Union Creek Trail # 1035

After last week’s postponement due to thick smoke everywhere and road closures, we were able to discover a new hike with blue skies and clean air. Advanced scouting was done at home and online. I learned Highway 62 was now open all the way past Becky’s and that the air quality index for the Union Creek area was a low 31.

A hiking blogger at vanmarmot.org posted a helpful report about hiking the Upper Union Creek in 2018 complete with pictures of the scenic creek and falls. He and his wife headed up the creek, past the resort cabins but ran into major deadfall obstructions about one mile up the trail. So I thought why not try driving up 62 a few more miles to where the road turns right towards Crater Lake and take that first right where the road sign says Union Creek Trail (FS 610).

We drove down the level gravel road to a circular parking area and quickly found the trail sign for Union Creek Trail No.1035 (0.8 miles to Union Creek Falls ). We walked through the forest and down to the creek. The stair step falls drop about 4 feet and go all the way across the creek. We decided to follow the path down along the creek for about one hour then return to the falls for a noon time lunch.

The creek was like a miniature version of the Upper Rogue River, constantly changing from white water rapids squeezing through narrow channels and over many stair step falls to quiet calm waters with gentle pools that attracted the fishermen in our group. This stretch of Union Creek travels down through Old Growth Forests with soft trails and then right next to the creek with giant ferns where only our heads could poke out to see where we were going.

After an hour exploring the trail it was time to head back as the ferns had grown so thick we couldn’t continue. When we got back to Union Creek falls we all eventually settled down for a relaxing lunch while listening to the constant roar of the cascades.

We all agreed it was a pleasant new hike with potential for adding more miles of trail that would take us down to Becky’s and even further.

This first hike of Autumn was about 4.5 miles with temps at lunch in the low 70s., although cooler in the shaded forest.

After our hike we hiked down to Phil’s in Shady Cove where we enjoyed ice cream outdoors in moderate air. Let me know if you have any favorite hikes that you would like to suggest for our Monday outings.

Hike Leader: Rich Stickle

Photos By: Darryl, Jerry, Sunny