Broken Top Crater

Broke Top Crater's unnamed lake

Distance: 15.6 miles out-and-back

Maximum Elevation: 8400 feet

Minimum Elevation: 6100 feet

Total Elevation gain: 2400 feet

Directions: From Bend, take the Cascade Lakes Highway 24 miles. Turn right at the sign for Todd Lake (Road 370). The parking area is about a half mile from the turnoff. 

One of the most spectacular alpine wonderlands in the Three Sisters Wilderness, Broken Top Crater basins a frigid lake rimmed with glacier, massive, multi-colored crags, and a scree-sloped viewpoint of all the Oregon Cascades from the South Sister north.

Mt. Bachelor

The meandering trail network from Todd Lake trailhead to the crater is pretty awesome in itself. Even from the parking lot, 9,068-foot Mount Bachelor rises up for a picturesque view.

The trail begins on a .1-mile section of gated road to a four-way intersection. If you want to take a 1.5-mile detour and hike a loop around Todd Lake, head left or straight. To continue the adventure to Broken Top, take a right on Todd Trail.

Broken Top from a distance

After 2.5 miles of forests and meadows, take a slight right/straight onto Soda Creek Trail. In another .9 mile, crossing a couple of creeks on the way, take a sharp right. On the next 1.8-mile stretch, you trod through beautiful pumice fields dotted with flowers. Broken Top’s jagged crags rise off to the left. And a note to avoid confusion: most of this stretch is actually outside of the wilderness. You’ll re-enter it just after the next intersection, which you turn left on. 

Waterfall on Crater Creek

The next 1.8 miles gets really exciting. The trail follows Crater Creek the entire way, displaying stair steps of waterfalls and chutes in rock-carved gorges. 

Broken Hand

Broken Top looms directly ahead, and is joined by Broken Hand and a couple other large buttes. By this time, the only trees still clinging to life are a few scattered groves of gnarled whitebark pines.

Here, the trail climbs briefly steep, then crosses a few gentle-sloped snowfields. Up ahead is a large moraine with a jagged gap through it – the path of the creek, as well as yours. Scrabble up through it, and welcome to the crater. 

Before you is the lake. Head around it on a well-used trail to the right, where the steep moraine levels out a little. Fragile alpine flowers dot the talus crater walls. 

Broken Top's crags above the lake

After you’ve finished checking out the lake, continue following the original trail up the north side of the crater. At the top a glorious view awaits. 

Three Sisters from Broken Top's viewpoint

Note on the Route: This is one option of several different routes to get to Broken Top Crater. For the shortest route, if you have a vehicle that can take a beating on one rough road, drive past the Todd Lake Trailhead on Road 370 for 3.5 miles. Turn left on Road 380 to Broken Top Trailhead. Follow the trail straight (don’t go left at the one intersection .4 miles from the trailhead) to the crater for a 5.8-mile out-and-back.

For a longer route that includes more creeks and waterfalls, take the Soda Creek Trail from the Green Lakes trailhead (a few miles further west of the Todd Lake turnoff). After 4.3 miles, turn left at the Soda Creek-Todd Lake junction and follow the original route the rest of the way, making for a 19 mile round-trip.

Different routes can also can be combined into a loop trip.

For more High Cascade adventures, check out my Cascade Crest page.

Henline Falls

Henline Falls

Distance: 2 miles out-and-back

Maximum Elevation: 1780

Minimum Elevation: 1600

Total Elevation Gain: 200

Directions: From Salem, take Highway 22 and drive 23 miles to Mehama. Turn left on Little North Fork Santiam. Head about 16 miles on it, then head left on Road 2209. In less than a quarter mile, the parking area for the trailhead will be on the left.

My roomate and the waterfall

This short hike gives a small, but very satisfying, taste of Opal Creek Wilderness: a 120-foot waterfall, a pristine creek, and an old mining operation.

The cave entrance

The wide, gentle trail (actually an old mining road) passes a half mile though a thick forest to a steep fork on the right. Ignore it – it goes nowhere. Continue straight on the main trail for about another half mile. Close to the destination, you’ll begin to hear the rush of the creek and waterfall. Next, you’ll see the creek, at first quite far below you in a ravine. Then, the first glimpse of the falls.

The trail squeezes around a big chunk of concrete – the remnants of Silver King Mine’s power building. A short distance further, an easy scrabble-route climbs up to a dark, damp opening in the cliff face – Silver King’s mining shaft. You can explore the first 25 feet of the shaft – the rest is blocked off by an iron grate. If it wasn’t there, you could continue on .25 miles into the mountain’s basement.

The waterfall itself is impressive. A 120-foot sheet of water crashes into a crystal-clear pool, opalescent rocks glinting below the surface.

