Arrived at Ridley Creek Trailhead at 8:00 am. We were the only car there, which I suspected would be the case due to previous reports of the bridge being out. A short 1/3 mile takes you down to the river, where indeed! the bridge is out. In the morning hours, we were able to ford the river upstream from the old bridge crossing where it's a bit wider.
Ridley Creek Trail is overgrown in a few places but overall in fantastic shape. Ripe blueberries were plentiful once we reached treeline. We connected to Bell Pass Trail at Mazama Camp and continued on to Park Butte Lookout.
The river crossing was higher in the afternoon with the heat of the day and we used a log to cross roughly ~1/4 mile upstream from the old bridge crossing. It would be possible to use this log and not get your feet wet if you have a higher tolerance for bushwhacking than I.
Comments
hiker-rob on Mazama Park via Ridley Creek, Bell Pass, Park Butte
I hiked this on August 26 and the log in your last photo was easy to get across in the morning. When I came back around 5 o'clock it was a completely different story. It had been warm all day and the river must have come up at least a foot and was VERY fast moving. I made it across but it was a bit hit or miss. I'm very familiar with fast moving water and making river crossings but this particular trip was a bit scary. Once on the log it was easy but getting to the log was the issue. Very fast moving water and two crossing in order to reach the log, a slip or fall would quickly take you down stream.
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hiker-rob on Aug 27, 2025 08:00 AM