Quartzville Road Scenic Byway

 

If you wonder why I don't mind going up Quartzville road, here's a link to its Scenic Byway and Wild and Scenic River designation.

Quartzville Road Scenic Byway info.

It starts just off highway 20, beyond Sweet Home by Foster Reservoir, where I routinely kayak and swim.  Two rivers flow into Foster Reservoir--the south fork of the Santiam, and the river that exits Green Peter Dam, along the byway.  Two rivers enter Green Peter Reservoir before dropping out its spillways to continue on to Foster Reservoir.  These are the Middle fork of the Santiam and Quartzville Creek.

The Scenic byway, Quartzville Road, goes on beyond Foster Reservoir, up to Green Peter Dam and Reservoir, which is at mile 5, then on along Quartzville Creek.  Thistle Creek is a mile 10.  There's the boat ramp, out of water this time of year, and a little ways past the boat ramp turnoff is a pullout with parking and vault toilet and a trail to the boat ramp.  Five miles farther on, is Rocky Top group camp, a Linn County Park, but closed all winter.   The park is composed of a vault toilet, a circular gravel area, where five or six RV's could pull in and around, a  few picnic tables and one fire pit.  It's for small groups to rent for camping together.

That's where over two dozen cats were abandoned.

If you continue on, you come to Yellowbottom Camp Ground which has been closed even summers since a large windstorm did a lot of damage.   And on past that, you can follow Quartzville Creek as FS11 (Forest Service road 11) all the way to highway 22.  The road is very narrow and often has unstable spots, rocks or wood debris on the road, and unfortunately idiots driving like idiots, so you have to be careful.

People used to camp all along that road during the summer, in tents, crappy RV's, cars, etc.  It became a corridor of garbage and bad behavior.  Finally road camping was banned along a good stretch of the road.  This happens when there are too many bad apples.

I still do not like going up there in the summer.   It is still known for bad behavior.

It is an absolutely stunningly beautiful corridor.  I love it.