This hike makes a great warm-up for a longer adventure along Opal Creek.

Looking out from the mining shaft

Collier Loop Part 3: Glacier Creek to Obsidian Trailhead

Middle Sister from Glacier Creek Meadow

Distance: 5.7 miles

Note: A permit is required for all hiking in camping in the Obsidian Area. You can find more about it here.

A continuation of Collier Loop Parts One and Two

The final stretch of the loop takes you along a refreshing creek, across more lava, and through several miles of mountain hemlock forest. As a bonus, it’s almost all downhill – which is largely appreciated after already hiking 9.4 miles.

I’ll admit that this wasn’t the most exciting part of the loop, or of the Obsidian Area, but it makes for a nice, relatively easy homeward journey.

Glacier Creek

From the charming meadows at the PCT-Glacier Creek junction, head .7 mile down Glacier Creek Trail to its junction with the Obsidian Trail. Going left at this fork would take you back to the PCT to see Obsidian falls. Heading straight/right continues the loop. 

Soon after, you’ll cross White Branch creek, a wide ford so shallow that barely the soles of your boots may get damp in the crossing. 

A lava flow immediately awaits the other side of the creek – and the only real uphill jaunt I remember on this section of the trail. As you descend the other side of the flow, be on the lookout for obsidian mingling in the boulders.

About 3.5 of tree-shaded trail leads to the Obsidian Trailhead. Just before reaching it, however, take a right on the well-marked Scott Trail connector. In .6 miles, the connector joins Scott trail. Head left/straight and it’s .3 miles to the car – the end of a 15.1-mile loop.

For more adventures in the High Cascades, check out my Cascade Crest page.

White Branch Creek

Collier Loop Part 2: Pacific Crest Trail Section Scott Meadow to Glacier Creek

Left to right: North Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Brother from the PCT

Distance: 4.6 miles one-way

Maximum Elevation: 6200 feet

Minimum Elevation: 7200 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1200 feet

A continuation of Collier Loop Part 1

Shortly after beginning this next section of the loop, I passed a fellow hiker along the trail, doing the same hike but in the opposite direction. He said great views were awaiting – in fact, he said his friend had called this section of the PCT one of his favorite parts of the entire 2,650-mile trek.

I would quickly find out why. The trail passes through meadows, forest, a spring, lava planes, and jagged obsidian crevices, to climax on a side trail up Collier Cone’s alpine viewpoint at the foot of the North and Middle Sisters. The spectacular views of some of the central Cascades’ best seemed to never cease on this four and a half-mile stretch of trail. 

Minnie Scott Spring

After turning right onto the PCT from Scott Trail, you’ll head south through the meadow with the North and Middle Sisters dominating your horizon. After leaving the meadow and crossing through a forested section, you’ll reach Minnie Scott Spring about 1.5 miles down the trail. 

The spring lives up to its name. At its deepest, it may be a couple inches. It’s enough to filter water from, though, making it the only reliable water source so far since starting the loop. No other water source exists until you reach Glacier Creek about another three miles further on, so don’t wait to fill up if you’re thirsty. A camping spot or two also might be found close by the spring. 

Another Smeagol picture in the lava

Then the trail heads in earnest into the lava flows. Directly ahead, its red pumice splotched with snow, 7,800-foot Little Brother doesn’t look so little anymore. 

At 1.8 miles from Scott Trail meadows, a massive grey cinder cone rises to the left – Collier Cone. At this point, the PCT veers to the right to skirt the rugged slopes of Little Brother. This will be the eventual route. First, be sure to take a slight left on a smaller side-trail. Its only .3 miles one-way and the views are spectacular. 

It first winds around jagged obsidian crags, then winds through Collier Crater, a moonscape of alpine flowers and pumice at the base of the cinder cone. It climbs the crater wall, a small lava tube off to

Collier Crater

the right, to reach the viewpoint’s crest. North Sister reaches up jagged to the front left. Middle rises up behind Collier Glacier, a huge chunk of ice once known as Oregon’s largest glacier. To the right is Little Brothers, from this view just as impressive as his bigger siblings. Directly below is a murky lake, the rock-mixed meltwater of Collier Glacier.

After you’ve had your fill of the viewpoint, retrace your steps and continue down the PCT for a final couple miles. 

It continues through the lava, then drops down in a series of tight switchbacks to enter forest again. Finally, it opens in meadow to the sound of running water as you reach the Glacier Creek intersection. A beautiful, meadow-framed view of Middle Sister awaits you at the turnoff.

Part three of the loop can be found here.

For more High Cascade adventures, check out my Cascade Crest page.

