A Day of Cascades

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August 20th 2011

Published: June 3rd 2012

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Roosta

North Umpqua Canyon

Today, I dive headlong into the Oregon Cascades.

My choice for doing so is the North Umpqua Canyon, which the North Umpqua River has eroded through the western part of the mountains.

The lava was much harder than the rocks cut by the Klamath, so this canyon gives the expected view of a narrow ravine through basalt rocks.

Colliding Waters

The first sight along the river is the famous but overhyped Colliding Waters.

It happens where the Little River merges with the North Umpqua right where it curves.

The two river currents run directly into each other in an area of big rocks.

During spring runoff, the resulting wave effects are dramatic.

The rest of the year (including now) it looks like any other river junction.

Next up is Deadline Falls.

The waterfall is only six feet high, but it is wide and dramatic.

A very unofficial trail leads from the road to the base of the waterfall.

The trail was made by fisherman.

Salmon and steelhead need to leap over the waterfall every year.

Formerly bears, and now humans, gather to catch them.

Sadly,

Colliding waters

Colliding waters, the place where the North Umpqua and Little Rivers meet head on

the fish have dwindled to a fraction of what used to exist, due to dams further down the river.

After the waterfall, the canyon narrows into the classic image.

High walls of dark rough rocks frame the narrow river and road.

Pine trees appear where they can find growing space.

Several places have narrow rocky peaks near the road, mounds of basalt.

Eventually the canyon widens out a bit, and the road passes a small power plant hidden in the trees.

This marks one of the canyon’s major features and odder historic sites: ToketeeFalls.

Toketee Falls

Toketee Falls is a tall waterfall on the river.

Like other major waterfalls in the region, developers diverted water for a power plant in the 1940s.

Thankfully, they did not divert enough to ruin the waterfall (see Hell’s Acre for a dramatic example of getting it wrong).

Hauling steel pipe up here was too difficult, so they built the pipe out of redwood planks.

Old growth redwood is waterproof.

Part of the pipe lies along the road to the trailhead for the waterfall.

It

Deadline Falls

Deadline Falls on the North Umpqua River

looks just as advertised, long boards held together by iron beams.

Given the age, it has developed a number of leaks.

Water jets out of splits in the redwood like little fountains.

Unfortunately, some of them are directly onto the road.

In a car like mine, that is a problem 😊

The trail to the waterfall runs downstream along the river.

This area was hard to log, so nearly all the trees along it are old growth.

Big trees with wide trunks reach for the heavens.

The rest of the scenery is volcanic rocks, of all sizes.

In a few spots, it climbs through the remains of old rock falls, with young trees growing the debris.

Eventually, it reaches an overlook over the river.

The overlook shows the river dropping through a series of potholes.

This is the top part of the waterfall, although far from the most dramatic.

For that, one must continue on, on a series of stairs across a steep slope.

The stairs eventually give a view of a wide bowl.

The stairs drop into the bowl, ending

Toketee Redwood Pipe

Historic pipe made of redwood planks along the road to Toketee Falls. Notice how much it leaks after six decades

at a platform high above a pool.

On the far side sits a wall of basalt columns, clearly showing the characteristic hexagon shape.

The middle of the wall has a U shaped notch.

The river pours from this notch ninety feet into the pool, the main portion of Toketee Falls.

It looked remarkably like the lower portion of Multnomah Falls (see Grand Gorge) with far more water.

Umpqua Hot Springs

After the waterfall, the valley starts to spread out.

The road soon encounters the reservoir for the power plant.

The river splits here into two branches.

I took a dirt road that follows the north branch, heading for yet another famous natural attraction.

I found the road to be level and passable, although really dusty.

Some reports I read mention it can get bad enough to require four wheel drive.

The dirt track crossed the river multiple times, eventually reaching a very large parking lot for somewhere so remote.

It had a number of cars in it.

The parking lot is the starting point for the trail to the famous Umpqua Hot Springs.

Toketee Trail

Old growth trees along the trail to Toketee Falls

Remember that the Cascade Range is volcanic, and active.

Like Yellowstone, underground lava heats water that reaches the surface in places.

This is one of them.

The springs are a very popular hangout, especially for those with a hippy persuasion.

Camping is allowed along the river near the trailhead.

A sign warns that for many people who go here, clothing is considered optional.

It also warns that nudity anywhere but the springs is cause for arrest.

For obvious reasons, visitors need to leave their cameras in the car.

The trail first crosses the river on a bridge.

The bridge is fairly new.

Before then, people risked nasty injuries by fording the cold fast water.

On the far side, the trail climbs the steep hillside and then follows it around a bend.

It reaches the springs after about fifteen minutes.

Whatever one plans to do, footgear for the hike is mandatory.

The springs themselves consist of two parts.

The main part is a pool on a flat spot of the hillside with a wooden shelter over it.

The

Toketee Falls

The other Oregon waterfall every traveler photographs, Toketee Falls surrounded by basalt columns

shelter was built by the forest service in the 1930s.

I found this pool too hot for my liking.

The other part is a series of small pools along the hill down to the river.

