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Check out the sunset and spectacular view of Waldo Lake from Fuji Mountain.
After considerable research, I still don?t know why there's a peak east of Oakridge in the Oregon Cascades with the same name as the tallest mountain in Japan (which also happens to be the most-climbe
d mountain in the world).
Our Mount Fuji looks nothing like its Japanese namesake, and it gets a lot less use. Viewed from the west its blocky shape rises gently from the southeast to 7,100 feet and terminates abruptly in a sheer rock face. The edge of the cliff affords one of the best opportunities to contemplate the violent influence of fire and ice on the Cascade landscape.
Directly to the west is the hump-backed shape of Bunchgrass Ridge, easily recognized by the charred forest of the Warner Creek Burn. To the south is Diamond Peak. To the north is Black Creek, flowing through a deep, glacier carved valley whose eastern canyon wall forms the southern shore of Waldo Lake.
Waldo Lake is the largest and deepest of the more than 500 lakes located in the Willamette National Forest. The lake occupies a tectonic basin created when the fault line that extends the length of the Cascades collided, shattered and dropped more than 400 feet. Outlets to the lake were blocked by lava flows between 5 million and a hundred thousand years ago. The cobalt blue waters of Waldo Lake are almost entirely devoid of biological activity, and scientists believe that the lake contains the purest water in the world. The same fault lines that pushed the earth down to form Waldo Lake also pushed up. The Three Sisters are easily visible beyond the lake to the north.
Getting there: Take I-5 south from Eugene for approximately 3 miles. Take the Oakridge/Klamath Falls exit (Exit 188A). Stay to the left onto Hwy. 58. Drive east on Highway 58 for about thirty-five miles through Oakridge. 13 miles east of Oakridge (between milepost 50 and 51) turn left onto Eagle Creek Road, just past the train trestle. Drive Eagle Creek Road (a fairly well maintained gravel surface) for almost 12 miles to the well-marked Mt. Fuji trailhead (there are several turns that can be confusing—stay to the right).
The trailhead begins on the left side of the road in an old clearcut. After a third of a mile the trail splits. The right turn takes you through an unspectacular forest for about a mile to another junction. The left turn at this junction will take you to the Island Lakes (awesome for summer swimming) and eventually on to Waldo Lake.
But for Mt. Fuji, stay to the left at the first junction. The trail climbs gradually uphill through small meadows and a pleasant alpine forest of Douglas fir, mountain hemlock and noble fir for a mile and quarter to the top of the mountain.
The first cliff viewpoint looks west towards Bunchgrass Ridge. Continue several hundred yards up the mountain to the taller cliff tops with views to the north, east and west. In addition to Waldo Lake, Davis Lake and others are easily visible to the east. You can scramble downhill to your left along the top of the cliff to a rocky outcropping (be careful!) with views south to Diamond Peak.
My recommendation is to bring a picnic and a flashlight and make the hike in the late afternoon or early evening and stay for the sunset. The forest fires burning throughout Oregon as of this writing have thrown a lot of small particulate matter in the atmosphere that has made for some spectacular evening light
Don't walk off a cliff on your way back!