We found out there were a lot of interesting hikes along highway 138 east of Roseburg along the North Umpqua River. This was the same road we traveled a few years ago to reach Crater Lake National Park. The road was a very nice wide 4 lane for the first 20 miles or so. It then narrowed and became anything but straight as it began an uphill climb.
Highway 138 becomes very scenic after you pass the town of Glide. The road follows the river and the views do not disappoint.
On that earlier trip, we were too focused on our destination to be bothered with any little side trips. We were very happy we made the effort on this trip. We started a little late in the day, so we opted for just one hike today - Toketee Falls. Part of the river was diverted through huge redwood pipes to a hydroelectric generating plant, but there was plenty of water to make the falls a sight to behold.
The trail winds through old-growth forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar, big leaf maple and Pacific yew with several overlooks where we could see the raging water drilling holes in the rock.
The hike was only about a half mile, but we were warned about the steps that made it a little more of a challenge. There were 97 steps up and 125 steps down on the way to the falls (of course, there are 125 steps up and 97 steps down on the way back).
Toketee was actually a triple falls. The smaller upper two falls are almost hidden in the picture below.
Unfortunately, there was no other vantage point for pictures unless you wanted to use some ropes to climb down the very steep (it appeared to be nearly vertical) slope next to the viewing platform.
I think just about everyone was hiking with their dog. These four got along well at the falls overlook. Every dog we passed, large and small, was well behaved. Sam really enjoyed the hike, but he had to stop and sniff things a little too often - at least I got plenty of breaks.
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