What’s it gonna take to get you to Lebanon?
This old Linn County mill town is not usually an adventure destination, unless you’re into bowling or paintball.
Let me try to change your mind with a driving tour that passes covered bridges and pioneer farms on the way to McDowell Creek Falls. A 1.7-mile hike in the wooded canyon of this forgotten Linn County park visits three waterfalls. Afterward, stock up at a new food truck brewpub and stroll around Cheadle Lake, a gigantic old millpond restored as a birder’s wonderland by Build Lebanon Trails, a group of local hikers.
The Linn tour is a nice option now while High Cascade trails are still under snow.
To start, take Interstate 5 north from Eugene 22 miles to Brownsville exit 216 and turn right for 4 miles to historic Brownsville, settled in 1846. If you haven’t yet seen the free pioneer museum here, you might do so now. The Linn County Historical Museum includes the adjacent 1881 Moyer House and is open Monday through Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm and on Sunday from 1 pm to 5 pm.
If you’re not into museums, continue straight through Brownsville another 15 miles to Highway 20 in Sweet Home. Turn left here for just 0.3 miles, and then turn right on Pleasant Valley Road, which becomes Berlin Road. At a stop sign after 5.2 miles, turn right on McDowell Creek Drive for 4 miles to the county park.
Stop at the first parking area, marked “Royal Terrace Falls,” to hike through the park on the recommended loop. Cross the creek on a large footbridge and follow the gravel trail left through a lush low-elevation forest of mossy bigleaf maple, alder and Douglas-fir. Large white trilliums and little five-petal oxalis (sourgrass) are blooming now. You’ll also see bleeding hearts, scarlet salmonberry and white candyflower. In May, expect lots of wild lily-of-the-valley.
After 0.2 miles you’ll reach the base of lacy Royal Terrace Falls, a 119-foot triple-decker. Turn left across a long footbridge below the falls. Then keep left at junctions for the next mile and a half to complete the loop. The route crosses the paved road twice and visits two more waterfalls.
After your hike, you’ll be hungry. It’s true that Lebanon mostly offers fast food chain restaurants. One exception is the new Tallman Brewing with its lineup of eight food trucks. To get there, take McDowell Creek Drive west for 9 miles and turn right on Highway 20 for 5 miles to Lebanon. At a traffic light by a big Safeway store, turn right for one block on Airport Drive.
Tallman’s is Lebanon quaint. On Sunday afternoons blue-haired grannies come to play bingo. Logger families in jeans and tattoos marvel at food options like gyro and falafel.
After lunch, continue 1 mile on Airport Drive (which becomes River Road) to a big gravel parking lot on the right, marked “Gate Closed Nightly.” This is the Cheadle Lake boat ramp, and also the trailhead for the North Shore Trail. Despite the sign, the parking lot gate is always open.
Once an oxbow slough of the South Santiam River, Cheadle Lake was converted into a millpond for what became the largest forest products complex in the world during World War II. The sawmill is gone, leaving just a landmark water tower. The large but shallow lake, mostly covered with duckweed and lilypads, has become a haven for ducks, songbirds and great flocks of honking Canada geese. Check ebird.org for a list of the 150 species seen here.
The extensive trail system along Cheadle Lake is popular with dog walkers, baby strollers and kids with fishing poles. For an easy hike, follow the wide, paved North Shore Trail for half a mile and turn right across a causeway to a weird island, sculpted into many-fingered bays for inscrutable sawmill purposes. Keep right to follow a paved loop trail 0.8 miles around the island before heading back to your car.
End your day by returning to Highway 20 and follow “Corvallis” pointers through downtown Lebanon for 8 miles to Interstate 5. From there, Eugene is 35 miles to the south.
Linn County claims to be the “Grass Seed Capital of the World,” and Lebanon brags that it is “The City That Friendliness Built.”
These are small boasts, and they miss the mark. Drive a backwoods loop to the trails and scenery that show what Linn County really has to offer.