Panther Creek (Oregon)

A nice tributary feeding into Quartzville Creek / Green Peter Lake, northeast of Sweet Home, OR. This canyon has some fun rappels and some interesting sections. There is quite a bit of creek walking (0.6mi) before you get to the technical section. Once it starts, it's non-stop action all the way to the bottom. Best in the spring when it has good water. If you're looking for water, don't bother after late June. There are no swimmers on the creek. Deepest pool is about waist-deep.

From Green Peter Dam, head generally northeast on the winding Quartz Creek Rd for ~12mi. Watch for a water gage station and a big sign just before the creek. There is a good pullout for parking at the gage station with room for 5-6 cars. Just past Panther Creek (left) is another pullout (right) which is also a campsite.

From the upper trailhead, walk to where the road crosses the creek and make your way down into the creek on the north side. It's a long-ish walk before the action starts (~0.5mi). Expect the usual Pacific NW creek walking, a little downclimbing and scrambling around obstacles. There are one or two very short slides. (Once we tried a shortcut route, dropping from the road on the south side directly to the top of waterfall alley. It was steep, overgrown, and pretty much awful. Not recommended. Dropping in from the north side might be better as it's not an old overgrown clear cut?) A short distance ahead is Panther Creek Falls. This beautiful waterfall is composed of three tiers (R2 & R3). (In high water, you can bypass R2 DCR along a vegetated shelf up to a tree. From the tree to the bottom of R3 requires almost 200ft SRT of rope.) Below, the creek enters an interesting "mini-narrows" with lots of short drops. The sides are largely mossy exposed bedrock and wildflowers. It's possible to downclimb most of the drops, but not all. Some of the obstacles can be bypassed along the sides, but please try to avoid trampling vegetation and scraping off the moss. Staying in the water may be a challenge in higher flow and could be dangerous in some areas. Continue through more bedrock areas below.