Waterfalls in Umpqua National Forest
Hiking to Waterfalls in Umpqua National Forest | Natural Bridge | Rogue River Gorge | National Falls | Toketee Falls | Visiting Diamond Lake | November 2025
Today, we were blessed with a beautiful, sunny November day in Southern Oregon, and we were ready to take full advantage of it. We rose early, had breakfast, then drove back through Crater Lake National Park over to the West entrance. On our way, we stopped to enjoy the viewpoints of Annie’s Canyon on the East side of the crater.
Our plans today included seeing as many waterfalls as possible in the neighboring national forests — some that I had seen before when I drove through the area, and a few that would be new to both of us. For our first stop, I directed Curtis a little ways South on OR-62 to the trailhead for the short and scenic Natural Bridge trail that follows a section of the Rogue River around an area of interesting lava flow. However, when we arrived at the turnoff we found that the road to the trailhead was closed, probably just to keep people from going to the campground here which was closed for the season. Since we still had all the energy and motivation in the world, we just parked along the highway and added an extra mile of road walk to our hike.
This was one of the hikes I did with Charlotte back in 2017, and I remember loving both the lush colors in the area and the strong flow of the river, even though at the time the state had been in the middle of a long drought and rough fire season. It was just as I remembered it today, with the deep blue water raging, and surrounded by gorgeous lush scenery, with even some fall colors still hanging on. We took time to read the signs (something I didn’t really do last time because it was Charlotte’s walk, not mine) and marveled at the point in the river where the water seemingly disappears while it goes through the lava tubes only to reappear later.
Our next stop was just up the highway, at the Rogue River Gorge interpretive trail. This one also followed the river, but this time we got to see it go through a very narrow gorge. This was a new trail for both of us, and was another easy way to enjoy the beauty of this river. There was a small waterfall at the North end of the loop trail, though I wouldn’t say that it was the highlight of the hike — the river and gorge are impressive enough on their own, and there would be much more impressive waterfalls to come!
Our third hike of the day was to National Falls, located off a forest road off of OR-230. It was about a mile long, though most of that distance was covered by switchbacks going down the side of the hill to the base of the falls. Naturally, that means it goes uphill the entire way back. It was definitely worth it though. On the way down, we passed by the top of the falls, and we enjoyed the huge trees and fungi growing on and around them the whole way down. This waterfall is both tall and wide (though it’s hard to see its full height from the base) and we both got a mini shower from the spray of the falls as we posed for pictures. The one mistake we made here was thinking that continuing North on the forest road would be a shortcut back to the highway — it turned into an OHV road and things got rough pretty quickly. Thankfully we were able to find a way to turn around and safely returned to the highway the way we came.
I had been looking forward to what would come next for a while now. Another core memory from my solo trip through this area was the point where OR-62 goes around a bend and you get your first real good view of Mt. Thielsen. I was so excited for Curtis to see it, and was so glad that it was just as impressive as I remembered it. And I was actually able to get good pictures this time since I wasn’t driving! I still stand by what I said before, that it’s not a peak that I necessarily want to climb, I just think it’s such an incredible view and that makes me want to climb other peaks around it to see it from different angles. However, Curtis did some research on it and learned that it’s the only place where you can see the water in Crater Lake from somewhere outside of the national park, which makes it sound a little tempting…but not today, as there was obviously some snow at the top, and I’m nowhere near ready for a technical hike!
It was around noon at this point, so we drove to Diamond Lake and found a picnic area on the South side of the lake where we could eat and enjoy the views, of Mt. Thielsen to the East, Bailey Mountain to the West, and of course, the lake itself. It was such a beautiful day, and there were many others here also enjoying the weather and the water. Even though it wasn’t a part of the plan for our already busy day, we decided to stay here longer and enjoy relaxing by the water, and then eventually began walking on the bike trail that goes around the lake. It turned out that the trail didn’t actually follow the lake exactly, and we ended up walking mostly through trees and wetlands. But it was still beautiful and peaceful here, and Curtis was able to find a letterbox, and while he was doing that I spotted another bald eagle.
After our time at the lake, we drove around the West side so we could have more views of Mt. Thielsen with the lake in the foreground, and then continued on with our plans. It was getting later in the afternoon, so we figured we only had time for one more waterfall hike with the daylight we had left. We chose to hike to Toketee Falls, another one that I had seen before, but I remember the setting being so gorgeous, and even though it’s one of the more popular hikes, I thought Curtis just needed to see it for himself. We walked the half-mile trail to the lookout for the falls, and enjoyed the tranquil setting. The end is obviously gorgeous, but the entire trail is equally enjoyable with all the greenery, moss, rainforest vibes.
Once we were finished here, we noticed online that there was supposedly dispersed camping passed the Toketee dam, so we drove up there to see if we could find a spot. About 4 miles up the road, we found not just a dispersed site, but a small free campground right on a small auxiliary reservoir, all to ourselves! It was the perfect little reward after our busy day, and we spent the rest of the night relaxing and making plans for the next day.
