We rolled out on Friday slogging painfully down I-5. At some point we decided to detour off and take a promising looking forest road to our camp ground in the Umpqua National Forest. As has been typical this year due to the heavy snowfall over the winter we hit deep snow on the last mountain pass about five miles from camp. We were stressed since our friends from out of town were meeting us.

We raced back to a different route. The road was narrow and twisting and full of one lane bridges. The snow had knocked down a lot of trees and boulders covered the road. Fortunately we were not the first on this route for the year and it was cleared enough for our trusted 4Runner.

When we finally reached the scenic highway we marveled at the size of the North Umpqua River. We had never explored this route and knew this was a place we would need to return to and explore further. We finally reached camp and despite adding an hour onto our trip we still beat our friends.

Dinner that night consisted of beef bulgogi with rice and broccoli. This is an easy to make and freeze staple of our camping trips. It always delights and if there are leftovers they go great with a fried egg on top in the morning.

With the sun quickly setting we decided to check out the Umpqua Hot Springs. We took the bumpy forest road to the trailhead which had a very steep climb to the hot spring tubs chopped out of travertine deposits over the years by other soakers. We had heard that there would be lots of people and that nudity is common at this popular site, but being so late in the day only a few people were there.

At the top is the hottest tub. It was unbearable for anything more than a quick soak. The covered tub was just the right temp for a long soak. The sun was setting so we needed to come back the next day to check out the rest of the tubs.

After breaking down camp on Saturday we caravaned to the Hot Springs. After the short steep hike to the top we discovered that there were many more tubs than we were able to see the night before. A few of us climbed to the hot tub at the bottom in the river. Unfortunately the ceiling of this tub was covered in bats which made us question the quality of the water. Instead we dipped into the freezing cold river.

After the hike back down we snacked on some lunch before heading to Saturday’s camp site. The drive from the hot springs to Union Creek took us between Mt. Bailey and Mt. Thielsen. We marveled at the horn like peak of Mt. Thielsen and asked ourselves why we don’t come to this amazing part of Oregon more.

Union Creek Campground is huge but well structured. The sites are spaced out and the spots on the river and creek are beautiful. We pitched our tents and decided to check out the little bit of Crater Lake National Park that is open. Most of the roads are closed due to snow still and being able to check out all of Crater Lake is only available for a few short months out of the year.

The snow on the roads was probably fifteen feet tall and the visitor center was surrounded by massive snow banks. We grabbed some photos and videos and decided we needed some dinner. On the way back we bought some firewood from the remodeled and well stocked general store in Union Creek. We also decided to buy some delicious pie for desert from the cafe.

On Sunday we parted ways with our friends. They were continuing to the coast for the rest of their road trip. We decided to try some back roads in an effort to avoid the drudgery of the highway. We headed up a forest road to find Cresent Lake but alas we hit snow again. This time we were ready to try and take a risk and we plowed though the first handfuls of snow. Unfortunately we finally got stuck in some deep snow and had to turn back.

We made it home much later than we usually do on Sunday. We were tired but very happy.