This May, Bryan and I made the spectacular hike to the Oregon Blue Pool, one of the world’s weird and wonderful places. The blue of the water is so vivid it seems unreal, yet there it is, tucked among mossy trees in an old-growth forest. In the photo below, check out how dull my hat looks compared to the Blue Pool!
Here are 10 things you must know about the Blue Pool, from understanding its origins to how to hike to the Blue Pool yourself.
#1: How the Oregon Blue Pool Formed
The Oregon Blue Pool made a dramatic entrance by volcano 1600 years ago. Per the US Forest Service, it was formed when a nearby crater (called Belknap Crater) erupted. The lava flowed right over the McKenzie River. Although the river was buried under the lava rock, it simply continued to flow, now running underground through the lava rock for a few miles. At the Blue Pool, the river resurfaces. The water appears to spontaneously generate from the rocks themselves, since no aboveground river is in sight.
#2: Why the Oregon Blue Pool is So Clear
Although the Blue Pool is obviously very blue, it’s also strikingly transparent. The clarity comes from being so cold—too cold for many organisms to survive that would typically cloud the water in a normal freshwater pool. The formal name of the Oregon Blue Pool, “Tamolitch Blue Pool,” is a nod to its clarity. “Tamolitch” comes from the Chinook word for “bucket,” since the pool is like a bucket of clear water.
#3: Don’t Miss the Rest of the McKenzie River Trail
The Blue Pool is on the McKenzie River Trail, a 26-mile National Recreation Trail that follows the McKenzie River in central Oregon. The trail passes old-growth forests, two huge waterfalls (Koosah Falls and Sahalie Falls), a natural hot spring, and another intriguing volcanic wonder: Clear Lake.
Clear Lake contains an underwater forest, preserved from decay for millenia due to the same frigid water temperatures that give the Tamolitch Blue Pool its clarity. The lake formed from a different lava flow that dammed the McKenzie River 3,000 years ago. For more on Clear Lake, check out our Clear Lake blog post.
Bryan and I easily spent the three days of Memorial Day Weekend day hiking sections of the McKenzie River Trail with my mom and brother. It’s a popular backpacking route, but to be totally honest, we didn’t want to carry our tents…and we wanted the option to dry out in the car every now and then! So, we car camped at one of the many campgrounds along the trail. May is an ideal month for springy moss, new ferns showing their best spring green, and waterfalls full of snowmelt and spring rain. But, you’re also likely to experience that spring rain directly. Not a problem with rain gear, though! If you’d prefer to stay dry, you can wait to explore the trail until later in summer. For a suggested McKenzie River itinerary, check out our McKenzie River Trail post here.
#4: How to Get to the Oregon Blue Pool
The Oregon Blue Pool is about an hour and 15 minutes by car from Eugene, or 3 hours southeast of Portland. Since it’s along the 26-mile McKenzie River Trail, you can begin your hike in a variety of places. If you’re day hiking, the most popular approach is to do the 4.5-mile section from the Tamolitch Trailhead.
#5: Parking at the Oregon Blue Pool
Parking at this trailhead is…crowded. On the rainy weekend afternoon when we visited, all of the street parking was full. That said, we found a spot without trouble in the overflow lot just down the road. To maximize your odds of parking success, go early, in the off-season, or on a weekday, and don’t despair if it looks like everything is full. Remember that overflow lot!
#6: The Hike Travels through a Beautiful Old-Growth Forest
If the Oregon Blue Pool weren’t the endpoint of this hike, it would still be an enchanting walk in the woods. The trail travels through quintessential Pacific Northwest old-growth forest draped in moss. Bryan and I were quickly left behind by my mom and brother, as we paused continually along the river to admire the mossy trees overhanging the clear water.
#7: McKenzie River Views
If you hike from the Tamolitch Trailhead, the McKenzie River is above ground the whole way to the Oregon Blue Pool (it’s underground upstream of the Blue Pool). Even below the Blue Pool, the water retains a blue tinge. The blue water creates striking contrasts against the yellow-green of the mossy boulders. Make sure to stop along the trail and appreciate the river views.
#8: Wildfire Impacts on the McKenzie River Trail
Wildfires have burned so many of our beloved places in the last few years. How about the Oregon Blue Pool and the McKenzie River Trail? Most of the McKenzie River Trail is undamaged, but a section was impacted by recent wildfires. When we visited in spring 2022, a 4-mile section of the trail was closed for wildfire recovery. The fire closure area is between Deer Creek and the Tamolitch Trailhead, but it doesn’t include the hike from Tamolitch Trailhead to the Oregon Blue Pool. There is a small burned section visible across the river on the hike to the Blue Pool, but it’s minimal.
#9: Wear Good Footwear
Wear shoes with good traction, and ideally waterproof shoes or socks. Hiking over the old lava flows makes a lot of the trail surface uneven. If you go in the spring or fall, there will likely be a lot of mud. I forgot my waterproof shoes and socks at home, so I just got wet feet.
My mom and brother opted for hiking poles, which can help with the uneven terrain. I wouldn’t recommend this one for anyone with knee or ankle injuries, but it should otherwise be totally fine.
#10: Stay Safe!
While the Oregon Blue Pool is striking, I wouldn’t recommend jumping in or swimming. People have died at the Blue Pool, largely because of the shock of the cold water temperature. Enjoy this incredible place, but stay safe!
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