Winter Hiking: Salt Creek Falls – Diamond Creek Falls Loop

Salt Creek Falls

Distance: About 3.5 miles

Directions: From Oakridge, head east for about 20 miles. Turn right at the sign for Salt Creek Falls.

As temperatures plummet, 286-foot Salt Creek Falls plunges over a solid cliff of ice. For those

capable of braving slick roads and potentially foul conditions, a few miles of easy snow hiking delivers a pretty sweet return.

From wherever you can find a place to ditch your rig, start slogging through the snow towards the main parking lot, gated and buried in white. On the southeastern side of the parking lot, you’ll find the path. Follow it to the right, and soon waterfall views abound below you.

My brother creeping down the slide

If you continue to follow the path up several small, probably slippery, stairs, you’ll find the path that switchbacks down  to the waterfall base. Towards the bottom of the trail, a landslide tore through, rending path and guard fence to rubble. In the winter, it may be a bit sketchy heading on from there.

Regardless whether or not you choose to slide down to the falls’ base, the adventure continues by heading back up the way you just came down. Once back at the parking lot, follow the other fork of the trail that heads up the creek. After crossing a bridge, you’ll come to a fork – one going to Vivian Lake, the other to Diamond Creek Falls. Both go the same place.

For now, take the right fork towards Diamond Creek Falls. Enjoy a few views, including a waterfall concealed in the trees, before forking to the right and heading down a steep embankment (not recommended in moody weather), crossing a slightly dicey bridge, and continuing on slightly further to the base of Diamond Creek Falls.

Retrace your steps back to the main trail, then follow it up to a view from the top of the falls.

Diamond Creek Falls

Follow the trail until it forks. Take the left fork to a logging road. Heading straight will bring you to the road as well, but the left fork takes you to exactly where it crosses to the other side. Follow the trail on the other side down some mild switchbacks, cross another road, and take the trail back to the first fork and the bridge leading back to the parking lot.

For more Western Cascade adventures, check out my Cascade Foothills page.

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.

Divide Lake and Mount Yoran

Mount Yoran rises above Divide Lake

Distance: 8 miles out-and-back

Minimum Elevation: 5330 feet

Maximum Elevation: 6390 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 1200 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, the road (now gravel) will pass a trail sign for Hemlock Butte. Follow the road a couple hundred yards further to a spur road on the left. Here is a loop for parking at the trailhead.

The trail begins in full sun, the product of an old sub-alpine logging. Earlier views of snow-crowned Diamond Peak and brief glimpses of Mount Yoran’s ancient volcanic crags tease of the journey’s destination.

Notch Lake

Soon the trail enters thick mountain hemlock, where currant and beargrass bloom in July and pungent mountain huckleberries fruit in August. In less than one mile, the trail passes picturesque Notch Lake, a great first backpack for families with young children. 

Shortly after, the trail forks – straight heads north for Vivian Lake. Turning right onto the Mount Yoran Trail continues the route to Divide lake. Now the trail steepens as it climbs a ridge. At the crest, views abound. The bulk of Diamond peak towers off ahead to the right, its slopes plummeting to a treed valley below. To the left, Salt Creek Valley cuts through the Western Cascades. The ridges beyond it dip in places just enough to reveal parts of the Three Sisters and Broken Top off to the north. 

The trail passes directly below Mt. Yoran

The trail continues a pattern of following the ridge crest, diving off to the side amongst lupine-covered slopes, and climbing back up again, until it crosses the talus fields of Mount Yoran’s base and slightly dips down to the shores of Divide Lake. 

Blue-green in color, the small lake could seem unremarkable, if it didn’t have three peaks surrounding it. 7100-foot mount

Yoran rises out of its north shore, an unnamed sister peak on its east, and further away to the south Diamond Peak reaches out of the trees. 

Yoran's sister peak

Camping is an option here, at least two hundred feet from the water, though summer weekends often find the lake somewhat crowded. 

For a 1.5-mile round side trip, the trail continues past a couple smaller lakes to a junction with the Pacific Crest Trail and, just before it, a reward of an impressive view of the eastern side of Diamond Peak Wilderness. Mount Yoran and its sister peak can also be climbed from Divide Lake, in theory, though the route is somewhat sketchy. My friend has done it. I have not.

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

Diamond Peak