Cinnamon & Odell Buttes

Watson Falls | Hiking Cinnamon Butte & Odell Butte in Umpqua National Forest | Diamond Lake to Albany, OR | November 2025

Our time in the Oregon Cascades was coming to a close. Not by choice mind you, but because we happened to be visiting during a warm week at the start of winter, and true winter was approaching along with the promise of snow. So we had one day left to fit in a few more sites before pushing even further West and staying in those optimal recreation temperatures.

We finished our morning routine at our campground near Toketee reservoir, and then retraced our steps back up OR-138 towards Diamond Lake, but not before first stopping for just one more waterfall: Watson Falls. This waterfall had a short loop trail up to the base of the falls, but one half of the loop was closed so it became an out and back for us. This one was a new one for both of us, and we spent a long time sitting at the base of the falls marveling at the height and gorgeous surroundings. This looked like the tallest waterfall out of all the ones we had seen here so far, but maybe that’s because it’s the only one where we could stand at the base and see the entire waterfall in one setting. I also found a letterbox near the parking lot. Overall, a short stop and soon we were off again.

Truthfully, I really wanted to hike to one of the higher peaks and had set my mind on Mt. Bailey, which we had gazed wistfully at the day before from Diamond Lake. But even yesterday there was snow on the peak, and a quick survey of the surrounding mountains showed very low clouds obscuring most everything above 7000 feet. It just wasn’t going to happen.

Fortunately, I had a back up plan and proposed two shorter hikes along forest roads to fire lookouts, one of which would offer views of Mt. Thielsen (if it came out of the clouds that is). So just before Diamond Lake, we turned off the highway and followed forest roads to the base of Cinnamon Butte. During the summer months, when the lookout is staffed, you can drive up to the top. But today the base of the road was gated. We walked the road as it wound around the peak through some burned up areas, and some established forest. It wasn’t steep, but it was a persistent grade. When we made it to the top, I climbed as far up the fire tower as I could hoping to get views of Thielsen, but trees on the South side of the summit blocked the view from the ground, and the clouds were obscuring everything else. Only at a certain angle could you get a view of Mt. Bailey, and even that was frequently blocked by clouds.

I thought this hike was a bit of a bust for today. But as we were going down, the road turned around the shoulder of the mountain, and we had a great framed view of Mt. Thielsen. More, the clouds had parted/lowered so that the base of the peak was obscured, but the pointy top stuck high above the clouds. That view stayed with us for much of the rest of the hike down. Redemption. We finished the hike in higher spirits and continued with our drive. Overall it was right at 3.0 miles round trip. you can see a trail recording here.

After a quick stop for a gallon of the most expensive gas imaginable at Diamond Lake (on an older mechanical dial pump at that), we drove off the Cascades to the east, in order to follow US-97 North. We did this not only to find cheaper gas, but also as a more direct way of getting to the Willamette Valley. We started to cross the Cascades again on OR-58, but not before one last hike.

Around lunch time, we drove the forest road heading up Odell Butte. There were a lot of logging roads that criss-crossed this route, which made this slightly challenging. To add to the confusion, signs at the bottom of the mountain warned of prescribed burns in progress. We were able to navigate well enough up the mountain, but right near the end of the road we found the prescribed burn, already in progress…with no one around. It felt weird. It was only a ground fire and well under control, but there was no one. We’re probably just fire adverse, so we’ll have to leave it to the professionals I suppose.

Despite our misgivings of the fire and smoke, we had a quick lunch at the end of the drivable road, and then started our walk to the peak. We had done most of the elevation in the van, but they still packed 500 feet into the last 3/4 mile to the top. The smoke from below sorta spoiled the hike, but I climbed up the lookout, grabbed our pictures, and then hurried out. From the top you could see a couple more of the famous Oregon peaks, like Diamond Peak, but also 3-4 more other prescribed burns down in the valley. You can see that trail here.

Once we were off of Odell, we were done with the Cascades and only had highway driving left for the day. As we approached the valley, the clouds seemed to lower and eventually let forth a sporadic and cold drizzle. We stopped in a roadside park in Oakridge, along one of the branches of the Willamette just to kill time and have dinner while we waited for nightfall and the next stage of our journey. More on that coming up next!