Stunning new trail bridge provides access to 120-foot Diamond Creek Falls near Oakridge

A stunning new bridge has been installed to provide safer access to Diamond Creek Falls, a 120-foot cascade in Willamette National Forest southeast of Oakridge.

The 61-foot trail bridge was built on Diamond Creek Falls Trail #3598, which is part of a hiking loop that begins at Salt Creek Falls just off Highway 58.

“The new trail bridge has handrails and steel girders that make the bridge safer, stronger, and designed to withstand big snow loads or a large tree strike,” a social media post from Willamette National Forest said . “Diamond Creek Falls is an iconic and beloved western Cascades recreation site visited by many each year.”

The previous bridge had been badly damaged by a large tree falling in 2008 and left much to be desired. In recent years, it had been little more than a sketchy log with broken handrails.

“A huge thank you to the Youth Conservation Corps crew for their hard work and enthusiasm,” the post said, which added that the project was funded by the Great American Outdoors Act.

The bridge can be found by following the Diamond Falls Loop, a 3.5 mile hike that begins at Salt Creek Falls Trailhead. It’s a roughly 1.6 mile hike to a trail junction with signs for Lower Diamond Creek Falls. The trail drops steeply downhill and then crosses the creek on the new bridge to reach the falls lower viewpoint. The loop continues back to Salt Creek Falls' parking area.

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Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 16 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast . Urness is the author of “ Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon ” and “ Hiking Southern Oregon .” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Stunning new trail bridge provides access to 120-foot Diamond Creek Falls near Oakridge