THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



well known ; but in any other locality, if more accessible, would 

 be a famous fishing stream. 



Directly east from Tillamook City sixteen miles is Trask post- 

 office, the meeting place of the north and south forks of the 

 Trask River. The stage road between Tillamook and Yamhill 

 station on the Southern Pacific Railroad leaves the Trask here 

 and ascends the mountain ridge which divides the two rivers. At 

 this point is the Toll House, a famous stopping place and haunt of 

 fishermen, from which the waters of either branch and the main 

 river are easily reached by roads. The north fork of Trask is 

 little settled, and there is possibly better fishing, though either 

 branch is prime in season, and remarkably good late in the summer 

 and fall. Accommodations may be had at several comfortable 

 farms on the road, and the fishing is about as good down to within 

 five miles of Tillamook City as farther up in the mountains. I" 

 several visits to Trask I have always been fortunate ; twice, late 

 in the summer or early fall, especially so. The sea trout take the 

 fly on cloudy mornings with great eagerness, and run two pounds 

 and upward. 



The ride over the mountains, on either the Trask or Wilson 

 road takes the traveler through some of our most glorious forests, 

 the magnificent larches rising a hundred feet, like mighty col- 

 umns, to the first limb. On the eastern end of the Trask road, at 

 Fairdale, there is a pleasant mountain tavern and good fishing 

 on the upper waters of the north Yamhill. 



There are plenty of ruffed grouse and blue grouse and quail 

 along the roads from the Willamette to Tillamook. The road from 

 Fairdale to the forks of Trask River is a delightful tramp of less 

 than twenty miles, with the comfortable Toll House for a stopping 

 place. The walk over these mountains and through these prim- 

 eval forests, with views incomparable of blue, endless ranges, 

 far-off snow peaks and delightful valleys far below, is a memory 

 that will remain with one perhaps more vividly than that of the 

 bright river and the basketful of trout. 



Two fine north coast streams are Elk Creek, well known to 



Pajre five 



