Trip Report: Three Pools day use area

Three Pools on the North Fork of the Santiam River – 7/6/2015

Conditions: 85 degrees and sunny. Warm water, slow moving current.

It was pretty packed with teenagers on summer break. There were a handful of families with young children as well.

Duration: half day

Difficulty: There are stairs leading down to the main area. It's a little more challenging moving upriver to other pools. It requires some climbing of rocks and steep side banks. You can also swim to most of the pools, which requires less climbing.

Kid Friendly?: Yes

Pet Friendly?: Yes

Useful Links: USDA Forest Service

This place is awesome! The rock formations and emerald pools of water are magical.

This is a great place to do some cliff jumping, swimming and sun bathing.

You need to be very careful while jumping- the water levels are constantly changing, and it can be difficult to judge the depth of the water. Though there were many deep pools, we hit bottom with a few of our jumps.

Spend some time scouting the area and that day's conditions before throwing yourself off a ledge. I recommend wearing a good pair of shoes, that you don't mind getting wet, or chaco's work great!

There is a $5.00 fee/ Northwest Forest Pass

Vault toilets in parking lot

No Cellphone reception- look up directions ahead of time

Directions:

From Salem, Oregon, travel east on State Highway 22 to Mehama.

At milepost 23, turn left (north) onto Little North Fork Road (next to the Oregon Department of Forestry building) and proceed for 15.3 miles to the Forest Boundary. Continue of gravel, FS Road 2209 for 1.3 miles to the intersection of FS Road 2207. Turn right and continue another 0.8 miles to Three Pools Day Use Area on the right