Trip Report

On Tuesday, June 18, twenty nine Obsidians and guests took a bus trip up the North Umpqua River. Leaving from Shopko promptly at 8 AM, we stopped at Whistler’s Bend Park, just west of Glide, for our morning coffee break. We had easy access to the riverfront and beau-tiful views of the river, park and adjacent hills. Our next stop was the Colliding Rivers at the entrance of Glide. Here is a unique situation of rivers intersecting head-on. Little River flows under the highway bridge to collide with the North Umpqua at this view point. Sign boards tell of Indian history at this spot, and the 1938 CCC (Civilian Conserva-tion Corps) constructed original ranger station serves as a visitor center with a host of brochures and pamphlets about the North Umpqua highway scenic area.
Our next stop was a narrows with a boat ramp just above Idleyld Park. Colorful bobbers lined up midstream from both sides of the bank. We saw some big fish jump, but while we were there, they managed to elude the hooks. We stopped at the newly constructed Tioga Bridge, walking across to see the tiny falls and the river trail on the other side. We then went the short distance to Susan Creek Park. This lovely riverside picnic area was perfect for accommo-dating our group and many of us crossed the road after lunch to make the 0.8-mile hike to the falls. We found the trail very easy going. It is even designated handicapped accessible.
We followed the Fly Fish Only portion of the river past Steamboat Rock to the Steamboat Inn. The views of this stretch of the river must be among the most beautiful in the world. We left Steamboat Inn at about 3:30, retracing our route until intersecting with the North Bank Road to Wil-bur, to I-5, and back to Shopko.