North Umpqua Trail

July 2020

Southern Oregon

– Westbound from Maidu Lake to Swiftwater Park –

About the North Umpqua Trail

The North Umpqua Trail (or NUT) is a 79-mile trek along one of Oregon’s most beautiful rivers and a mainstay of my childhood. The North Umpqua River flows westward from the Cascade Mountains toward the Pacific Ocean, and was designated an Oregon State Scenic Waterway in 1988.

Construction of this relatively new trail began in 1978 and was completed nearly 20 years later. The NUT weaves its way through the Umpqua National Forest, past old-growth forests of Douglas fir, hemlock, sugar pines, and big-leaf maples. It also detours past epic waterfalls, alongside chinook salmon spawning grounds, and by a natural hot spring – all while paralleling the impressive North Umpqua River.

Sadly, my July 2020 thru-hike of this National Recreation Trail was one of the last complete hikes that may occur on the NUT for a very long time. Two months later, the Archie Creek fire consumed more than 130,000 acres of land along the North Umpqua River, destroying the western 1/3 of this trail.

Trail Journal

the North Umpqua Trail

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