Lester Creek
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| | Raps:4-5, max ↨100ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Optional Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 29 Mar 2025
"No sign of previous anchors, so this was probably a first descent. Had rather low expectations, but the main sequence is good fun. A worthy 3-star cre |
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| Best season: | Jan-Apr
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45.6106, -123.5236
45.6045, -123.5478
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Introduction[edit]
Update March 2025: The road to Diamond Mill currently is gated at Jones Creek for logging operations. If coming in this way, it will add a +1.5mi road walk each way. A marginally better (and more interesting) option is to drop a car at the gate and shuttle to the Kings Mountain trailhead.
A shortie canyon on the southwestern flanks of Kings Mountain. Lester Creek is best visited in winter and spring when it has water; apparently it can run dry by summer. Access top and bottom is great. Perhaps not one of the greats, but a worthy outing by Oregon Coast Range standards.
- Watershed: 0.2mi^2. The highest point in the drainage is the summit of Kings Mtn at 3225ft elevation.
Approach[edit]
From the OHV staging area at Diamond Mill, locate the footbridge across the North Fork Wilson River at the NE end of the parking lot. Follow the Wilson River Trail up about 2.5mi to where it crosses a minor tributary above Lester Creek.
- Alternatively, drop a car at the exit and approach via the Wilson River Trail from the Kings Mountain trailhead.
Descent[edit]
Follow the trib into the creek. There is an optional 15ft rappel (R0) on the tributary before you reach Lester Creek proper. Easily bypassed DCR.
Main creek was extremely slippery in March 2025.
- R1: Need ~40ft of rope from anchor atop rootball. Pitch is maybe 25ft high.
- Downclimb either side of a 12ft drop.
- Careful downclimb DCR or short awkward rappel from tree DCL. This line could be used to reach the R2 anchor.
- R2: Lester Falls 100ft from tree DCL into nice narrow section. Watch your rope pull here & beware sticking the rope in the logs at the bottom.
- R3: 15ft from tree high DCL.
- R4: 20ft from thin tree creek center.
- R5: 20ft from questionable tree DCL. (If this creek gets run more frequently, this drop should probably be bolted.)
Exit[edit]
Bushwhack downstream 0.2mi (relatively easy). There appears to be an old game trail just above the creek DCR. Watch for a minor trib entering DCR and jump up onto an obvious old road grade. Follow the grade west (easy) for 0.4mi to an easily-missed junction. Turn right here and follow a different grade upwards for 0.2mi until it intersects the Wilson River Trail. Return the way you came.
Red tape[edit]
None.
Beta sites[edit]
Trip reports and media[edit]
Background[edit]
Explored by area locals in April 2020. First documented descent in March 2025 by Brian Forest, Kevin Clark, James Haruka, Wade Hewitt, Michael Peterson, Trey Schutrumpf, and Elisabeth Bishop.
Other Explorations[edit]
Two other waterfalls were visible upstream on the trib where you exit to the road grade and might be worth exploring. Would be easily accessed from the Wilson River Trail. This trib likely dries up before Lester Creek - might be best visited after a period of heavy rain.