North Sister and Middle Sister from the Collier  Crater viewpoint

Collier Loop Part 1: Scott Trail and 4-In-1 Cone

North Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Brother from Four-In-One Cone

Distance: 4.8 miles one way

Maximum Elevation: 6270 feet

Minimum Elevation: 4760 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1600 feet

Directions: From McKenzie Bridge, head east on Highway 126. Turn right onto Highway 242/Old McKenzie Pass. Between mileposts 71 and 72, turn left at the sign for Scott Lake. Take an immediate right into the Scott Trail parking area. 

When summer weather opens the gates to the winding Highway 242, drivers can access a moonscape of high-altitude lava fields and cinder cones under the shadow of the majestic Three Sisters. Views from the top of the pass are incredible, but heading out on foot into its midst is even better. 

North and Middle Sister from lava fields

Scott Trail gets you into the thick of it. Named after Captain Felix Scott who blazed it as a wagon route 153 years ago, it meanders under mountain hemlock forests, climbs over a jagged lava flow, and ends in a beautiful blue lupine meadow as it junctions with the Pacific Crest Trail. 

Turning right (south) onto the PCT takes you on a 15-mile loop to cover some of the coolest country in the northwest region of the Three Sisters Wilderness. 

Before getting there, however, don’t miss Four-In-One Cone, where a .8-mile side-trip heads up to four craters stuck together by a long, cinder ridge yielding views of the all the Cascade peaks from the Middle Sister in the south to Mount Hood in the North. 

Front left to back right: Belknap Crater (Little Beltknap is the dark mound to its right), Mount Washington, Three Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson. Mount hood is the small white tip just to the right of Jefferson. It's much easier to see in person.

The trail begins at the Scott Lake trailhead. It heads east, crosses the highway, and continues on to a junction .3 miles from the car. The left trail continues the adventure. Going right is a connector trail to the Obsidian Trailhead (Part 3 of Collier Loop, coming soon). Don’t pass up the tiny wild strawberries along the trail in midsummer. They might be smaller than your thumbnail, but a ripe one packs the flavor of a whole crate of the domestic kind. As the elevation increases, mountain blueberries and huckleberries also join the trailside buffet. 

Conks!

In three miles from the car, prepare to cross a river of lava – thankfully frozen. By scrabbling up its craggy chunks of broken surface rock, you may be rewarded in views of the surrounding mountains. Otherwise, hike another mile and a half, crossing a tree island in the middle of the basalt flow and following the flow to cinder fields dotted with trees, and find a rock cairn. To your left will be a mound of charcoal-grey cinders. Here, a trail veers off left towards the mound’s crest. Slog up the dune-like terrain, and find yourself atop Four-In-One Cone.

North Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Brother are the behemoths dominating your southern view. Mount Washington, Three-Fingered Jack, Mount Jefferson, and Mount Hood are the peaks visible to the north. 

My brother Smeagol-posing atop a lava crag

After heading back down the cone (classified as such only geologically; geometrically you’d think it more a weird, elongated blob), continue a final .8 mile to the PCT junction; the meadows surrounding yielding a great view of the North and Middle sister. 

Here, a choice is to be made. You can make the trip an out-and-back by just retracing the route back to the car. You can head 6 miles north on the PCT, passing the Matthieu Lakes and Yapoah Crater, to McKenzie Pass. By doing so, you’d probably need a car shuttle to get back to the Scott Trail parking lot. Or, you can head south on the PCT to complete the 17-mile loop, heading down the PCT for three miles to Glacier Creek, then heading west on Glacier Creek 4.8 miles to the Obsidian trailhead and taking the .6-mile connector back to Scott Trail and the car.

The second part of this loop, the Pacific Crest Trail section, can be found here.

For more High Cascade adventures, check out my Cascade Crest page here.

The meadows at the Scott-PCT junction

Hemlock Butte

View from the summit. Diamond Peak center, Mount Yoran and its sister peak to the far left

Distance: 1 mile out-and-back

Minimum Elevation: 5330 feet 

Maximum Elevation: 5800 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 470 feet

Directions: From Oakridge, head east on Highway 58 for about 1.5 miles. Turn right at the sign for Hills Creek Dam. You should now be on Forest Service Road 21, known also as Hills Creek Road. In a half mile, continue straight as the road becomes Forest Service Road 23. You’ll be going to the left of the reservoir. In about 19.5 miles is the trail sign on the right for Hemlock Butte. 

This short trail leads to a great view of Diamond Peak, Mount Yoran and the surrounding area. It leaves the road to switchback through a thick forest of mountain hemlock and grand fir. Dense undergrowth and fallen logs crowd out the path in places. Near the summit, the forest opens up to a steep, rocky slope. A short, well-used scrabble route, passing fragile subalpine flowers, ascends the summit block to the 360-degree view.

