Iron Mountain - Lake Oswego

Lake Oswego is a posh place today, but it has an interesting and varied history. As you walk along the side of Iron Mountain, among the tall trees, it's hard to imagine that in the late 19th century this forested hillside was the clear-cut site of a large iron mine and railway that led down to an iron smelter along the Willamette River. It's a testament to the restorative powers of mother nature. This 4.5 mile walk also will take you through some of the upper-end Lake Oswego neighborhoods that replaced the industrial uses, and also swings by Oswego Lake. The walk has some significant up and down topography.

The walk consists of two loops with a common center route along the Iron Mountain trail. This first map shows the whole route.

Here is a close-up map of the east half of the walk.

And here is a close-up map of the west half of the walk.

The walk begins at Christ Church Episcopal Parish, Lake Oswego's episcopal church. The building was originally constructed in 1950, with a major addition on the south side of the building in 2001. It is the second largest Episcopal congregation in Oregon, behind only Trinity Cathedral. The upper parking lot is a designated Trimet park and ride facility, and is never full except on Sunday mornings. It's a good place to park if you are arriving by auto.

The church is located at the corner of Tenth Avenue and Chandler Road. Cross Tenth, going eastward, and then proceed right on the sidewalk along Tenth. across from the church. Next to the sidewalk is this elaborate landscaped "green streets" storm drainage facility, built by Lake Oswego a few years ago. Many of these landscaped drainage depressions are popping up around the Portland metro area, as communities work to prevent untreated storm water runoff from polluting lakes and rivers.

Continuing on Tenth Avenue, after two blocks you will reach a triangular intersection with a center landscaped area. Turn left, onto Berwick Road. If you take this walk during 2014, you will see this political sign in several front yards along the route. It refers to a local controversy about redevelopment of the Wizer's market site in downtown Lake Oswego on "A" Avenue. Without getting into the merits of the actual argument, perhaps all can agree that the angry "highrise" on the sign looks more like an angry domino.

Continue down the hill on Berwick as it winds to the right. While this street, and most of the streets on this walk, have no sidewalks, the roads are lightly traveled with slow-moving vehicles, and an alert pedestrian should have no trouble staying safe. At the bottom of the hill you will get to this railroad crossing. Continue over the crossing and stay on the road that eventually turns to the right, which is Northshore Road.

Along Northshore you will get glimpses of Oswego Lake. I say "glimpses," because the lake itself is a private water body, open only to adjacent property owners and other nearby property owners that have a legal right to access the water body. The property status of the lake is currently being litigated by local residents claiming that the lake is actually a public water body, but the case will most likely take several more years to be resolved through the Oregon court system. For most of this stretch of roadway views of the lake are blocked by mansions such as this one.

Eventually you will get to a break in the mansions, and the lake will be visible on the left through the chain link fence guarding the Forest Hills lake easement. This is an authorized access point, one of several around the lake, for property owners without direct access, but with access rights deeded to the properties they own in the vicinity. These easement areas vary in size from small mini-parks such as this one to others with just a small dock and three or four boat slips. What's most interesting about this easement is what's next door to the right - a huge mansion built in 2007 on the site of an old private boat club. The tale involves placing fill into the lake, illegal cutting of trees, and lots of local controversy. Unfortunately you, as a member of the unwashed public, can't get a good look at what this monstrous mansion looks like, because it reveals itself in its full glory only from the inside of the Forest Hills lake easement or from the vantage point of a boat on the water.

Continue on Northshore Road until you get to Mulligan Lane, then take a right Once again you will cross the railroad tracks. These tracks now belong to the Union Pacific railroad, but were originally part of the Southern Pacific Railroad system (purchased by Union Pacific in the 1990's). Branching out from the old Southern Pacific west coast mainline in Milwaukie, this route crosses the Willamette on a bridge also in Lake Oswego and then continues west to serve local lines in Washington and Yamhill Counties. Several freight trains a day use the tracks. A proposal to put new high speed passenger routes on these tracks sparked some local consternation a few years ago, but the high speed rail planners are apparently now looking elsewhere.

