The North Fork John Day (NFJD) River Trail #3022 is by far the most popular hiking trail in the NFJD Wilderness, and arguably the southern half of the Umatilla National Forest. The trail is actually 22.9 miles long and can be hiked west-to-east or east-to-west. If starting on the east end, you'll drive to the NFJD Campground and set out. From the west, you'll drive to Oriental Campground and then take a walk on decommissioned FS Road 5506 to the Big Creek Trailhead. This is where the trail technically starts or ends. Remember, you'll have to have a vehicle staged at the opposite end of the trail unless you want to hike a round trip.
The NFJD River corridor is rich in gold mining history where gold mining was popular from the mid 1800s until the 1960s when the Wilderness Act was put into place. Historic dilapidated cabins and mine claim markers still exist along with countless tailings piles from dredges. Old ponderosa pines can still be found along the trail and plenty of lodgepole pine blow down. Wildflowers, morels, wild strawberry, huckleberries, and "bear berries" can be found at various places. Our hated friend, ceanothus, grows near the middle section of the trail just like on the Lake Creek Trail.
The NFJD Trail is very scenic, winding along the river of the same name. An experienced hiker could do this trail in a day, but the better way to do this hike is backpacking and splitting the trip into 2-3 days. The USFS does maintain this trail and it's evident from fresh saw logs and vegetation trimmed.
If you don't want to hike the entire trail, take a day hike several miles in from either direction or access the NFJD from several other trails in the area. Be advised, the FS has not maintained some of these other trails and they either don't exist or may be extremely difficult to navigate like the Cougar Creek Trail #3007.
