The South Fork Breitenbush River is a tributary of the

Breitenbush River The Breitenbush River is a tributary of the North Santiam River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains a rugged, forested area of the Cascade Range east of Salem. It descends from several short forks in the Mount Jefferson Wilderne ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The river flows generally northwest from Russell Lake in the

Mount Jefferson Wilderness The Mount Jefferson Wilderness is a wilderness area located on and around Mount Jefferson in the central Cascade Range of Oregon in the United States. The wilderness lies within the Willamette National Forest and Deschutes National Forest. The wi ...

of the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

to near

Breitenbush Hot Springs Breitenbush Hot Springs, also known as Breitenbusher Hot Springs, is a thermal mineral spring system along the Breitenbush River near the historic town of Breitenbush, Oregon, United States. History The hot springs in this geothermal area w ...

, where it merges with the

North Fork Breitenbush River The North Fork Breitenbush River is a tributary of the Breitenbush River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins at Papoose Lakes near Breitenbush Lake in the Cascade Range north of Mount Jefferson and flows generally northwest and west through th ...

to form the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

. The South Fork receives Lake Creek and Roaring Creek, both from the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

, as it descends through the wilderness and the

Willamette National Forest The Willamette National Forest is a National Forest located in the central portion of the Cascade Range of the U.S. state of Oregon. It comprises . Over 380,000 acres (694 mi2, 1,540 km2) are designated wilderness which include seven ...

. From the confluence of its forks, the main stem Breitenbush River flows about further to its confluence with the

North Santiam River The North Santiam River is a tributary of the Santiam River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains of the Cascade Range on the eastern side of the Willamette Valley east of Salem. It rises in the high Cascades in eastern Linn count ...

Detroit Lake Detroit Lake is a reservoir impounded by the Detroit Dam on the North Santiam River southeast of Salem, Oregon, United States. The lake is adjacent to Oregon Route 22 near the city of Detroit. This mesotrophic lake stores water for use by the ci ...

. The map quadrangles include

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle road ...

(RM) markers along the Breitenbush River.

Recreation

The

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

crosses the South Fork near Russell Lake. South Breitenbush Trail, which parallels the river for about in its upper reaches, offers opportunities for hiking and backpacking at elevations ranging from above sea level. South Breitenbush Gorge Trail, along the river closer to its confluence with the

, passes through older

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

and

western hemlock ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonoma ...

forest. This trail, ranging in elevation from , is long. A side trail leads to a narrow canyon, about long, where the river flows between walls of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

References

{{authority control Rivers of Marion County, Oregon Rivers of Oregon

Recreation

See also

References