Traverse the entire short length of Mulligan Lane to Iron Mountain Road, carefully cross the street to the "pathway" (really just a striped lane on the roadway) and then quickly turn right up Fairway Drive. On your left are large mansions. On your right is the Oswego Lake Country Club. This private and exclusive club, whose main feature is a full 18-hole golf course, was first established in 1924. First you will pass the back side of the main clubhouse, and then you will be along part of the golf course. While the beautiful manicured grounds might be inviting for a walking detour, I would recommend against it - first, you would be trespassing on private property, and second you might get injured by a flying golf ball.

Continue on Fairway Drive to the end of the street, where you will see a very large mansion directly ahead. But to the right is the trailhead for the Iron Mountain trail.

Start up the trail. The first portion of the trail also serves as a driveway for this cottage. It appears to be some sort of caretaker cottage for the park. Pass it and continue up the trail. The route you are following was a railway in the late 19th century, surrounded by a clear-cut hillside. It's quite a contrast from today's scenery.

The trail continues up a gentle slope, through the trees providing ample shade. When you reach a trail junction continue straight ahead rather than turning left and heading down the hill. Remember this spot - you will be returning to this location from the other direction later in the walk.

Continuing up the Iron Mountain trail, you will eventually reach a resting spot and interpretive display on the site of the Prosser Iron Mine. The railway ended at this location, and the now almost pristine hillside you are on was the site of a warren of mine shafts and associated activity. The mine shafts themselves have been sealed up and are inaccessible. Continuing beyond the mine site, you will come to another stopping point with benches. It is meant to be a scenic overlook, but all the trees on the hillside pretty much block out any views of Oswego Lake. This deck was originally built by a group of boy scouts as part of an eagle scout project, but was later modified by the City of Lake Oswego. Continuing on the trail, you will soon reach its end, on Glen Eagles Road. At the roadway, turn left.

You are now in Lake Oswego's Uplands neighborhood, characterized originally by mid-sized houses on large lots, but the more recently some of those houses have been the subject of extensive house enlargements and "tear-downs" in favor of new luxury dwellings. The neighborhood is now a sometimes uncomfortable mixture of the modest and the extravagant in terms of single-family residential development. You will see this contrast as you walk down Glen Eagles. At Wembley Park Road turn left, and stay on the left side of the street, which has a walking path.

Wembley Park tees into Twin Fir Road - turn left here. You will be only a short distance on this roadway, but it has a curve and not much of a shoulder, so be careful. At Edgemont Road turn left. This is a quiet dead-end street continuing the juxtaposition between older modest homes and newer more substantial dwellings.

At the end of Edgemont a trail leaves the roadway on the right - this is the route you will take. The trail is fairly steep and narrow with a few switchbacks as it heads down a hill, so watch your step. You are now back in the Iron Mountain open space area, with tall trees shading the pathway.

Eventually you will cross a drainageway on a wooden bridge. On the other side the trail forks - it doesn't matter which way you take, because after a few hundred feet the trails meet up again.

As you continue on the trail, to your right down the hill and through the trees you will see the Lake Oswego Hunt Club, a large equestrian facility with stables, pastures, and riding rings. The horses occasionally are ridden onto the trails of the Iron Mountain open space area, so keep your eye on the trail for the occasional horsepie. The Lake Oswego Hunt Club has been a civic institution since the 1920's, and is the only such facility remaining in the area. Since the club owns the property, and interest in equestrian activities remains high, this facility will be staying here for the foreseeable future, not to succumb to urban development as other similar facilities in the Portland area have.

Continuing on the trail, you will come to another nice bench allowing a rest while traversing back up the hill. Eventually you will reach the trail fork we talked about earlier, and you will continue on the portion of the trail you already traversed back to Fairway Road, past the caretaker's cottage. Continue down Fairway Road with the golf course now to your left and the mansions to your right.

At Iron Mountain Road turn left and stay on the left side of the street, where the pathway is located. After a few hundred feet, when you reach the entrance driveway to the Oswego Lake Country Club on your left, carefully cross Iron Mountain and proceed to the right on Pine Valley Road. Stay on Pine Valley as it winds to the left, past intersections with Westward Ho Road and Troon Road. Eventually the road loops back to Iron Mountain Road.

Once again, carefully cross Iron Mountain to the pathway on the left side of the road (actually just a striped bit of pavement) and head to the right. You will eventually reach a three-way intersection where Iron Mountain actually goes to the left and the road going straight ahead changes to Chandler. Stay right and take Chandler back to your starting point at Christ Church.