Document text
Editor's Note: Day Trippin' is a recurring feature that gives readers a chance to play tour guide and tell us about a nearby getaway. A trip to the Umpqua Scenic Byway makes for 277 miles and 6 hours of driving, but you will find it worth the time and gas. Heading up Interstate 5, turn onto Highway 138 at Roseburg, and then onto the Byway to Glide 20 minutes ahead. Colliding Rivers, a unique geologic phenomenon where the North Umpqua and Little River come together with force, is a must stop. The interpretive exhibits are well done and you could find yourself dawdling. As you return to 138 going upriver, you can visit Rock Creek Hatchery where the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife produces nearly a million steelhead and salmon a year. Back in your car, you will soon be within the Swiftwater Recreation Area with fabulous, some handicap-accessible, riverside hikes and world-class fly fishing. You might take the opportunity to visit Deadline Falls, itself not all that impressive but a great viewing area for migrating salmon. Now you are on toward the falls. Toketee Falls is one of the best-known waterfalls in Oregon, famous for its majestic columnar basalt creating two drops totaling 113 feet — a 28-foot upper tier that plunges into a pool carved into the basalt, followed by an 85-foot plunge into a larger pool. At the trailhead, you parallel a half-century-old, 12-foot-diameter pipeline made of redwood. Still in operation, it diverts much of the volume of the North Umpqua to a powerhouse downstream. Flow is consistent year round at about 125 cubic feet per second. In under 10 minutes you'll find yourself at Watson Falls, considered by many to be the best waterfall in the North Umpqua basin, hurtling 292 feet at a 90-degree angle over a cathedral amphitheater wall of basalt. This is a great place for a picnic lunch at tables near some informative interpretive exhibits. Next in short succession are Whitehorse Falls, which tumbles 15 feet into a punch bowl, and Clearwater Falls, more notable for its cool, soothing and crystal-clear flow over moss-covered rocks than for its height. It is worthwhile to divert from picturesque Highway 138 to Lemolo Falls, one of the tallest and most powerful of the Umpqua falls, dropping 165 feet at a 75-degree angle to a large pool. Flows vary, with spring into June being the most impressive. You could retrace your route to get home, but it is more satisfying to complete the circle, coming down 138 as it turns south, past Diamond Lake on your right and Mount Thielsen on your left. Turn west on Highway 230 and work your way down Highway 62 and home. If you’re like me, you can’t not stop in Union Creek for some of Becky’s famous pie. Bill Bartlett lives in Talent.