Tamolitch Pool

Tamolitch Pool

  • Easy (to Tamolitch Pool)
  • 4.2 miles round trip
  • 200 feet elevation gain
  • Open April to mid-December
  • Use: hikers, bicycles


  • Difficult (entire trail)
  • 26.5 miles one way
  • 1800 feet elevation gain

Perhaps the most astonishing part of the 26.5-mile McKenzie River Trail is the short stretch to Tamolitch Pool, where the river vanishes into a lava flow, tumbles over an eerily dry, phantom “waterfall,” and then reemerges from a small turquoise lake. The 4.2-mile walk to this pool is easy enough for hikers with children. For a serious trek—or a mountain bike ride—start at the McKenzie Ranger Station and follow the McKenzie River Trail upstream past two visitable hot springs to Tamolitch Pool.

For the easy walk, start by driving …

This chapter is an excerpt from 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Central Oregon Cascades.