Thundering Waters Highway

We decided to take a drive today to see some of the waterfalls along Highway 138. This roadway runs from Roseburg to north entrance to Crater Lake. As we have been to Crater Lake before, we agreed that we would only go approximately 40 miles.

Our first stop was at the Colliding Rivers Viewpoint. This is where the North and South Umpqua Rivers meet. The rivers weren't exactly "colliding" but the view was pretty. We certainly imagine that in the winter and spring the views must be spectacular.

Our next stop was the Deadline Falls on the North Umpqua River. It was a short hike to the falls. Between May and October, steelhead and salmon may be observed jumping up the powerful falls. Sadly, we were too late to view any spawning fish.

We stopped along the North Umpqua River for this shot. The color of the water was a spectacular turquoise.

Next we stopped at Susan Creek Falls. This was a mile hike in to the falls on a very nice trail. As we got close to the falls, we came across this lovely picnic area (if we had known, we would have brought the lunch we had packed).

Here is a nice shot of the bridge that crosses the little stream.

Here is John sitting in front of the waterfall that drops 50 feet over moss-lined rock cliffs. We have determined that maybe this is not the best time of year for spectacular waterfall viewing. We are a little underwhelmed.

On our hike out, I took this picture of these trees. I just think this picture is special.
After we got back to the truck, we ate the lunch we brought as it was too cool to sit outside at the picnic table.

The last stop was Little Falls. This small waterfall pours over large basalt boulders and cliffs. As parking is limited, we could only get a shot of the falls from above. Not too impressive but it was the best we could get.
After a nice day, we returned home.