I had wanted to hike the trail from Tumalo State Park upriver to the Reily Ranch park. So when Robin asked me where did I want to hike? I said ” Uh… that park above the Shevlin park trail… You know that uh… Ranch….” Ok a little bit of brain fog there. Lucky for me she knew where I wanted to go. So, the plan was we would meet at Tumalo St. park leave my car there, she would drive us up to the Reily Ranch Park and we would start the trail there, hiking along the Deschutes River down to Tumalo St. Park.
It was a beautiful sunny morning with no wind and Reily Ranch Nature Preserve Park is beautiful. The mountains were playing hide and seek in the clouds. We started on the juniper loop then went on the Sage flat loop, where we stopped and checked out the Canyon Overlook
Moving on we walked to the Robins Run trail head and went down towards the river
It is a bit steep compared to the rest of the trail but not unreasonable.
the views of the river were incredible
Robin and I took our time and enjoyed the conversations, the views and the weather.
We came to the confluence of the Tumalo Creek with the Deschutes River and commented on how beautiful it was.
Soon we came to a bridge that went over the boulders along the bank of the river allowing hikers to continue on easily
Robin and I both wondered what it took to build this bridge so that it held. against possible floods or shifting boulders….
After the bridge we stopped and had a lunch, the pace was easy and I had been stopping a lot along the way to take photos.
The one thing about this trail is it does cross private properties, and they have allowed hikers to cross as long as they stay on the trail. So, when hiking along the trails be respectful of their property. Because these views are just too beautiful to miss.
Too soon we ended our hike at Tumalo St park and when we were done, we had hiked 3.1 miles. I had taken 175 photos, and we did it in a little over 2 hours.
Robin asked if I wanted to do it again only maybe hike from Tumelo St. park back up to Richardson Ranch Park?
Absolutely!!!
Because every view changes when you look at them from a different direction…. and hopefully we can pick a time when the other two members of the hiking group won’t have prior appointments.
Deanne Dements Photography 