Searching for Diamond Peak
Republished from 10/15/2005
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As I drive down the McKenzie highway on my way home from work on clear days, as I go over a slight hill, I can see the Three Sisters Mountains down the valley. On some really clear days, I noticed another snow-peaked mountain off in the distance to the South-Southeast. I began looking at maps to see if I could figure out what mountain it was. Eventually, I narrowed it down and was pretty sure that it was a mountain called Diamond Peak. Apparently, Diamond Peak is one of the least accessible mountains in Oregon, requiring a several hour drive on dirt and gravel roads to even get to the trailhead, and then at least a day to traverse it. From some of the pictures I saw, it is also a very scenic mountain. Anyway, I wanted to see if this was the mountain, so I looked for somewhere close to Diamond Peak for Paula and I to go hiking. We found Salt Creek Falls, so we started our expedition here.

We drove down the Willamette highway 58 along the Willamette river, passing dams and reservoirs, following the gorge until we reached Salt Creek Falls. There was a parking lot and viewing area, so we walked out to the viewing area and took a few pictures. This is the Salt Creek Canyon, and way down below is Salt Creek. You'll also notice the sky is overcast, so we weren't sure if we'd be able to see the elusive Diamond Peak today...

Anyway, these are Salt Creek Falls, the second highest waterfall in the State of Oregon.

We're pretty high up, so I'd believe that just by looking down--hey...are those logs down there in the creek? (inside joke)

Over to the left (south) we can see the peak of Mt. Yoran. It looks like the clouds may break, so we may see Diamond Peak yet.

Here's some of the Oregon Fall foliage. It isn't as brilliant as some of the New England scenery, but I think it is pretty cool how the dark evergreens stand out against the brighter leafy trees. That's Salt Creek.

Next, we crossed a wooden bridge over Salt Creek toward the Diamond Creek Falls trailhead.

We walked along the edge of the Salt Creek canyon to this viewpoint. According to the 100 Hikes in the Central Oregon Cascades book by William Sullivan, this spot was carved out by Ice Age glaciers.

The area we're hiking is in the Diamond Peak Wilderness area, and so there are areas around where hunting is taking place, so you may notice my bright orange shirt. Go Oregon State Beavers!

Speaking of "wilderness areas", we made it to a lake ominously named "Too Much Bear Lake". The water was very clear, but more impressive was the fact that it was extremely quiet here. It was almost nervously quiet, particularly with the whole "Too Much Bear" name. I wanted to get a photo of the reflection of the trees and sky here, but we didn't hang around long.

Well, truth be told, we hadn't considered bears being around, so for a little while, we were cautiously looking around in the forest, and making enough noise that hopefully would scare away a bear close by, but not quite enough noise to attract a bear from far away. We also found some animal poop that was too big to be an elk and not quite a horse, so maybe it was a bear? Nevertheless, we were watching out. The forest was pretty dense, so a bear could have been out there somewhere. Look close, maybe you'll see one...

Anyway, the uneasiness passed and we weren't concerned about bears anymore, so we kept going. The sky was even clearing up as we hiked along.

This cliff was kind of neat, being framed by the dark trees.

There were some bridges and steps on some parts of this trail, but because the forests were not very accessible, many bridges were made by logs simply cut in half with a railing made of other fallen branches. The stairs made of a log with steps chainsawed out of it was cooler than this bridge, but it was too dark for a photo there.

We were pretty high up, and you can kind of get a feel for it by looking at those large trees down below.

By this time, we had reached the end of the part of the trail following Salt Creek Canyon. Now it was time to head south toward Diamond Creek Falls.

Well, we took several pictures on the way to Diamond Creek Falls, but the forest was very dense, so many came out very dark. We tried to take pictures of the lower falls, but they were too dark. The pictures of the upper falls came out much better.

These are the Diamond Creek Falls. The water was very clear and cold. The water chilled the air, too, so it was nice and cool down here, especially after hiking for several miles to this point. It would be back uphill from here, so the cooling felt nice.

This was a nice tree on the other side of the Diamond Creek gorge. The sky has certainly cleared up, we may yet see Diamond Peak!

This is a close up of the water over the rocks. Look how clear it is!

Here's Paula standing by the Diamond Creek Falls. I bet in the spring, with the snowmelt, this would be a raging waterfall, and you couldn't stand this close.

After a while, we decided to continue on, and trooped back up out of the canyon and up the other side of the gorge. We took this picture after climbing back out and hiking around to the other side of the river. On our way back out, we encountered tracks we think were made by a bear! I promised Paula that if we got eaten by a bear, she could say "I told you so!"

We made it back to the park area and had lunch in the picnic area. There were lots of trees and friendly birds...

...VERY friendly birds! This is a Loggerhead Shrike. This one, and all of his brothers and sisters were very tame and invited all of the park visitors to toss them crumbs and food.

...and this was a Stellar Blue Jay. It wasn't as trusting and friendly as the Shrikes, but it certainly enjoyed potato chips.

Anyway, after lunch, Paula and I headed through Willamette Pass looking for Diamond Peak. We found a pull-off with an awesome view of the mountain! Plus, the sky had cleared perfectly.

This was certainly the mountain that I could see from Springfield as I drove home from work and I was glad to see it in person.

Finally, this photo proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we have found Diamond Peak.

By this time, it was getting later in the day, so we decided to head back to Springfield. It was a fun day trip, but in another month, the snows would return to the Cascades, and it would be very difficult to travel beyond Willamette Pass. The Diamond Peak Wilderness parks and many trails, including the Diamond Falls trails would be closed until spring, so I'm glad we got to take this hike this year. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed another photo-tour of our hike and join us next time!