Whetstone Mountain

After looking through our central Oregon cascades hiking guide, we decided that we'd pretty much done every hike listed within a 2 hour drive of Amity. Flipping to the back of the book, I found a list of hikes that the author deemed marginal, too difficult, not scenic enough, too long, too short, or too easy. I latched on to one that sounded interesting: Climbing Whetstone Mountain from the south, accessed via the Opal Creek Trail.

Whetstone Mountain is usually climbed as a short side hike from the Silver King Mountain trail in the Bull of the Woods Wilderness (Clackamas River headwaters). It is the highest point on a ridgeline that separates the Clackamas drainage from the headwaters of the Little North Santiam River. When I posted a query on the Portland hiking forum, no one had ever tried the hike from the south, but many people responded saying they had done the side hike and that the hike was gorgeous. That was enough for us to give it a shot.

We hiked from the Opal Creek trailhead about a half mile before turning uphill, and climbed steeply (~800 fpm) for about three miles. It was an adventure from the get-go, as it became clear that the trail had received no maintenance for quite some time. Deadfalls and blowdown covered the trail and constantly required scrambling over and ducking under logs.


We finally reached the ridgetop, and immediately noticed two things: One, a spectacular view of Mt Hood


And two, a LOT of snow on the ground. In fact, it was virtually impossible to find the trail.

We eventually just headed up the ridgeline as best we could, stumbling randomly upon the trail as the south face of the ridge became more exposed. We made the decision to push for the summit, even though the day was getting late. We hit heavy snow again a couple hundred feet from the top, which slowed our progress and made for some tense spots. The view at the top absolutely blew us away. 360 degree view of the major peaks of the cascades.

Battle Axe Creek canyon (Opal Creek trib) with Battle Axe Mountain and Mt. Jefferson in the background
Battle Axe Mountain and Mt. Jefferson

Looking out over the source of the Hot Springs Fork of the Collowash at Mt Hood

The beargrass and rhododendron blooms were gorgeous in the evening light as we head back down the trail.

All in all, a fantastic adventure, with a payoff of incredible views.

Opal Creek

I'd wanted to do Opal Creek for years. In fact, it's probably safe to say that it was the number one run I wanted to do after moving back west. I finally got on it today, at optimal flows and on a beautiful KAVU day in the mid-70s.

The crew was me, Darryl from Salem, and Russ from Tennessee. I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were booking down at a good clip, enjoying the fun ledges and boulder gardens.

What you get when the headwaters of a river include some of the largest stands of old-growth trees left in the state: turquoise water and a pristine river canyon

Ancient old growth logs wedged in the canyon below Big Fluffy, as viewed during the SKETCHY seal launch portage

Looking back upstream after the seal launch, which involved landing in the outflow of the waterfall in control so as to avoid the two logs that you can see in the river

Thors hammer and the largest and last rapid of the day, thors playroom. This rapid was FUN!!!! Only about half the rapid can be seen in this picture

Valley of the Giants

My parents and I were looking for a good close hike that we hadn't done, but would be short enough that we could make it back to McMinnville for a BBQ and Brew Festival in the granary district. We chose to explore a short hike in the Valley of the Giants - a tiny 55-acre patch of epic old growth Douglas Fir trees amidst the clearcut desolation of the Coast Range. The drive to the valley was traumatic - 20 miles of one lane gravel logging roads, with the most horrendous views on all sides. Yay Oregon, land of scenic beauty! It was easy to get depressed.


Once we arrived at the trailhead though, things immediately looked up...literally, as we were surrounded by massive trees. The trail was only about a mile loop total, but we took almost two hours. Every step we took revealed towering 400 year old 250 foot tall giant trees.



This guy had to be 10ft in diameter.

The North Fork of the Siletz ran through the Valley, which apparently had a 200fpm section just below what we could see from the trail. It was crystal clear and beautiful.


The giant trees, beautiful stream, and mellow hike left us feeling pretty magical. Too bad we had to drive back through this to get home...
All of the dust from the road left us pretty thirsty for one of these....YUM!
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