Please forgive me as I am a newbie at your forum. I'll state my interest and ask if anyone could respond to my email address: danokra@frontier.com I have hiked the Salmon river trail from south of Zigzag / Welches several miles. Eventually this route leads to Abbott road, 4610? and other Clackamas and Roaring river drainages trails. I can see by the map and hear from the trail there are many water falls along this route. I am told they are hard to access by normal means and I wonder if anyone has had the chance to view these falls or can tell me anything more about the area.
I'm not terribly familiar with that area - it is in the Zigzag district. But, in looking at the maps, I'm not seeing any trail that comes off the Salmon River trail and hits the Abbot road. It looks like at the end of the Salmon River trail, it connects with the Jackpot Meadow trail which then connects with the PCT and heads down to Timothy Lake, but that is quite a bit east of Abbot road.
The only place I could find was an extenstion of the Salmon Butte trail that appears to be abandoned/unmaintained continuing from the top of Salmon Butte down to the Abbot road. The Forest Service trail sheet shows the trail stopping at the Butte.
FS Salmon River Trail Info Sheet: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5359636.pdf
FS Salmon Butte Trail Info Sheet: http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5401714.pdf
Here is a map showing a trail that continues south from the top of Salmon Butte down to the Abbot road. Whether this is a real trail, an abandoned trail, or the figment of someones imagination I do not know:
Maybe someone else will know more about it.
It is a road from Salmon Butte to the Abbott Road 4610. Not sure if they decommissioned the road or not, but it can be seen in satellite images.
Don
Thanks for the info, Don. If you change that map I posted to "Aerial Google Satellite" instead of "t5 Topo High", you can definitely see the old road/trail on the aerial images. It looks like they must have turned that old road into a trail. In looking at the USGS map (t3 Topo USGS), it shows that portion as a road still. There must have been a lookout on Salmon Butte? And that road was how they supplied it?
Hey Dano,
Theres a way to see most of the falls on Salmon River without ropes. It just will take more then one day to do it.
Stein Falls. Fair level of difficulty to get to. I've been there, it involves some bushwacking and fording the river. Park at Linney Creek Campground and ford the Salmon River over to the trail, then hike downstream on the trail to a spot you can hear the falls from. Bushwhack down towards the river and you'll come to a cliff. You can see stein from the cliffs. To get to the base is harder. Heres my report on it: Link
Split Falls: If your really adventurous, hike downstream along the east side of the river for a ways from Stein Falls to get there. Although photos I've seen of Split Falls haven't made it look worth such a trek. Plenty of kayaker photos of Split Falls.
Little Niagra, a long bushwack down the length of Goat Creek. Again not a very impressive sight
Final Falls, start from the lower trailhead and hike it in 4 miles to where it tops out in the grassy open area. Then weave your way downhill through the maze of user trails when you are nearing it, a GPS works well to see if you're close.
Frustration Falls, same thing. There's a user trail to a great vantage point. Link
Good luck on your adventure(s)