The North Umqua Trail system and National Forest follow the Umqua River east of Roseburg up to Diamond Lake. There is a great website that breaks up the trail into sections for mountain biking, horseback riding, hiking, etc. We chose to focus on a couple of waterfalls and a natural hot spring.
The deer leap segment has Toketee Falls, 120 feet in total, a double tiered waterfall 80 and 40 feet over a sheer wall of columnar basalt and into an emerald pool of water below. Toketee is Chinook for “graceful”. I have to say, this is one of my favorites of Oregon so far. We were contemplating on hiking to the pool, but there is a steep segment guided by a very thin rope that did not in any way look reliable, so we skipped that view. Next time I’ll be prepared with my own rope.
The Umqua hot springs hug the river and steep cliffside. It’s about a 0.3 mile walk from the parking lot or a 3.5 mile hike from Toketee Lake.
Last, but not least, on this trip we decided to take in Watson Falls as well. It’s similar to Salt Creek by their basalt amphitheaters, but Watson is the 3rd tallest waterfall in Oregon at 272 or 292 feet, depending on your source.
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