McKenzie River Trail to Blue Pool

Today's main target was Tamolitch Blue Pool, but I wanted to get some reasonable mileage in, so I parked at the Deer Creek Road trailhead right around dawn. Older maps show the trail entirely on the west side of the McKenzie River here, but since the new bridge was built a couple of years ago it actually has a brief stretch on the east bank at this point. After that, the first few miles are in the 2021 Knoll Fire burn scar. The vegetation is recovering, but the dead trees have reached the point where quite a few are coming down. But this trail is well-maintained, and I only ran into one blowdown across the trail all day.

After leaving the burned area, the trail is in moss-covered terrain with some hills of Oregon grape and occasional rocky areas. It's never far from highway 126, but the river itself is so loud that I only heard traffic noises a few times. A bit further upriver, Trail Bridge campground is still closed for an EWEB construction project (as it has been for years) but the only impact this has on the trail is a few signs and some plastic fencing to keep people out of the closed area.

There's a new single-log bridge over the Smith River feeding into Trail Bridge Reservoir, which is a nice change from the precarious log crossing that I had to navigate the last time I was on this trail.

After passing the Blue Pool trailhead, the trail gets much wider and more worn. I've seen several mentions that the Forest Service is planning to rework this for closer access and better parking, but there's no sign of any work yet. There were only a couple cars in the parking area when I passed by, and only a few people at Blue Pool when I got there.

Blue Pool itself was, as always, scenic (though it was hard to get any really good photos due to overcast skies). I took the time to work out the route to the pool level itself - there is a whole network of herd trails to the east and south of the pool. The rocks were all slick from recent rain and fog, and I had to move very slowly and cautiously in this part of the hike. Wouldn't recommend it to young kids or anyone who's not steady on their feet.

After more photos at the base, I went back up to the main overview and had some lunch. I'd considered going on to Sahalie and Koosah Falls, but the off-trail excursion had slowed me down enough to make me decide to just turn around and hike back downriver. In the first two miles, I passed at least 20 people headed for the pool, making me glad that I'd started early.

Despite the middling weather, it was a nice day out. 15 miles and 1500 feet of elevation gain, so not too strenuous.