The BLM's Camp Creek Area

Camp Creek is one of those blank areas on the map that turns out to have some remarkable sights in it. You'll find it located to the east of the Elliott State Forest, just off Loon Lake Road.

This is a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) area — one of those where private and public lands form a checkerboard. As with the Old Wagon Road lands, the private squares are typically cut over while the public squares are not. This drive stays almost entirely in the public areas.

This tract's main feature is Camp Creek Falls, one of the finest waterfalls I've seen. Continue to the eastern side of the tract and you'll find a wide view over the Umpqua Valley and a remarkable bridge over the Umpqua River. The road between is very good quality, and I've put maps of it at the bottom of this page.

Directions to the Camp Creek Area

• From Reedsport, take SR 38 east for 13.1 miles to a right turn onto Loon Lake Road.
• Take Loon Lake Road for 5.0 miles to a left fork onto Camp Creek Road, a good quality paved road.
• Camp Creek Falls is 10.8 miles to a right onto paved Otter Creek Road, then 250 feet to a field on your right. Walk down the jeep road through the field. There's a map at the bottom of this page.

Camp Creek Falls is at the head of a ten mile long gorge carved from sandstone. Cliffs and outcrops are frequently visible from the road, making this a particularly scenic stretch.

The sandstone comes from a giant river delta deposited in the Eocene (about 40 million years ago), itself eroded from mountain ranges now lost deep in time. In the past four million centuries this delta has been turned to rock, lifted a thousand feet in the air, and then eroded away to be deposited in another massive sand deposit, the Oregon Dunes — the material for a sandstone layer in the far distant future.

Camp Creek flows into Mill Creek, the outflow from Loon Lake. Mill Creek has a gorge as well, but it's not as accessible as Camp Creek's.

At the far end of the Camp Creek tract the good road crosses the Pacific Divide, the steep ridge that marks the eastern edge of the Coast Range. From here you look out over the wide valley formed by the Umpqua River to the Cascade Mountains beyond. The road then descends to the Umpqua River at Tyee community, with good river access and an impressive bridge.

While the private lands mixed into the Camp Creek area are logged, clearcuts are absent from this scenic drive until you get almost to Tyee. There are, however, a few a short distance from it.

Inset Map 1

I've annotated an aerial photo to make the turns clearer. Although Camp Creek Falls is one of the nicest in the Coast Range it is utterly unmarked. Directions:

• Take Camp Creek Road 10.8 miles from its beginning to paved Otter Creek Road on your right.
• Go down Otter Creek Road 250 yards to a field on your right. Unless you have a high clearence vehicle, park.
• Follow the rough track diagonally through the field, taking the right fork about halfway down it.
• When it ends, go straight ahead through the woods. A short climb down takes you to the falls.

 

Insert Map 2

After you've returned to Camp Creek Road from Camp Creek Falls, a right turn will take you to a T-intersection in 2.8 miles. Your turn is to the right, still marked as Camp Creek Road. (The left fork takes you down to SR 38 along good quality Sawyer Creek Road, a good place to bail.) After another half mile you'll reach a second intersection. Take the left turn. The road straight ahead (Camp Creek Road) leads to the same place but is very badly potholed. The left turn is very good quality, so just continue along along it for the next six miles.
 

Inset Map 3

After six miles you'll reach another T-intersection. Go right. In another 1.2 miles you'll reach a four-way intersection. The staight alternative looks correct but will in fact deadend you at Weyerhaeuser's massive Millacoma Tree Farm. Instead, take the left fork downhill.

 

From here continue on the good road for 10.5 miles to the bridge pictured above. Crossing this bridge brings you to Tyee Road. A left turn will lead you to SR 138; a right turn will bring you to the farmlands north of Roseburg.