Hike coordinator: Charroll Bailey
Narration by Charroll Bailey
Although I have led hikes for hiking clubs in the Portland area, this was my first time leading a hike for Friends of the Umpqua Hiking Group. Spencer Butte sits at about 2,058 feet above sea level and just southeast of Eugene. Since there are many options for this area and to keep things simple, I told everyone to meet up at the Spencer Butte Park trailhead (with the large parking lot) and we would do the gentle hike up to the summit.
There were also hikers from the Obsidian Club that joined our group that wanted to meet us at the trailhead. We hiked up through many stands of large leaf maple tree that were showing their fall colors, as well as other deciduous trees that were exfoliating their leaves. We were rewarded with a beautiful view of Eugene as well as the outskirts of town and farmlands in the clouds.
Since the main trail that we took was only 2.2 miles roundtrip and 755 ft elevation gain, I added on some miles by going toward the Fox Hollow trailhead. We stopped at the junction that led to the Willamette Street Trailhead and the Fox Hollow trailhead but didn’t go all the way back to either trailhead. We just turned around and hiked back to our cars at the main parking lot (Spencer Butte Park trailhead). I would say overall we did about 3 miles.
Pictures below by Charroll Bailey
