SENECA — From the Strawberry Mountains to the Aldrich Range to the Blue Mountains, Grant County has no shortage of opportunities for high country adventure.

But sometimes you just want a pleasant place to spend a quiet hour or two in nature, without having to work too hard — or drive too far — to do so.

The Malheur National Forest’s Swick Old Growth Interpretive Site is the perfect place for a quick and easy getaway.

Located just off Highway 395 at the top of the grade between Canyon City and Seneca, the site offers an easy walk through a parklike pine forest.

A gently graded, ¾-mile asphalt loop, suitable for wheelchair use, winds among towering orange-barked ponderosas, some of which are around 200 years old. On a warm summer day, the trees fill the air with their sweet and spicy scent.

Younger pines have begun to fill in the forest understory, a legacy of Forest Service policies that favor fire suppression; in a state of nature, low-intensity ground fires would likely have burned here at intervals of five to 15 years or so, keeping the grove more open. Neon-green wolf lichen and black tree lichen festoon the branches.

Where the forest floor isn’t carpeted in pine needles, grasses and heart-leaf arnica provide ground cover, and a variety of wildflowers contribute pops of color among the greenery in spring and summer. Red Indian paintbrush, purple lupine, white yarrow, violet aster, multicolored mariposa lily and ghostly-pale prairie smoke were all blooming during a recent visit. Also on display were some large mushrooms and vigorous shoots of pinedrops, a non-green plant that looks like a cross between and flower and a fungus and draws nutrients from other plants.

Interpretive signs along the trail educate visitors about the ecosystem, with panels providing nuggets of information about native plants, bird species and fire ecology.

Benches spaced at intervals invite hikers to rest and enjoy the view, and there are plenty of downed logs that serve the same purpose. A pair of picnic tables near the parking lot offer a comfortable spot to enjoy a leisurely meal.

And if you’d like to stretch your legs a little more, an unpaved lollipop-loop trail takes off from the eastern arm of the asphalt path and runs for just over a mile through more tall pines and a couple of open meadows studded with sagebrush and arrowleaf balsamroot.

Like a handful of other interpretive trails on the Malheur National Forest, the Swick Old Growth Interpretive Site offers a short, informative foray for people with mobility issues, motorists passing through the area or locals looking for a quick nature break close to home.

Even so, it packs a lot of attractions into a small area.

“The main feature is the old-growth ponderosa pine trees. I encourage visitors to get in close to the bark and see if they can smell the vanilla/butterscotch resins (terpenes) produced by these amazing trees,” said Jared Bowman, the Malheur’s north zone recreation manager.

“Numerous birds — including woodpeckers — may be present in the area. Visitors may also encounter mammals of all sizes, from chipmunks to elk.”

Surprisingly big rewards for such a small investment of time and effort.

WHAT: Swick Old Growth Interpretive Site

ATTRACTIONS: A ¾-mile asphalt loop, suitable for wheelchairs, winds through an old growth Ponderosa pine forest; interpretive signs explain aspects of the ecosystem

AMENITIES: Picnic tables, benches, vault toilet

GETTING THERE: From downtown John Day, drive south on Highway 395 for 17.5 miles. Turn left onto an unpaved road at a sign for Swick Old Growth (directly across from County Road 63, the Izee-Paulina Highway) and find a parking lot after 0.1 mile