September 17, 2011
Day 33: Umpqua Hot Spring to Diamond Lake
I got up at 7:10 and went to the hot spring to soak for a couple hours. I finally got on the road at 11. Today is another short but mostly uphill day.
The cycling started with 4.5 miles of backtracking to highway 138. The first 2 miles is gravel. Then only 2 miles up highway 138 I turned to the Watson falls trailhead. The trail goes 1/4 mile uphill to a good view of the highest waterfall in southern Oregon. The flow is small because it's just Watson creek. But it's an impressive overhanging basalt escarpment that allows the water to free fall and drift in the breeze.
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My camera quit working after taking the picture of Watson falls. The on-off switch quit responding. I think it will resume working after it dries out, but it's hard to dry out the camera on an overcast day. For the rest of the day I took pictures with my phone.
A few miles up the road the next stop was Whitehorse falls. No hike required here, I biked right up to the viewing platform which is only 0.2 miles off the highway. The falls is in a beautiful setting, but it drops only 15 feet.
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The final waterfall along the North Umpqua river is Clearwater falls. It was officially closed for renovation, but I went in anyway. It's half a mile off the highway, but once again I could bike up to the falls. The falls drops 30 feet in segments, with a large flow that is very noisy.
After Clearwater falls I continued the long boring climb through the forest to Diamond Lake. The highway climbs up to 5350 feet elevation, then descends 200 feet to the Diamond Lake resort. I bought groceries at the store, then continued along the lake to the main campground where I took a shower.
Then I continued another 2 miles to the free 5-site hiker/biker campground. Mike and I were the only people there. The campground isn't marked by road signs. The only access is via the bike trail that goes around the lake. It's perhaps the best hiker/biker accommodation on the ACA Sierra Cascades bicycle route, but it's not mentioned on the ACA map. I submitted a map correction to get this campground included on future editions of the ACA Sierra Cascades route map.
The campground is awesome, with its own heated toilet building with flush toilets and AC outlets. Day 33 of my 2008 Hot-Springing tour journal includes a photo tour of the campground. 1/4 mile away is the South Shore Pizza Parlor where I ordered a pizza for dinner.
Diamond Lake straddles two volcanoes. To the east, 9182 foot Mount Thielsen abruptly rises 4000 feet above the lake. A pier near the campground offers a fantastic view of Mount Thielsen, the "lightning rod of the Cascades". West of the lake, 8363 foot Mount Bailey abruptly rises 3200 feet above the water.
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The sun came out late in the afternoon and the weather was delightful. I had a great evening relaxing at the lake. The weather has a warming trend, but this is the highest campsite of the tour at 5200 feet elevation. It will be a cold night.
The campground and surrounding forest are littered with chunks of pumice, courtesy of Mount Mazama.
Distance: 32.7 mi. (52.3 km)
Climbing: 3424 ft. (1038 m)
Average Speed: 6.6 mph (10.6 km/h)
Hiking: 1.5 mi. (2.4 km)
Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 1,648 miles (2,652 km)
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