ENHS Nature Trails September 2004 Article 3

Umpqua Adventures
by Reida Kimmel

Except for an ENHS field trip with Ewart Baldwin a decade ago, our family had not been to the North Umpqua River in 30 years. This spring we set matters to rights by spending two nights and three days on the river, hiking and enjoying the scenery. We had no idea of the wonderful surprises awaiting us. There is now a trail, completed in 1997, which follows the river for 79 miles from Rock Creek to the Pacific Crest Trail. The Forest Service has a free and detailed booklet describing the river trail and the side trails all along the river. Only one of our family group, not me, was in really good shape, so we chose segments of the trail marked as easy or moderate, and it was a good thing we did. It was late March and every few yards we found more lovely wildflowers to admire, so we went very slowly.

Starting at Mott Creek in the Steamboat area, Chuck and I dawdled our way upstream the first evening, admiring early blooming saxifrages on the basalt cliffs lining the river's south bank, and picking up sugar pine cones all sticky with fresh sap. The next day the whole family went downstream from Mott Bridge, walking 6 miles to an old growth grove (not that there weren't wonderful giants all along the trail) near Wright Creek Bridge where we had a picnic lunch. Most of the flowers we saw were ones we would see in Eugene just a little bit later in the spring, trilliums, calypso orchids, erythronium, spring beauty, (claytonia), wild ginger and even a few iris. Pairs of mergansers flew up and down the river. We had some argument as to whether we were seeing numerous pairs, or several very sociable couples keeping us company. We stopped several times to watch dippers in the little side creeks.

One of these side creeks was signposted as a favorite fishing camp of the western author Zane Grey. We had read in A River Seen Right* that Grey was a boastful fisherman, and often claimed as his own the big fish caught by his guides; so we were not impressed. What did impress us was the clarity of the water, its beautiful blue-green stretches and the rapids sparkling in the sun. Our son Seth spied a congregation of steelhead messing around in a quiet pool across the river, circling lazily, doing what?? We were enchanted, and vowed at that moment, to come back in the summer and see the fish again when we might catch them spawning.

We spent the rest of our spring holiday visiting some of the grand falls on the river and some of the river's tributaries. Toketee Falls, the highest and most amazing, pours down a huge columned basalt wall, its fall broken by two beautiful pools. The walk to this falls was short, with a boardwalk and railings, and not all that many stairs. We also did somewhat longer walks to Fall Creek Falls and Susan Creek Falls. The Fall Creek Falls walk was especially fun because of its wonderful rock formations.

Driving along the river we were very impressed and saddened by the evidence of the Apple Fire. The trail is closed for 3.7 miles because of all the dead and fallen trees. Even from the road it was so easy to see how fire can lead to erosion and landslides here. The soil is composed of volcanic ash, crumbly and unstable without vegetation.

Not far from Soda Springs Reservoir, we tried and failed to find the Indian pictographs advertised in our faithful brochure. What we did find, way up a scary road, was a forest burned in patches, some trees dead, others scarred, and groves untouched by fire. Everywhere new life was springing up. We could clearly see that burned forests are neither dead nor in need of salvage logging.

As we had promised ourselves, we returned to the North Umpqua in mid-July to fish watch. During the summer months, if you turn off Highway 138 onto #38 at Steamboat Creek and follow the creek upstream, you will see a parking area with a camper trailer. Park and follow the little trail a few feet to a rocky spot above the river. There you will find benches as well as rocks to sit on, and a canopy for shade--so settle in for some really Zen fish watching. In the pool below you will find hundreds (we were told 250 on the day we visited) of steelhead trout lazing in the clear blue-green water.

Why are they there? Why is there all this tourist-friendly infrastructure? The fish are waiting, as others wait in many other quiet pools, for the fall rains to come. They arrive as early as March and keep coming all summer. After making the long and difficult journey from the sea, the steelhead just hang out until the fall rains make it possible for them to complete the final leg of their journey up into the little tributary creeks to spawn. The Forest Service and volunteers watch out for poachers at these pools and try to educate the public about the need to let the fish remain undisturbed. We sat watching the fish for about an hour. The experience was very restful, rather hypnotic. Finally the heat got to us and we went downstream to have a swim.

There was one more thing we had to do. The next morning we went to the Swiftwater Recreation Area and parked at the trailhead. From there we walked just a little way and scrambled down to the water's edge where we climbed onto a large rock and got out our binoculars and cameras. The fish were coming up the river and we could see them clearly. It was easy to distinguish the steelhead from the salmon (probably all Chinook) by the different body shapes. The steelhead are shorter and far more streamlined than the heavier bodied, rounder salmon. "Many jump, but few succeed," at least on the first try. In one instance we saw four attempt the falls at once. We could discern grooves in the rocks of the falls. If a fortunate fish jumped into one of these, it could propel itself into the quiet river above the falls. Jumping into the highest, roughest parts of the rapids spelled disaster. Those fish were tossed back. There was one section of falls that looked easier, but no fish tried it. Why not? We observed that each fish had to start from way back and swim upriver very fast to build momentum for the leap. The easy looking part of the falls was impossible because the approach was too short and shallow.

We could have stayed and watched all day, but it was hot, and the sun was burning. So we took a little walk to Fern Creek Falls and saw late dicentra in the low places, some ghost orchids and the ubiquitous Siberian candy flower. Then we took a swim and headed for home. Well, almost, we just had to see the fish one more time. We stopped at the Winchester Dam and walked down the steps to the fish ladders, which sadly, after 35 years in Oregon, we had never bothered to visit. No matter what you may feel about dams and fish ladders, it's a great sight to look through the windows and see the fish traveling up the pools right next to you. We learned to distinguish the Chinook salmon with their black lips and dark but spotted bodies from the white-lipped coho. So close up, the steelhead really looked much, much, smaller.

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