The water runs from one pool to the next, so each pool is cooler than the one above.

The top pool is even hotter than the main pool.

I found one of the middle pools to be just what I needed.

Watson Falls

I was reluctant to leave, but I still had things to see, such as Watson Falls.

The trailhead for this waterfall is another parking lot on a paved side road further up the main road from the reservoir.

The parking lot shows a bunch of trees, with an obvious basalt cliff beyond.

Looking at the cliff very carefully showed a ribbon of water over the left side, the waterfall.

The trail leads into yet another boulder strewn ravine with old growth trees.

A few times, it gives a view of the cliff with the tall waterfall, ever closer.

Finally, it reaches a bowl at the

Watson Falls

Watson Falls, looking remarkably like those in the Columbia River Gorge

base of the cliff, filled with fallen rocks.

The viewpoint shows an unobstructed view of Watson Falls free falling 292 feet from the top of the cliff.

Like the waterfalls in the Columbia River gorge the water broke into mist on the way down.

Soon after Watson Falls, the road breaks out of the gorge for good and into the heart of the Cascades.

The view was mostly trees, with the occasional view of a mountain here and there.

The mountains had snow.

At this point, a thunderstorm rumbled through.

High mountain storms can be dangerous, but this one was over quickly.

I saw another mountain peak get hit by lightning, though (see Sacred Peaks).

I’m glad the storm cleared out when it did, because soon after I hit the upper limit of trees in this area.

They mostly disappeared, replaced by meadows.

The views were huge, with peaks stretching in many directions.

In a relatively flat spot, the road passed a mountain shaped like a tent, Mount Bailey.

A low rise separates the road from Diamond Lake in front

Above treeline

The world above treeline close to Crater Lake

of the peak.

After the mountain, the road climbs yet again, with ever expanding views.

Jagged mounds of basalt appear, now with snow on them.

Finally, it reaches an overlook of the scenic jackpot of this region, Crater Lake.

Crater Lake

Crater Lake looks like no other lake on earth.

The overlook showed a huge bowl with steep walls, containing the deep blue lake.

The bowl resembles the upper portion of a volcanic crater, because it is one.

Until roughly eight thousand years ago, Mount Mazama was one of the largest volcanoes in the Cascades.

It then exploded with a huge eruption over fifty times larger than Mount St. Helens (see Nature Blows Her Top) which completely drained the mountain’s magma.

With nothing to support it, the center collapsed, forming a huge crater.

The crater then filled with rain and snowmelt, forming the lake.

The lake is 1788 feet deep, making it the deepest lake in the US, and the seventh deepest in the world.

The unique geology means that Crater Lake has the purest water on the planet.

All the water comes directly from rain and snow, and

Crater Lake

Wizard Island, surrounded by the incredible deep blue water of Crater Lake

they have relatively few impurities.

Scientists have found algae over four hundred feet deep, deeper than anywhere else on earth.

Crater Lake has a unique deep blue color.

The color is so deep, Kodak developers in the 1950s assumed the first color pictures of the lake had to be misprocessed, and sent consumers an apology!

The color is due to both the depth and purity of the water.

As light penetrates water, some of the photons hit water molecules and get absorbed.

The closer the color to red, the less energy a photon has and the more risk this will happen.

Crater Lake’s purity ensures that far more light hits water instead of reflecting off impurities.

The lake’s depth ensures that photons have far more potential water molecules to hit.

The end result is that only deep blue photons, those with the highest energy, ultimately reflect and give the color.

In the late 1950s, National Geographic published a remarkable picture of Crater Lake at sunset.

When I first saw it, I wondered why they chose that shot instead of a traditional day picture.

Today

Cascades

View of the Cascades looking south southwest from Crater Lake

I got to see the reason for myself.

At this time of day, light needs to reflect off the air and clouds before hitting the lake deep in the bowl.

The molecules in air reflect blue light more than any other, the reason the sky is blue.

That blue light in turn is partially absorbed by the lake, leaving only the most energetic color to reflect out.

Near sunset, Crater Lake turns dark purple!

The sight freaks me out a bit.

Heading out after sunset, I got hit with a truly Dickensian situation.

I was low on gas.

Thankfully, Crater Lake is a National Park, with the types of concessions one expects in a western park.

That included a gas station.

This particular station, however, is located in a park, which leads to high prices, and in the middle of nowhere, which leads to even higher prices.

I could be buying liquid gold for the price I paid.

To add insult to injury, I had to pump it myself.

Oregon has a state law that only station employees can pump gas (to reduce fire risk, officially); this station, being on

Deep purple

Crater Lake at sunset turns dark purple

federal land, is exempt.

I’ll have to remember this experience for later.

Finally reaching the interstate, I had dinner tonight in what was once a roadside institution, the independent truck stop.

These places blossomed along the early interstates, offering travelers cheap and filling meals along with gas and supplies.

Food wise, they are a match the diners found throughout the Northeast.

They are also increasingly rare, as many have been absorbed into franchised chains.

The food was classic comfort food, and the price was easy on my wallet.

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