Category: Oregon

Day 5 Thundering Waters on the North Umpqua

North Umpqua Waterfalls Photos

There are 24 waterfalls listed on the Umpqua National Forest and the Roseburg District of the Bureau of Land Management. We planned this day to see as many as we could along the stretch of the Umpqua Scenic Highway near our camp. I was impressed with the information published by the FS and BLM available at the campgrounds, and they made our day hunting down waterfalls a delight. All are downloadable in PDF format as well. (Umpqua National Forest) I especialy enjoyed the diagrams and descriptions of the different kinds of waterfalls, and how they are formed.

Traveling east on HWY 138 almost to Diamond Lake, the first waterfall we saw was Clearwater Falls. Just a short walk from the parking lot, the falls rumbles and tumbles over dark green moss covered stones. The rhododendrons were still blooming and the mist was cool and refreshing. Hiking to the top of the falls revealed a calm quiet pool above where Abby could swim but the water was very cold.

Whitehorse Falls was also right near the road and an easy walk from the view point parking lot. It is called Deadhorse falls on the quad sheet, so I am not sure about the name change, but that happens often lately, especially in areas that are significant to local tribes.

At milepost 60.5 is the trailhead to Watson Falls, the highest in southwest Oregon. The half mile hike is a well maintained trail with switchbacks and some steep areas, but still quite moderate. The fall itself it tall, thin at this time of year, and delicate, quite lovely. Again, the surrounding forest was filled with blooming rhododendrons. We met a couple from Colorado, including a very elderly lady who hiked the entire trail with her cane. She was very determined and we were very impressed. What a trooper. Her husband said that on their trip to Washington she wanted to see only two things, Crater Lake and Tokeete Falls. They told us that Tokeete Falls was closed due to winter damage, so they hiked this one instead. The winter damage was from the winter of 2007, not even last year, but the forest hasn’t had the money to repair the trail so it is now inaccessible. Tokeete Falls is supposed to be the most impressive and beautiful fall on the tour. I hope to see it someday.

We drove downriver to the Steamboat Creek turn and then up 5 miles or so to Steamboat Falls. Another fall that is right at the road in the campground, and this one was full of people having fun and swimming, as well as playing in the rushing water. Little Falls, farther down along Steamboat Creek was busy as well, with several carloads of young people at the wide place in the road overlooking the falls. Neither of them seemed particularly impressive, but it did look like it would be fun to play in if you didn’t mind being there with all those people.

Time for lunch and a stop in to the camp to check on the cats, make sure the fantastic fan was doing it’s thing, and that the batteries were still well charged, and have some lunch. Even with the 90 plus degree temperatures, the MoHo was cool inside and the kitties were comfortable. Mo set up the solar panel, and even in the shade it kept things charged enough that we never ran out of power while using the fan all day.

We headed west to the Susan Creek Falls trailhead, where there were several cars parked for the 1 mile hike to the falls. It seems this is a particularly popular hike, with families and kids and people of all sorts coming and going. We noticed signs saying to be watchful of your valuables so Mo made sure her wallet was in her pocket and not in the car. The hike was great, actually made for wheelchair access, so broad and wide and protected from the poison oak. Abby enjoyed it.

Finally, late in the afternoon, with the sun hidden behind the canyon walls, we hiked up Fern Creek to the falls. Another mile or so to these lovely falls, through some very narrow rock crevasses, past pools and boulders. The late afternoon light made the old growth forest even more mysterious and the falls were misty and beautiful. I especially enjoyed the approach to the falls, where some of the water can be seen through the trees, the sounds get stronger, and then suddenly there they are. It seemed later than it was in the dark canyon, and it was cool and dim and a wonderful place to be on a hot day.

Once back to the car, we realized that it really wasn’t that late, but were still glad to be headed back to camp. We only hiked a total of 5 miles or so, but were still tired and ready to settle in for the evening. Someday I hope to see Tokeete falls, and to drive the other roads to find the rest of the falls that are in the Thundering Waters brochure.

Day 4 Rogue-Umpqua Highway and Susan Creek Campground

We woke up Wednesday morning to fog and clouds on the coast, making it perfect for our return trip to the warmer side. The drive back east along HWY 42 was uneventful except for deer on the highway. I still imagine that she was just stunned, and ran off into the woods. I felt bad for the driver of the little honda who tried to help her. Just a reminder again that even in broad daylight, wild animals are everywhere on these roads and you need to be wary. The drive from Coos Bay to Roseburg is only about 2.5 hours and is beautiful.

Arriving in Roseburg around mid-day, suddenly the business and traffic of I-5 again assaulted us, but taking a small side road into town and out again on the North Umpqua Highway was the perfect detour. Roseburg itself seems a little worse for wear, with the recession obvious with many closed businesses and a tattered appearance in the downtown portion. Sorry, Roseburg, I know you are trying.

Up the highway through Glide on to what is called Colliding Rivers and the Rogue-Umpqua Scenic Byway truly begins. Temperatures were perfect, warmer than the coast by 20 degrees at least, and clear skies. Campground choices on the map looked plentiful, and Mo’s AAA book only listed a few of them. One especially seemed to call us so we set Susan Creek Campground as our destination. Arriving at the campground, we found it very nearly full, with just two sites open, one that appeared to have been very recently vacated. Since it was the Thursday right before the July 4th weekend, we took it without question.

