Sams Walker Day Use Area

Sams Walker is a Forest Service picnic area and nature trail on the original Sams-Walker homestead along the Columbia River. Its flat gravel path makes a 1.1-mile loop through former farm fields, Oregon white-oak woodland and western red cedar. One larger circuit contains two shorter loops.

The route moves from open fields into trees, with signs on the site’s history and ecology, river overlooks, picnic benches and a mossy bench near the water. Watch for birds as the habitat changes, though sightings vary. A proposed 78-acre riverside subdivision was stopped by local conservation work; the property passed to the Forest Service in 1988. This is a picnic and nature-walk stop, not a convenient boat launch: carrying a boat to the river is a long walk, and the shore can be difficult to reach.