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When you think of outdoor activities in the Umpqua National Forest, the first thing that comes to mind may be fly fishing on the North Umpqua River, cross country skiing at Diamond Lake, or maybe cooling off at the South Umpqua Falls.
Sure, these are outstanding places to visit, but the smallest district on the Umpqua National Forest, the Cottage Grove Ranger District, is usually left in shadows of the more popular destinations. In order to shed a little light on this part of the forest, I spent a day there.
With 87,038 acres on the northern tip of the Umpqua National Forest, the Cottage Grove Ranger District has plenty of recreational opportunities, allowing visitors to leave Roseburg or Eugene and enter the remote forest.
Rich in gold mining heritage, Cottage Grove is Umpqua country even though the watersheds drain into the Row River (Row rhymes with cow), a tributary to the Willamette River.
Deborah Schmidt, Cottage Grove District Ranger, said you can find plenty of self-guided recreational opportunities, including camping, hiking, mountain biking, driving tours and recreational gold mining. For risk takers, Brice Creek and Layng Creek provide a whitewater playground for experienced kayakers.
According to Schmidt, the area has low elevation trails you can access year round and several waterfalls, even one that you can walk behind.
Every year, more and more visitors are discovering the beauty offered by the Cottage Grove Ranger District.
“The Cottage Grove Ranger District allows you to get out of the urban area into the remote forest in one hour. A lot of people who used to go to Fall Creek near Eugene now go to Brice Creek because Fall Creek was burned in 2003,” explained Cindy Pack, the Cottage Grove recreation planner.
“The Brice Creek trail is one of the main attractions,” she added. “Brice Creek is a beautiful, crystal-clear stream. There’s plenty of water and nearby waterfalls to cool off in the midst of the summer heat.”
The Brice Creek Trail, a 5.6-mile trail suitable for hiking, running and mountain biking, follows its namesake creek. The trail offers great views of rapids and waterfalls along the creek and allows visitors to escape into a forest filled with large Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock.
During my recent trip to the area, I found that neither weather nor trail obstructions deterred visitors from biking and hiking the trail, as there were several tire tracks and foot prints along the trail.
Winter weather obstructions such as downed trees typically exist on the trail, but are usually cleared by late May.
One hiker on the Brice Creek Trail carried a very large backpack. After a brief conversation, he said he used the trail whenever possible to train for a long trek from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail.
I also encountered a family standing at a viewing platform admiring one of the many waterfalls visible from the trail.
From fans to punchbowls, cascades to multi-tiered, the Cottage Grove Ranger District offers a variety of waterfalls, some of which are accessible year round and can accommodate people of varying fitness levels.
According to Pack, if you are looking for a high flow of water, spring is the best time to check out the waterfalls. In April you may see some wildflowers along the way. Visiting a waterfall in the summer is great way to cool off.
“When you go to a waterfall, it’s not just the going to see the waterfall. It is the experience of getting there,” Pack said. “If you are the only one out there, it’s like you’re the only one in the world. It’s easy to forget about everything else.”
She’s right. Heeding her advice, I decided to trek to a waterfall you can walk behind, while seeing a handful of other falls along the way. After hiking up a switchback trail through a forest filled with large trees draped in lichens and moss, I arrived at my final destination, Upper Trestle Falls.
The trail brought me to a large horseshoe-shaped canyon with sheer cliff walls covered with mosses and ferns. Trestle Creek poured off the cliff as a mighty double-tiered waterfall and continued to flow as a creek through a steep canyon. I sat down and enjoyed the serenity of this peaceful place before heading back.
A detailed map outlining Upper Trestle Falls as well as others in the Cottage Grove district and in the Umpqua National Forest can be found at the Cottage Grove Ranger Station, any other Umpqua National Forest Ranger Station, and the Bureau of Land Management offices.
For more information about recreational opportunities, call the Cottage Grove Ranger Station at 541-767-5000 or log onto www.fs.fed.us/r6/umpqua/.
This was my first trip to the Cottage Grove Ranger District and definitely not the last. Make this destination one of your Umpqua Adventures.
