Colliding Rivers Overlook - Glide OR

City:: Umpqua National Forest, OR
Site Type:: Viewpoints and Overlooks, Parks and Recreation, Comfort Stations (Restrooms)
New Deal Agencies:: Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Work Relief Programs
Completed:: 1938
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built the Colliding Rivers Overlook (or Viewpoint), where the North Umpqua and Little Rivers come together. The work as presumably done in 1938, the same year the CCC constructed the Glide Ranger Station just across the road (now the Information Center for the Colliding Rivers Viewpoint).

The overlook consists of a small parking area and terraces on two levels for viewing the rivers, with both a ramp and stairway between levels. There is a path to a secondary overlook that is today blocked by trees, and there is a restroom (comfort station) that appears to be of the same style and vintage as the Glide Ranger Station across the road (though it is not mentioned in our sources).

The overlook features the kind of fine stonework that was popular in parks in the early 20th century, often associated with the CCC.

Colliding Rivers is a unique geologic site because the two rivers run directly at each other before they join, thanks to ancient basalt flows that form barriers across the canyon (part of the region’s volcanic history).