SOUTHERN OREGON, DAY 3: TOKETEE FALLS AND DIAMOND LAKE

 September 5, 2020

After our two safari experiences, we decided it was time for some trees, so we headed into the Umpqua National Forest, which is located on the west slopes of the Cascade Mountains and covers almost a million acres.  

It only made sense to start out with some Umpqua ice cream, especially when chocolate peanut butter was an option.

The road into the park snaked alongside the 111-mile-long turquoise-colored Umpqua River, which originates in the Cascade Mountains and makes its serpentine path in a northwest direction to the Pacific Ocean.

We had been in the car for a good part of the day, and I was ready for some exercise. This looked like a good place for a little walk.

We ambled through old-growth forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar, big leaf maple, and Pacific yew for about a mile.

The end point of the trail is Toketee Falls. "Toketee" is a Chinook word that means "pretty."  It lived up to its name, and then some.

We could see the river, which was in a chasm far below the trail, beginning to churn. Toketee Falls is a two-fer. It first drops 40 feet over a ledge into a foamy pool. 

The pool the water plummets into is a pothole--a deep cylinder formed by the turbulent force of the water creating an eddy that grinds a cavity into bedrock.

After a few more steps, we could see the top of the second chute, which crashes 80 feet into a second pool:

WOW. Isn't it stunning? This is no bridal veil--it is too powerful to be likened to a lacy accessory.

We were there. Here is proof.

Heading back to the car, we first had to ascend to the falls overlook, and then descend to river-level.

Did I mention that it was a pretty warm day?

At the bottom of the trail and next to the parking lot is a 12-foot diameter pipeline made of redwood staves. It was built in 1949 as part of a hydroelectric project. The water comes from a reservoir a mile upstream from Toketee Falls and powers three generator turbines that create enough energy for about 22,500 homes.

We were on our way to Crater Lake next, but as I was checking out sites along the way, I decided we needed to stop at Diamond Lake, "The Gem of the Cascades."  How could we pass that up?

Well, Bob was right. We should have stayed on the main road and kept going.

Diamond Lake is pretty--pretty crowded and pretty commercialized.  Bob couldn't find a place to park, so he let me out to take a look while he drove around. This is pretty much it.

It's pretty bad when this sign was my favorite thing about the lake.

A few days later, this area had significant wild fires, marked by the pink figure below.  All those people vacationing there were probably evacuated.

Next up: Crater Lake