Name: South Santiam Combo
Start: 2022-11-12T00:00:00-08:00
End: 2022-11-12T23:59:59-08:00

Past Activity

South Santiam Combo

Start date: 11/12/2022
Start time: 12:00 AM
End date: 11/12/2022
End time: 11:59 PM

Description:

Our warm-up hike will be Lower Soda Creek Falls in Cascadia County Park (formerly Cascadia State Park). This pretty little hike will take us up 324 feet on a 1.4 mile out-and-back through lush forest to a waterfall. The trail has been closed for the last several years, so it will a chance to check it out now that it's been transferred to Linn County Parks.

Then we'll get back in our cars for the 13-mile drive to House Rock Campground, where we'll start the loop that takes us along the old Santiam Wagon Road. I am finding wildly divergent reports on the elevation gain (587 - 1300) and the distance (4.7 - 7.9) for this hike, so stay tuned while I figure it out. Regardless, it will be a moderate hike.

Drive will be suitable for all vehicle types, with a short strech of gravel at the end.

Event Leader: Kathie Carpenter
Event Leader Phone: 541-505-2370
Event Leader Email: kathiec@uoregon.edu
Assistant Leader:
Event category: Trips
Area Type: Mountain
Departure Location: Amazon Park, 28th & Hilyard entrance parking lot
Rating: Moderate
Roundtrip total drive miles: 144
Season: 2023
Permits Required:
Event Status: Passed
Supplies and Equipment Required: Lunch, water, layers, sturdy boots for muddy trails
participant prerequisites:
Conditions:
Total Distance: 7
Member Fees: —
Elevation Gain: 1000
Non-Member Fees: 5
Committee: Trips
Junior member fees: —

Trip Report

There's no better way to spend a cloudy, chilly late fall day than out on the trail in the company of the Obsidians!

We started with a warm-up hike to Lower Soda Creek Falls in Cascadia County Park, then headed up the road ten miles to the pullout where OR-20 crosses the Old Santiam Wagon Road. It's really a beautiful trail. It's wide and well graded, and despite the heavy recent rain, it wasn't slippery or sloshy. The vine maples were still lighting up the forest with their yellow leaves, the trees were plumped up and bulgy like something out of Dr. Seuss, and we were within sight and hearing of running water the whole way. There were pockets of graupel, but otherwise this is a great trail to remember when you want to hike in the mountains but the higher elevations are all snowed in.

After exploring the falls and the cave under House Rock (only Holger was brave enough to actually go all the way inside the cave) we lunched on the river bank, collected pretty rocks and scoped out some really great swimming holes for next summer.