Adventures with Holly & Bryan

Our video of the sunset from the Mount Pisgah trail

After a day at the weird and wonderful Oregon Country Fair, Bryan and I collapsed and took much-needed naps in our motel room outside Eugene. Then we got to thinking. It was 7:00 pm on a sunny summer evening…perfect conditions for a sunset hike. But where to watch the sunset in Eugene?

I pulled up AllTrails and searched for trails to high places. The best match: the Mount Pisgah trail.

Needless to say, it did not disappoint. In today’s post, I’ll share the highlights of the short but stunning Mount Pisgah hike and how to do the hike yourself.

The Mount Pisgah Trail in a Nutshell

As we started up the Mount Pisgah trail, my first thought was that it looked strangely like…California. This isn’t a temperate rainforest dripping with moss and ferns, but instead an oak savanna prairie. Grasses as tall as our waists rustled across the rolling hills, in tones ranging from green to gold. Stubby oak trees rose from the prairie. The world there feels vast and open.

This oak savanna prairie actually used to be widespread in the Willamette Valley before pioneers arrived in the 1800s. Per the City of Eugene, Oregon’s oak savanna today is only 2% of its original size. It’s strange to imagine that the thick forests we’re so accustomed to in western Oregon may have once been open prairie, too.

Why the change? It turns out oak savanna needs fire to persist. The oaks themselves are fire-resistant, and in the absence of fire, they’re outcompeted by conifers. Native American tribes had been actively managing the landscape with fire for generations to maintain the oak savanna. This raises the fascinating and confusing question of which landscape is original.

At Mount Pisgah, the oak savanna grasses are interspersed with wildflowers. Wild daisies were blooming in the meadows on the July evening we hiked the trail. In that golden hour before sunset, the lighting turned the prairie grasses golden, and we could see for miles across the Willamette Valley.

If you can, I’d recommend timing your Mount Pisgah hike for an evening if it’s summer—in part for the lighting, and in part because there’s a lot of sun exposure in all that open prairie.

The Mount Pisgah trail climbs steadily toward the summit. The hike isn’t long (about 3.3 miles altogether), but it’s somewhat steep—uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back. While you’ll technically summit the mountain, this is no snow-capped peak; the summit of Mount Pisgah is a whopping 1,531 feet according to the University of Oregon. But either way, it feels like being on top of the world, as the whole Willamette Valley appears before you.

Trailhead and Parking for the Mount Pisgah Trail

Mount Pisgah is in the Howard Buford Recreation Area, only 15 minutes by car from central Eugene. Per the University of Oregon, the name comes from Howard Buford, the county planning director who helped convince then-governor Tom McCall to buy the Mount Pisgah area and make it a park.

The Mount Pisgah hike begins from the North Trailhead (navigate to Buford Park North Trailhead and Parking Lot on Google Maps). This trailhead has portable restrooms.

There’s a $5 parking fee that isn’t covered by the typical state or national passes. It’s payable on site with the Passport Parking smartphone app. We hadn’t used the app before, but signed up for it at the parking lot, so don’t worry if you forget to sign up in advance.

The trail itself starts from the trailhead marker across the road from the parking lot.

Poison Oak and Ticks on the Mount Pisgah Trail

We saw poison oak along the Mount Pisgah trail, so just be aware of it and try not to touch it. Many people have an allergic reaction to it that causes an itchy rash. If you do touch it, try to wash the affected area as soon as you can with soapy water or Tecnu. The oils transfer easily to other surfaces if you touch other things.

We didn’t see any ticks, but a sign at the trailhead indicated there are ticks in the area.

Other Great Hikes near Eugene

If you’re in the area for a while, here are a couple other great hikes near Eugene:

• McKenzie River Trail (1 hour and 15 minutes’ drive east of Eugene)

This 26-mile trail follows the moss-draped McKenzie River past natural treasures like the Oregon Blue Pool, Sahalie and Koosah Falls, and the volcanic Clear Lake. The water in Clear Lake is so cold that it contains an underwater forest beneath its surface, preserved from when a lava flow dammed the river and flooded the surrounding forest 3,000 years ago.

• Sweet Creek Falls (1 hour and 15 minutes’ drive west of Eugene)

This short but stunning trail follows Sweet Creek past a seemingly continual series of small waterfalls before arriving at the hike’s final destination, Sweet Creek Falls.

Other Adventures in the Pacific Northwest

Thanks for joining us on the Mount Pisgah hike! For more adventure ideas in the Pacific Northwest, check out our PNW Trip Planner. You can find adventures near you and filter by season and difficulty level. There are weird and wonderful things to explore any time of year. The trip planner links to blog posts to help you plan your next adventure.

Happy exploring!