McKenzie River Headwaters • Sahalie, Koosah & Tamolitch Falls (Blue Pool) • Central Oregon Cascades

@wanderlustMAX Music by Coma-Media, Cnmusic, martinloew, AnniesPlanet & Nullhertz McKenzie River Headwaters are one of Oregon’s most famous recreation areas. Lava flows 3000 years ago changed the land, creating clear lake and 2 beautiful waterfalls , Sahalie and Koosah, since they’re only 3000 years old, the waterfalls are considered to be geologic babies This forecast for the weekend was showing triple digits, so was lured to Ice Cap campground because it sounded refreshing and a good way to “beat the Heat”. I knew it was foolish to hike a long way in the 100 degree heat, but after feeling the cool air near the river, I figured that if I got too hot, I could just dip my head in the river… no sweat, right? Wrong! I learned an important lesson on this hike, don’t assume that a river on a map is ABOVE GROUND! The entire hike was filled with surprises and confusion, but I wasn’t alone in this. I came across several haggard-looking folks asking for directions and water. Turns out, Blue Pool IS Tamolitch falls, but since water was diverted upstream for hydroelectric use Tamolitch blue pool has been rendered a seasonal waterfall. Here’s an example, at this intersection you can go left to see Blue pool and Pedestrians, or go to the right and see bicycles. I chose a third option and traveled back down through the dried up riverbed forest of silence back toward camp Coming out of the dried-up river-bed forest of silence, a haggard looking dude approached me…”How much longer?” “To what?” Blue Pool. I thought I was going to Tamolitch Falls, so when the dude asked about Blue Pool, I was like, Wha? This is where your teenage kids sneak away to when it's 100 degrees outside. They were shouting at me to jump. I almost had to call you and report that they were being naughty. The trail I had taken was along a dry stretch of the riverbed that was buried by a lava flow from a nearby crater about 1600 years ago. The river flows underground and surfaces at Blue Pool, which is where you can see Tamolitch falls, but only during the wet season. The river is the sole tap water source for the cities of Eugene and Springfield, fulfilling the water needs of about 200,000 people, which is why there are dams, power plants and diversion reservoirs all along the river. For the 2nd day’s adventure, I simply walked from Ice Cap Campground along the McKenzie river trail in the opposite direction from the day before where the river flows above ground and where the you can visit Koosah and Sahalie Falls, which are considered geologic babies because their formation happened only about 3,ooo years ago. The vandals of positivity and empowerment made their mark on the guardrails in the area…they reminded me that I was just off a hwy that goes directly to Eugene Next, I crossed the McKenzie river to make my way back along the other side of the river. Not many of the tourists decide to take this route apparently; I didn’t encounter anyone else along the trail for the rest of the day I was enamored by the pristine and bubbly jacuzzi flowing past me and had to consider how the river originates as the outflow of Clear Lake a few miles north of here, in the high Cascades of eastern Linn County in the Willamette National Forest, which is why the river here appears so Fresh & so Clean. The McKenzie Headwaters are advertised as being WILD ann SCENIic, but this description only holds true for a relatively short stretch of the river. I emerged from the wild and scenic section of the headwaters and into the unsightly man-made Carmen Reservoir that splayed out in front of me like a giant algae pool under the hazy wildfire smoke-filled skies. Beware, Beavers are said to do their business in that marsh. If you hang around too long, you could contract BEAVER FEVER! Thanks for watching WANDERLUST MAX. And remember, time isn’t holding up; time isn’t after us Same as it ever was. Into the blue again, into the silent water…