Our last stop of the day was driving 10.8 miles to the end of Starvation Lane where there is some kind of primitive boat put-in. This is part of the state park, even though you have to drive a long way around to reach this spot:

Starvation Lane

Starvation Lane

Starvation Lane

A gated gravel road heads upstream from here. We didn’t have a signal but later looked up the info for hiking that stretch.:

Starvation Lane

Starvation Lane

Looking down at road’s end from above:

Starvation Lane

There was a spot on the slope above the road a mile or two before road’s end where there were a whole bunch of shooting stars blooming:

Shooting stars

On the drive home we spotted a male and female turkeys along Highway 197. Fun way to end the day!:

Wild turkeys

Gaia stats for the Pinnacles Trail: 6.2 miles, 120′ elevation gain
For the Hard Stone Trail: 3.2 miles, 40′ elevation gain