North Umpqua Trail

We just spent 3 wonderful days at Tokatee hotsprings, along the North Umpqua trail. The trail is 79 miles long, and ends at Maidu Lake, the headwaters of the North Umpqua. We were camped along the 'Dread and Terror' segment of the trail, at a walk-in site right by the river. It was worth packing our gear in.. total solitude! The springs were right across the river, but it was running too high and swift for us to cross, so we hiked the half mile downriver, crossed a log, then hiked back upriver to the springs. They are situated on a high cliff of mineral deposits above the river. So you're soaking in 108' water, looking out over the trees and the river..... it just doesn't get better.

We drove up to the forebay to go fishing, but no luck. (nice tan lines though...) Then went for a little walk along the trail. There was so much water, coming down the rocks, running down the trail, we were pretty wet by the time we got back to camp.

The trip gave us a better idea of our gear performance too. We're taking out some stuff that proved to be unnessesary, or just plain useless. (candle lantern, 4th gas bottle, and our maglights) And adding a wind-up flashlight, it gives more light and doesn't require batteries, more sunblock and mosquito repellent, we went through this at a much faster rate than we thought we would, and changing some clothing choices. The forecast for Siead Valley is in the 90's for tomorrow, and smoky from the Big Sur fire, so we'll take less cold weather gear and focus more on light-weight layers.

So, right now we're doing some laundry and re-packing our gear. We leave for California tomorrow morning, and if it's not too hot, hope to be on the trail by 2pm for our 7 mile jaunt to crest level.

We wish you all a Happy 4th of July, and a wonderful summer. We'll check in again in 17 days!

Peace, Scratch and Dent