If you visit the Whipple Creek Hollow Natural Area, there is a sign showing local trails, and the sign includes a trail following east along Whipple Creek from Union Rd.  However, if you go to the start point for this trail, you will see a gate with a “Keep Out” sign on it.

The gate keeps vehicles out, but on foot you can walk around it.  The access road goes to a pair of storm water management ponds, and beyond the ponds is a trail to follow Whipple Creek.  This trail, however, is un-maintained and may be impassable at times.  There are a series of old log walks which help get past some of the muddy areas, but when I visited, the last log ended in a bush and over a puddle.  Without high boots, I could not go further.

It would be great, and likely in the plans of the parks crew, to eventually improve this trail and build a bridge across Whipple Creek so that it can connect to the Salmon Creek Community Club Park and continue up stream to the Whipple Creek Hollow Natural Area.

There has been a lot of new development along Hillhurst Road in Ridgefield.  Behind the new schools and sports complex, a new neighborhood is being built, with a 2000ft path running around it’s west side.  Eventually there will be more trail connections, including connections to the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge.  For now, this is an interesting place to walk just to see the progress of a new neighborhood being built.

The path can be accessed off of 229th St, or on a new neighborhood street.

This quiet neighborhood park has about a half mile of looping path to walk.  A very easy level walk to loop around.  There are three entry points.  Along NE 131st Ave, the end or NE 129th Ave, and at the end of Sunrise Acres.

A great place for taking a walk in the woods.

Over a mile of trails, winding through the forest where Morgan Creek meets Salmon Creek.  Trails start at the north end of NE 169th Ave and at the end of NE 183rd St.  In addition to the official maintained trails, there are as many or more unofficial, un-maintained side trails crisscrossing throughout, and extending out of the natural area.

 First time I hiked the trails, this green resident stood guard in the path.

Side trails extend out to three areas.

Trails on the west side extend to the railroad tracks, and across to the golf course. This has interesting potential because the railroad is the Chelatchie Prairie Railroad owned by Clark County. Potentially a multi-use path could be built alongside the railroad, connecting the Salmon-Morgan Creeks Natural Area to Battle Ground and to Battle Ground Lake State Park and a connection to Brush Prairie.

Trails on the north go to the golf course, and along Salmon Creek. You likely want to stay off the golf course, to avoid flying golf balls.

I followed a trail to the east, across a small stream, through an old orchard and reached the east end of NE 183rd St. I note that while the natural area is owned by Clark County, the land to the east (and some other surrounding land) is owned by the Cedars Golf LLC. Potentially there could be trails improved throughout this area as well, including a connection to NE 167th Ave.

This lowland area along the south shore of the East Fork Lewis River includes over 645 acres of land and more than 6 miles of trails.  Other than from the river, the one public point of access is at the public cemetery located at the north end of NE 29th Ave.  Parking is very limited, but fortunately I have never seen more than two or three vehicles there at a time.

When parking at the cemetery, the trail to the right (east) takes you down to the lowlands, where you can explore miles of trails along the river.  The trail straight ahead past the cemetery (north) curves around to meet up with the other trail.

When you go down the trail, at the bottom of the hill you can choose to turn right or left.  Either way will give you a good long trail to follow and views of the East Fork Lewis River.  I have seen many Great Blue Herons.  The last time I was there I saw a group of white herons (Egrets?).  Among the group was also a single Great Blue Heron.

This area includes a campground and day use area.  From the day use area there is a hiking trail that makes a 1.6+ mile loop.  When I hiked this trail, I came across an incredible blue flower.

This is actually an as yet unnamed undeveloped park, but it does have a nice dirt 1/4 mile loop path for taking a walk.  At the west end there are trails that continue into the forested area and some pastures, but these trails lead into private property and do not provide access to other public sites.  A great plan would be to negotiate a right of way or land purchase from these property owners (4 would need to included) to create a trail access to the Whipple Creek Hollow Natural Area.

There are three entries to this area, two of which are connected by trails.

One entry is at the north end of NE 22nd Ave, and accesses a short (1/4 mile) trail that leads to Whipple Creek.  When you hit the slope down to the creek, the trail splits.  While it is possible to follow either trail, and then parallel Whipple Creek to meet up with the other trail and return to the fork, the walk along Whipple Creek can be difficult to follow, especially when the grass is very tall or the water overflowing the banks and there are blackberry bushes to contend with.  When I visited in the summer I was not able to make my way through, but in January I could, since the grass was flattened down making it easier to find my way.

The other two entries are at the ends of 164th St and 165th St.  A loop trail connects the two entries, and then connects with a trail that runs to Whipple Creek making for about 1/2 a mile of trails.  There are some great photos posted by Michelle Rau on Google Maps.

One note of caution: The map at the 22nd Ave entry to Whipple Creek Hollow Natural Area actually shows a trail along Whipple Creek from NE Union Road, however, if you go there to find that trail, you will instead find a gate across the access with a sign that says Keep Out.

Not yet developed as a park, this site has a grassy field and a wooded area with some trails down to Whipple Creek.  It can be interesting to explore the trails, just a short distance.  Hopefully this site will become part of a connected trail system along Whipple Creek up and down stream.  A trail that parallels the creek to the North leads into what appears to be a neighbors back yard, even though by the map it looks as though this should be part of the park property.  Unfortunately there is no connection to the Whipple Creek Hollow area.

https://www.clark.wa.gov/public-works/salmon-creek-community-club-neighborhood-park

Small park with a dense stand of tall fir trees.  About 1/2 mile of paved and dirt paths.  In addition to the well maintained main park, there is a path that loops around the water tower, an area clearly used for BMX style dirt bike riding, and a series of dirt trails exploring the water bureau land.