For my 2 days off this week I traveled down to Central Oregon to hike on the McKenzie River Trail located about an hour east of Eugene. This 26 mile trail follows the river and is popular with the mountain bikers. It passes beautiful blue lakes and roaring waterfalls. There are quite a few trail bridges that cross over the river and its tributaries.
After a 3 hour drive I arrived at the Horse Creek Lodge at 8:30am to catch the 9:00am shuttle van to the upper trailhead.
By doing this I could hike the whole trail and not have to worry about getting back to my car. I would have an extra 1 mile road walk from the end of the trail to where I parked.
It only took about 30 minutes to reach the upper trailhead. The other passengers unloaded their bikes as I hoisted my pack on and set off. Right away the trail crossed a few log bridges.
In short order I arrived at Clear Lake. The water was very blue, clear and easy to see the bottom.
There are a couple of campgrounds here and a place to rent boats. I could see several out on the water and a few fisherman.
The trail crossed over a large lava flow next to the lake. The rocks were jagged and sharp. The weather was great, clear and cool. After 2 hours I stopped at the other end of the lake for a rest and snack. From here the trail crossed the highway and paralleled the river. It was flowing high and fast from the snow melt.
Next up was a wide bridge crossing over the water.
The day was warming up and the pack was starting to feel heavier. I found a great spot to get some cold, clear mountain water and refill my bottle.
For the most part the hiking was downhill but there are many sections where it is uphill. So the end result was a feeling of ups and downs. There were only a few times I had to step off the trail to let a biker pass. I saw no other backpackers out here so there was a lot of solitude to be had. I could tell by the noise ahead that I was approaching Sahalie Falls. The water was really moving through here. At last I came to a viewpoint were there was a good view of it.
A little further on there was another impressive waterfall, Koosah Falls.
In another hour and a half of hiking I came to the very popular Blue Pool. This spring fed pool is a very dark blue and people hike up here just to swim in the 37 degree water. I took a long lunch break here and watched the people jumping in. It was usually followed by a shriek and they quickly got out.
After a nice break I grudgingly got up and moved on. It was time to make the final push to a campsite for the night. It would take another 2 hours to reach a spot I picked out from a previous trip here. I crossed more trail bridges along the way and passed many people heading up to Blue Pool.
When I reached the campsite the weather had changed. Now it was cloudier, cool and breezy. I set up my tent in an area above the river and under some trees.
I went down to the water to fill up my bottles. When I was here before I could walk out on the rocks, now they were completely submerged.
Back at my tent I packed up things for the night. I didn’t feel like cooking so I had a snack and crawled into my sleeping bag. I’d been up since 4:30am and now I was ready for a long night of sleeping. It slowly got darker and quieter. The only sound was from the rushing water below. I got a good 12 hours of solid sleep this night. In the morning I got up to answer the call of nature then slipped back into my warm sleeping bag. I stayed there as I made coffee and breakfast. The day got brighter as I let the coffee energize me for the day. It didn’t take long to pack up camp. My back felt a little stiff as I heaved my pack on. It was 7:45am as I set off. The trail went down to the river and crossed it on a long skinny log.
The water was flowing really fast, you don’t want to fall in here.
After this the trail switchbacked up a few times then followed the river downstream. It stayed up high for a while then came back down. The walking became easier and very pleasant.
In a couple of hours I found a good spot right next to the river to take a break. I leaned up against my pack and just watched the water flow by.
I could have stayed here much longer but there were still miles to go. Once back on the trail I focused on the sights, sounds, and smells that came my way. On this day more mountain bikers passed me. Several large groups were out enjoying the day. There were numerous bridge crossings in this area of all different sizes.
In the afternoon I found a good spot to take my final break right next to the water. For the whole trip the weather had been ideal, with only a slight sprinkle early this morning before I got up.
After 15 minutes it was back on the trail for the final hour and a half to the lower trailhead. This area is not as scenic as the rest of the trail. If I was to do this trail again I would skip this section. At 2:30pm I reached the parking lot and end of the trail. It felt so good to have made it this far.
I took a short rest break here then made the 40 minute road walk back to my car. It felt oh so good to take my hiking shoes off and leave them off for the drive home. I checked my GPS and it said 28 miles had been hiked. I drove into Eugene and promptly stopped at the first hamburger place to eat dinner. Real food taste so good after a long hike.
Hiking and the Great Outdoors 