Sandy River Trail & Jim Slagle Loop Trail

We were looking for something quick, close to home that would also get us close to the water. Alltrails found the Sandy River Trail so we headed out.

There's not a lot of parking at the 'trailhead', which is at the end of a residential road. There might be other parking spots, but that's where google led us.

It's a nice walk down to the river, and you can either take the same route back, or there's the Jim Slagle Loop Trail that winds up a little higher and around the entire wooded area. This adds an additional mile, so it's a total of 4.7 miles if you go to the river and back with the Loop, 3.7 otherwise.

PROS

Not crowded I don't think a lot of people know about this walk, and there's really not a lot to see until you get to the river, so it's not super popular.

Tree cover Even when the sun was out, it was pretty well shaded.

WATCH OUT Lots of fishermen The beach area was nice, but there were so many fishermen that I didn't want to let Callie get near the water.

Muddy It was a nice day, and the trail was still very muddy, though the rain this year was substantial.

Hard hike out The walk down seems fairly gradual, but coming back to the car, the incline hits pretty hard.

Parking It sounds like they ticket cars that aren't parked properly, so if you can't find a spot, you may want to skip this hike.

Alltrails Website

Hiking Project Website