![]() ![]() View Gallery: Kentucky Falls Trail, Coast Range Directions Info: Central Coast Ranger District, (541) 563-8400. The downside is a long and awful drive from the Willamette Valley that's a bit easier from the coast side.Įven so, the trio of 100-foot waterfalls combined with the lush beauty of the North Fork Smith River makes this a top hike in the Coast Range. ![]() Want to continue? You're in luck, as North Fork Smith River Trail begins at the junction near the dueling waterfalls and travels an additional 6.5 miles through a rainforest jungle of old-growth on a ragged but stunning trail (sadly, a bridge is washed out 2 miles from the North Fork trailhead, so you'll have to turn back unless you want to get adventurous.) Located in a remote, no-man's land between Eugene and Florence, the Kentucky Falls trail drops downhill 2.2 miles one-way past Upper Kentucky Falls - a nice appetizer at 100 feet - before reaching the canyon where North Fork Falls (120 feet) and Lower Kentucky Falls (100 feet) thunder literally side-by-side. The chance to visit three waterfalls dropping over 100 feet into an emerald forest makes Kentucky Falls Trail my favorite spot in the Coast Range. Watch Video: Sweet Creek Trail Kentucky Falls They’ll be happy to email you the mile-by-mile directions. Info: Call the Salem BLM offices at (503) 375-5646. I’ll link to it in the online version of this story. I wrote a much longer story about the Giants a few years ago - and included a wonderful story about the Salem barber responsible for saving the grove from being logged. ![]() Any trip here should include calling the BLM offices in Salem and getting the mile-by-mile directions they’ve put together. Although a mere 33 miles from Salem as the crow flies, the drive to visit takes two and a half hours on a maze of washboard roads through some of the most heavily logged forests in the state. The trail, which crosses the North Fork of the Siletz River, is short and easy at just 1.6 miles round-trip. This 51-acre patch of ancient forest is home to some of Oregon’s largest trees and dripping with moss and lichen. This island of old-growth is the definition of what makes a Coast Range hike so great and so awful all at the same time. You'll find mile-by-mile directions to each hike at the bottom of this story. They’re all a bit difficult to reach - and some are best experienced on a multi-day trip to the coast. Here are five of my favorite Coast Range hikes. It’s a time when every shade of green shimmers brightest - when waterfalls roar loudest - and the forest is speckled with white and purple wildflowers. A vehicle with four-wheel drive doesn’t hurt either.Spring is by far the best time to visit. Good directions (and a good sense of direction) are required to find it. The trailhead is found in a remote section of the Siuslaw National Forest east of Florence, accessed by a maze of winding, unsigned forest roads. (Jamie Hale/Jamie Hale/The Oregonian)ĭripping moss hangs over the Kentucky Falls Trail, which leads to three spectacular waterfalls near Mapleton in Oregon’s southern Coast Range. The Kentucky Falls Trail leads to three spectacular waterfalls near Mapleton in Oregon’s southern Coast Range. Lower Kentucky Falls cascades into Kentucky Creek on a wet winter day. Upper Kentucky Falls cascades into Kentucky Creek on a wet winter day. The trail was almost entirely devoid of people, the forest silent save the roaring of water. On a recent wet winter day, the waterfalls along the Kentucky Falls Trail roared brilliantly, filling the forested canyons along Kentucky Creek with a heavy mist that fed thick coats of moss on the rocks and trees. ![]()
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