People hiking on public lands this holiday season could find a handmade wooden ornament on the trail. Finding one is also an entry for a two-day Willamette Valley getaway.
The Willamette Valley Visitors Association is running its ninth annual Ornament Hunt from Nov. 20 through Dec. 31. This year the event reaches well past the Willamette National Forest, where it began. Organizers plan to hide more than 350 locally made ornaments along more than 25 non-wilderness trails. The trails are spread across the Willamette, Mount Hood, Siuslaw and Umpqua national forests, Bureau of Land Management recreation areas in northwest Oregon and Milo McIver State Park.
The Siuslaw National Forest includes Marys Peak, west of Philomath. The full trail list won’t be released until Nov. 20 at willamettevalley.org/ornament, but representative confirmed that the Philomath area is included in this year’s hunt.
Each ornament comes with instructions for entering the sweepstakes drawing. The visitors association runs the hunt with Cascade Volunteers and the U.S. Forest Service.
“The Ornament Hunt has always been about helping people fall in love with our public lands, and this year we’re thrilled to bring that spirit to even more trails across the region,” Tori Middelstadt, executive director of the visitors association, said through a press release.
This year adds an “Ornaments for All Abilities” day, set for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 5, at the McKenzie River Discovery Center in Walterville. It’s timed to International Day of Persons with Disabilities on Dec. 3. Extra ornaments will be hidden on accessible trails, and the family-friendly event will also have food trucks, vendors and holiday photo opportunities.
The center is a nonprofit river education facility still under development. Its first construction phase is finished, and soft-opening programs are planned for 2027.
Each year’s ornament follows a theme. Melinda Martin, a member of the Cascade Volunteers board of directors, said the 2026 theme marks the hunt’s expansion and celebrates exploring new places in the valley. The design shows a classic Volkswagen bus, a nod to Eugene, hauling a freshly cut Christmas tree through a winter scene, with a snowcapped Mount Hood behind it.
The hunt began in 2018. That year the Willamette National Forest supplied the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C., and organizers wanted to use the attention to get more people onto public lands in winter.
Hikers who come up empty-handed can buy an ornament at the Corvallis, Albany and Salem visitor centers or online at 20Leagues.com. Proceeds go to Cascade Volunteers, a nonprofit that supports trail maintenance and stewardship in the Willamette National Forest and nearby public lands.
Organizers ask participants to follow Leave No Trace principles and to check weather conditions and winter safety tips before heading out. Volunteers will collect any ornaments still on the trails after the contest ends.