Hiking trails in Oregon and WA can vary greatly in how much skill may be required to navigate them. The most popular trails are generally very simple, as they receive so many boots in a season that they are trodden to a fare-thee-well and it would take a generation of disuse to eradicate them.

Some of the less-traveled trails can disappear on you, perhaps in a confused welter of blowdown trees, or in a swath of burned forest where the tread is little more than a shallow depression in an ashy, blackened landscape, or else a trail can lead up to a meadow and become... lush green grass, but no trail in sight.

The sad fact is that the Forest Service has thousands upon thousands of miles of trail to tend and very little money to maintain them. So, the little used trails are slowly reverting back to a state of nature. Signage can be pretty spotty in places, too.

Chances are that your attention will be drawn to the more active and attractive trails, so no worries. Just be aware that if you are going well off the beaten path, that you will find a beaten path much easier to follow.