• Rating: Difficult
  • Activity: Hike
  • Distance: 3.4 miles
  • Time:

With an awning of curved alder limbs barreling above it, Firelane 7 has been dubbed “Avenue of the Trees.” But it’s also the park’s best path to wildflowers. This south-facing ridgeline trail basks in enough sun to entice prodigious tiger lily blooms, some several feet tall. In spring, the adjacent Trillium Trail is littered with thickets of its namesake blossom, followed by a procession of thimbleberries and huckleberries. For a sweet side trip, descend lower Hardesty Trail to visit “Big Stump,” a massive old-growth cedar nub that bears a pair of eye-like springboard notches cut into its trunk by early-20th-century loggers.

ROUTE: From NW Springville Road off Skyline Blvd, take Firelane 7 to Trillium Trail and go right. Turn left on Wildwood Trail and continue to Hardesty Trail to return via Firelane 7. (Round trip: 3.4 miles)