Fitton Green Summit Loop

Directions: In Corvallis, follow Harrison Blvd west through town. After crossing Walnut Blvd/NW 53 St, the road becomes NW Oak Creek Drive. Continue following it west, then take a slight left onto Cardwell Hill Road. Turn left onto Chinook Drive. Turn Right onto Chapparel Drive/Panorma Drive. Follow signs to the parking area.

About a 10-15 minute drive from OSU’s campus, Fitton Green Natural Area is a great local site for several activities – hiking, picnicking, running, photography, watching sunsets. Better yet, it’s much less crowded than other Corvallis parks and natural areas, such as Bald Hill or Chip Ross Park.

It’s also Benton County’s newest park. Elsie Fitton Ross and her husband Charles Ross, partnered with Greenbelt Land Trust, provided the funds to acquire the land, and now open to the public since 2003, it offers 308 acres explore. 

A short, though pretty, loop begins at the parking area and follows a gated road a short distance. Soon, a dirt road heads up the hill to the left. Following it up leads to first a few awesome old oak trees, then to a panoramic view of the coast range, Mary’s Peak rising high in the center of it. 

Adventuring on this road ends at a private property sign, but a trail veers off to the right in the open ridgetop meadow. A Douglas fir up ahead grows windbent on the crest, looking oddly alpine in the otherwise Willamette Valley environment.

Views soon unfold of the wide, flat expanse of the Valley and the Cascade foothills lining its eastern border. Further in the distance, glimpses of the Three Sisters and Mount Jefferson appear sporadically. 

The trail switchbacks down off the meadow and once again becomes dirt road, again turning right to begin closing the loop. Following it straight (avoiding side roads to the left, including cryptic “Evacuation Route” signs) will eventually lead back to gravel road, where it curves once more to the right and heads slightly uphill for a short distance to return to the parking lot.

Imnaha Off-Trail

Here are some pictures of an area, far up the Imnaha, that has evaded any form of official forest service trail. To keep it somewhat hidden I won't disclose exactly where it is or any other specific information about it.

Rogue River Trail (Illahe to Marial)

Rogue River

Distance: 16 miles one-way

Total Elevation Gain: 1000 feet

Directions: From Gold Beach, follow Jerry Flat Road/545 east along the south side of the Rogue River. Continue straight after 10 miles and the road becomes NF-33. In 24 miles, the spur road to Big Bend trailhead is on the right. 

Hiking above the Rogue

Native iris

The Rogue River Trail follows Southern Oregon’s most famous wild and scenic watershed for nearly 40 miles. The lower half, from the Big Bend Trailhead near Illahe to Marial Trailhead, cuts straight through the Wild Rogue Wilderness. Gorges and waterfalls, meadows and forests, flowers and wildlife, and, of course, ticks and poison oak, await the hiker.

Oaks in early spring

One of the most fascinating qualities about the Rogue River is how much it and the area around it changes with so little change in elevation or other such factors. Parts of the trail cross steep-sloped oak savannah, where ancient gnarled trunks filter the view of the river below. Later, views yield dry forests of madrone and chinkapin, seeming an alien forest to the Pacific Northwest. Then the trail dives into a narrow side-ravine, where western red cedars, sword fern, and think brush remind hikers they’re not as far from the coast as they might think. 

Flora Dell Falls

Waterfalls, such as Flora Dell Falls (four miles from the trailhead) pour down some of the creeks creating these ravines, further enriching the experience. 

With the diversity of the terrain also comes diversity of wildlife. Many species of waterfowl, bald eagles, hawks, kingfishers, osprey, deer, and black bears are but a small sample of the wilderness’ denizens a hiker might likely spot. 

Falls from Inspiration Point

The variety also brings potential hazards to the hiker. Black bears present a hazard to a backpacker’s food cache, and thus food should be tied up in a tree or locked in a bear box (several exist in camping areas throughout the trail). Rattlesnakes sunbathe in the trail’s hot, dry areas during the warm season. Poison oak grows nearly everywhere – in places it could even be considered old growth, with vines thicker than a quarter’s diameter twisting high up into the trees. Ticks lie in ambush in the brush and long grass. Some may carry lime disease. 

Inspiration Point, a couple miles before reaching Marial, one of the more picturesque points of the lower trail. A sheer basalt cliff drops about 100 feet to the water below, and a series of waterfalls cut through the cliff on the opposite side of the canyon. This serves as a great turnaround point for an out and back trip. But for those adventures unwilling unable to turn back, the short hike to Marial and from there the remaining 24 miles of the upper half of the Rogue River trail lies onward.

Mule Creek Canyon near Inspiration Point