Beautiful Brice Creek

Brice Creek Falls before the swimmers arrive.

Every time we go for a hike along Brice Creek, I always wonder why we don’t head out there more often. It is fairly close to town, beautiful, and never fails to deliver.

This past weekend, we wanted to get out for a hike with friends from out of town and Brice Creek was just the ticket. The hiking trail runs along Brice Creek in a rocky canyon. You’ll find old growth forest, lush undergrowth, and in some places the trail runs along the open canyon walls. The trail is rated moderately difficult because in some places, it is narrow and rocky.

Brice Creek Trial is mostly wide and flat, traversing through lush forest. Occasional changes in terrain keep it interesting.

For our outing, the weather forecast was for heat so we headed out earlier than usual, and after a nice walk, we took time to sit on the banks of Brice Creek to soak our feet in the cool water, have a bite to eat, and chat for a while. We were just heading out as the swimmers were heading in for the day.

The bridge at Cedar Creek Trailhead.

For this trip we chose to start at the Cedar Creek trailhead and traveled east so we’d have nice views of Brice Creek and see Brice Creek Falls. The length of the whole trail is 5.7 miles and there are four trailheads (see the Umpqua National Forest Website for details).

Getting There: Brice Creek is only about 25 miles outside of Cottage Grove. To reach it, drive east, out Row River Road for 19 miles to the junction of Layng Creek Road and Brice Creek Road. Stay right on Brice Creek Road and travel for another 4.5 miles to Cedar Creek Campground Trailhead.

At the eastern end of Brice Creek is Trestle Creek Falls and further down the road is Parker Creek Falls. Also in the area — mostly for mountain bikers — is Crawfish Trail.