Elk River Trail

Dogs Leashed

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Views · Wildlife

An excellent trail for running. The first three miles are gentle and easy, as well as popular with bikers and people with dogs. Beyond the 3-mile bridge there are less people, and the trail becomes double or singletrack and steep through the grove of old-growth redwoods.

The Elk River Trail is a multi-use accessible trail for the first three miles on a former road with a gentle grade in Headwaters Forest Reserve. The first mile is paved and wheelchair accessible, and passes through the historic location of the town of Faulk with many fruit trees and building remnants as evidence of the past. The trail is in excellent condition for hiking, biking and running, and follows Elk River upstream. At the 3-mile bridge, the trail becomes a dirt and gravel singletrack path and climbs steeply and quickly to an old-growth grove of redwoods known as Headwaters. A common way to explore the Elk River Trail is by biking to the 3-mile bridge, then running the old-growth grove loop trail.

Maples, alders, redwoods, huckleberry, salmon berry, thimbleberry, black berry, choke cherry, apples, plums, salmon, birds.