Opal Creek

Yay! Found a friend to hike with! Which means I got to explore a new location! My friend Cara and I drove out to Opal Creek in the North Fork/Santiam area just east of Salem.  I was a bit of a nervous driver with my little toyota corolla because the road to get in has a lot of pot holes, but it wasn't too shabby! It was definitely worth the anxiety! Plus, hey! I am halfway to my goal already!

• Date of hike: April 26th, 2014
• Distance: 10 miles

• Elevation gain: 500 feet

• Difficulty: Moderate
• Miles thus far: 51/100 miles this year

We parked at the trailhead and headed to Jawbone Flats and then further to Cedar Flats.  Once you enter, you definitely feel as if you have gone back into time. Everywhere you look, you have 450-year-old trees, but many are a thousand years old. Along the hike you will see many rusty old mining tools, an old watershed, and even a mining entrance into the mountain. 

At the 2-mile mark, you will come to the rusting machinery of Merten Mill on the right. The mill operated briefly during the Depression, using winches from the battleship USS Oregon, but folded after two of the mill's lumber trucks fell off the narrow canyon road. Definitely stop here and take a detour on a short side trail behind the building. This leads to Sawmill falls, also called Cascadia Los Ninos, a 30-foot cascade pouring into a deep green pool.

About a mile after Sawmill Falls, the trail leads to a small historic mining community called Jawbone Flats.  You will immediately be transported back in time to Oregon’s mining heydays.

After you take the time to check out this incredible historic community, take a right turn past a building humming with a water-powered generator.  When you reach the trail junction beside Opal Pool continue upstream 0.6 mile to a single-log footbridge. Along the way you'll pass several small waterfalls. If you like, continue 0.9 mile upstream on a rougher trail to Cedar Flat's trio of ancient red cedars, 500-1,000 years old.  We made it nearly to Cedar Flats, but it was starting to get late, so we opted to turn back. Plus, we were starving! And remember, the best thing about hiking is that you can eat nearly guilt free for dinner that night! :)

It was an incredible place and a great hike. Can't wait to go back with the warmer weather and get down into the creek!

 The junction to Cedar Flats with Opal Creek in the background

 There were a plethora of small and large waterfalls in this Oregon Wilderness Gem

 Cara above Sawmill Falls

 At Sawmill Falls

 Cara was a great hiking partner!

 Some shots of the historic Jawbone Flats

 The water was so clear!

 Cascadia de Los ninos - "waterfall of the children". This falls is the end of salmon and steelhead runs in the little north for Santiam River. This stream is the only river in the willamette river system that is un-damned from its source (opal lake) to the ocean.

So thankful for Cara as my hiking partner so I could discover this beautiful hike! I love living in the Pacific Northwest!