Valley of the Giants, home to some of Oregon’s largest trees, closed by huge debris flow

A massive debris flow has brought a long-term closure to the Valley of the Giants, a popular hike through some of Oregon’s oldest and largest trees in the Coast Range.

In early December 2023, heavy rain triggered a flow that obliterated part of the North Fork Siletz River Road. It’s the final stretch in a network of remote roads leading to the trailhead west of Falls City.

“It’s the biggest (debris flow) that I’ve ever seen on our lands,” said Andy Frazier, supervisory forester for the Bureau of Land Management’s Marys Peak Field Office. “It was massive. After it happened, we were standing on the road culvert and (the debris) was 15-20 feet above our heads.”

The road and trail are closed and not likely to reopen for multiple years, Frazier said.

What happens next?

Since the debris flow, a BLM crew has been working to clear the road. Once that work is finished, the agency will survey the road and come up with a design for how to fix it.

“We don’t know how long that process will take,” Frazier said. “It took place at a road culvert (where water flows under the road) so we don’t know if we’ll need to put in a bridge or another culvert.”

Frazier agreed it was likely a multi-year project. He said the agency had applied for and received federal disaster funding for the project.

How did the debris flow start?

Frazier said the debris flow started somewhere high above North Fork Siletz River Road.

“We had the heavy rain event and it started somewhere way above (the road),” Frazier said. “Then it picked up steam and kept going. It hit the culvert, went over the top of the road, took out the culvert out and went down into the North Fork of the Siletz.”

Frazier said the debris flow didn’t start on BLM land but flowed down onto BLM land.

The area directly around the Valley of the Giants is a collection of privately owned timberland that is heavily logged. In 2018, the Statesman Journal took a drone photo above the North Fork Siletz River Road that showed a clearcut on a steep slope. It's unclear if the picture was where this debris flow took place, but clearcuts on steep slopes can cause slides.

Can I still go to the Valley of the Giants?

Frazier said the Valley of the Giants and the North Fork Siletz Road is closed.

“Nobody would be able to climb over it and it’s not a safe place for people to be,” he said.

For now, Frazier suggested just keeping an eye on the agency’s Valley of the Giants website or calling the office to inquire about updates.

Salem barber, World War II vet saves the Giants

The location of the Valley of the Giants, in one of the wettest parts of Oregon, is close to the historic logging company town of Valsetz, which operated from around 1919 to 1984.

Given the area's history of logging, the survival of the Valley of the Giants has always been something of a surprise.

A big part of the reason the 51-acre island of old-growth survived was a longtime resident of Salem and one of the state's best-known guidebook authors.

Maynard Drawson, a World War II veteran and local barber, first visited the Giants in 1974. He was struck by the gigantic trees but told by local officials that they would be cut.

Drawson led the charge to preserve the trees, eventually wearing down the BLM, and getting them to protect the Giants as a 51-acre “Outstanding Natural Area.”

"Drawson was instrumental in helping to save some of Oregon’s most important trees," the Oregon Heritage Tree Program wrote when Drawson died in 2012. "The tree program would not exist if not for his life’s work preserving trees. All of us involved with heritage trees are going to miss Maynard’s enthusiasm and dedication."

Drawson published many books about his travels in Oregon's wild places in the 1970s and '80s in five volumes of "Treasures of the Oregon Country."

All of which is to say, the trees have been there a long time and will still be there when the debris flow is cleared and road is repaired.

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: Oregon's Valley of the Giants closed by massive debris flow