Fresh water nearby but no hookups at this BLM campground, but a nice wide site, protected by huge trees and shrubs all around us, and a level paved parking area. Right next to our site was a short trail, 100 yards or so, to the North Umpqua River and a memorial bench perfect for watching the swift, deep green water.

One of the things I love most about the North Umpqua is the incredible variety of its flow. It is a wild and scenic river for most of its length, with class 5 rapids. But in some areas it is wide and lazy, with deep green pools, big boulders for sunning, and swimming holes. Other areas are perfect for tubing with riffles and class 2 rapids. The river guide at the website I linked to above gives a stretch by stretch description of the river, where the big rapids are, where it is necessary to portage, and where an inner tube is still safe. I saw many people sunning on the rocks, swimming in the holes, and a few inner tubing some of the lesser ripples. Something wonderful about a green sunny 80 plus degree day in Oregon.

The only drawback about this area is the poison oak. It is everywhere, thick, lush and green. It’s difficult to walk a dog because the leaves hang out in the trails. If you are susceptible to poison oak as I am, it’s not much fun. We took Abby on a lot of walks, but sadly had to leave her home for a couple of them.

We set up camp, then decided to drive upriver a bit to check out other campgrounds. There were actually some open sites here and there, but in one riverside camp an strange old gentleman waved us down and warned us about robberies and wild parties that happen in some of those campgrounds. Susan Creek was populated and had two camp hosts. It seems that the sites with camp hosts are more safe, so we were glad that we were there. After checking out all the other campgrounds, it was also apparent that Susan Creek had the biggest trees, and the nicest understory plants. Maybe not as wild, but certainly more beautiful than any of the others. We were happy to be there.

Had a great evening, playing cards and dominos, great supper and campfire, and time with the kitties outside which they always enjoy. Jeremy seems to like it better then Teddy, who wants to go back inside fairly quickly. Looking forward to sleeping in the forest tonight and planning a day of hiking waterfalls tomorrow. Perfect

Day 3 ByWay to Bandon

We love byways and backways. You can find all sorts of information about these amazing beautiful highways on the internet, in fact I even found a national geographic book all about some of the nation’s greatest byways. Today we traveled the Charleston to Bandon byway along the Seven Devils road parallel to the coast, and out to the beach. This loop is part of the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway of Oregon.

The most amazing thing on this trip was the lack of cars and people along the route. The Seven Devils road winds over the hills that are between the South Slough area and the coast, traveling through young forests that were heavily logged about 70 years ago.

We stopped in at the South Slough Estuary interpretive center, hoping for some additional information about the slough. Our original plan was to kayak the slough, but the winds were too strong so we abandoned that plan. The Estuary information center is wonderful, though, with the best large scale aerial photograph I have seen in a long time. It is about 10 feet tall and shows the estuary at low tide. There is a tremendous amount of information about this estuary here, I could have stayed for hours, but we were headed for Bandon, so onward.

When we turned west to the Seven Devils Beach wayside, the winds were blowing hard, but not so much that it explained the completely empty parking lot. The beach is gorgeous, long and sandy, with hard packed sands that you can walk on for miles. Of course, it was windy. I posted a video on YouTube to show just how windy it was. I was still amazed to have that beach all to ourselves during July 4th week. Oregon is still wild and free in so many places, and still uncrowded as well.

We drove on to Bandon, stopping in town for a bit of shopping at Winter Rivers Books, a warm and friendly locally owned bookstore, for an artsy clothing purchase at Siren Song, one of my favorite clothing shops in the west, and some great clam chowder at Tony’s Crab Shack. The wind was still blowing furiously, (didn’t they say something about breezy?) so we decided to drive to the famous beach for photos, but didn’t walk there. Maybe next time. The beach in Bandon is one of the most beautiful on the Oregon coast in my opinion, but most of the times I have been there, the winds have been blowing furiously, often including clouds and rain. The sun was gorgeous today, but the winds still blew.

Day 2 Cape Arago


The road that winds along the coast from Sunset Bay to Cape Arago is part of the Pacific Coast trail. The forests are thick and lush with old growth Douglas-fir, spruce, and hemlock, with huge skunk cabbage plants in the streams. At almost every curve in the road a trail disappears into the forest. Openings in the trees reveal the coast in all its glory, with the only view of the Cape Arago Lighthouse along this road.

The road leads to the Simpson Reef Overlook and views of Shell Island where there are huge sea lions, elephant seals, and harbor seals in a protected world. Again, the trails are good, the signs offer great information about what you are seeing, and the views are fabulous. Gray whales migrate along the coast and are visible here but on this day the winds were whipping up the waves to such an extent that all we could see were whitecaps.

At the end of the road is Cape Arago State Park, with a steep but good trail leading down to the tidepools on the beach. The tide was out when we were there, and there were some green anemones and red seaweeds that were nice. Somewhat appalled at all the dead crabs lying around, and later discovered thanks to another sign posted at Sunset Bay that they weren’t dead crabs at all, but just the shells of crabs who shed their outer husks like snakes. What a relief to find that out.