<i>Jacob Welsh, a wildland firefighter for the Umpqua National Forest, can be reached at jacobwelsh@fs.fed.us.</i>
Sure, these are outstanding places to visit, but the smallest district on the Umpqua National Forest, the Cottage Grove Ranger District, is usually left in shadows of the more popular destinations. In order to shed a little light on this part of the forest, I spent a day there.
With 87,038 acres on the northern tip of the Umpqua National Forest, the Cottage Grove Ranger District has plenty of recreational opportunities, allowing visitors to leave Roseburg or Eugene and enter the remote forest.
Rich in gold mining heritage, Cottage Grove is Umpqua country even though the watersheds drain into the Row River (Row rhymes with cow), a tributary to the Willamette River.
Deborah Schmidt, Cottage Grove District Ranger, said you can find plenty of self-guided recreational opportunities, including camping, hiking, mountain biking, driving tours and recreational gold mining. For risk takers, Brice Creek and Layng Creek provide a whitewater playground for experienced kayakers.
According to Schmidt, the area has low elevation trails you can access year round and several waterfalls, even one that you can walk behind.
Every year, more and more visitors are discovering the beauty offered by the Cottage Grove Ranger District.
“The Cottage Grove Ranger District allows you to get out of the urban area into the remote forest in one hour. A lot of people who used to go to Fall Creek near Eugene now go to Brice Creek because Fall Creek was burned in 2003,” explained Cindy Pack, the Cottage Grove recreation planner.
“The Brice Creek trail is one of the main attractions,” she added. “Brice Creek is a beautiful, crystal-clear stream. There’s plenty of water and nearby waterfalls to cool off in the midst of the summer heat.”
The Brice Creek Trail, a 5.6-mile trail suitable for hiking, running and mountain biking, follows its namesake creek. The trail offers great views of rapids and waterfalls along the creek and allows visitors to escape into a forest filled with large Douglas fir, cedar and hemlock.
During my recent trip to the area, I found that neither weather nor trail obstructions deterred visitors from biking and hiking the trail, as there were several tire tracks and foot prints along the trail.
Winter weather obstructions such as downed trees typically exist on the trail, but are usually cleared by late May.
One hiker on the Brice Creek Trail carried a very large backpack. After a brief conversation, he said he used the trail whenever possible to train for a long trek from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail.
I also encountered a family standing at a viewing platform admiring one of the many waterfalls visible from the trail.
From fans to punchbowls, cascades to multi-tiered, the Cottage Grove Ranger District offers a variety of waterfalls, some of which are accessible year round and can accommodate people of varying fitness levels.
According to Pack, if you are looking for a high flow of water, spring is the best time to check out the waterfalls. In April you may see some wildflowers along the way. Visiting a waterfall in the summer is great way to cool off.
“When you go to a waterfall, it’s not just the going to see the waterfall. It is the experience of getting there,” Pack said. “If you are the only one out there, it’s like you’re the only one in the world. It’s easy to forget about everything else.”
She’s right. Heeding her advice, I decided to trek to a waterfall you can walk behind, while seeing a handful of other falls along the way. After hiking up a switchback trail through a forest filled with large trees draped in lichens and moss, I arrived at my final destination, Upper Trestle Falls.
The trail brought me to a large horseshoe-shaped canyon with sheer cliff walls covered with mosses and ferns. Trestle Creek poured off the cliff as a mighty double-tiered waterfall and continued to flow as a creek through a steep canyon. I sat down and enjoyed the serenity of this peaceful place before heading back.
A detailed map outlining Upper Trestle Falls as well as others in the Cottage Grove district and in the Umpqua National Forest can be found at the Cottage Grove Ranger Station, any other Umpqua National Forest Ranger Station, and the Bureau of Land Management offices.
For more information about recreational opportunities, call the Cottage Grove Ranger Station at 541-767-5000 or log onto www.fs.fed.us/r6/umpqua/.
This was my first trip to the Cottage Grove Ranger District and definitely not the last. Make this destination one of your Umpqua Adventures.
<i>Jacob Welsh, a wildland firefighter for the Umpqua National Forest, can be reached at jacobwelsh@fs.fed.us.</i>
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