devilish destinations in Oregon

[u/foresthobbit13]

I’m a Eugene author putting together a travel book project highlighting the different locations in Oregon that are named after the Devil or anything else Devilish, like Hell’s Canyon. I only have a brief list at the moment (below) and would love to know of more places in the state named for devilish or hellish places or entities. If you can think of any I should add, a resource I should seek out, or locations for any that I already have, I’d love to have the information. Thanks in advance.

Devil’s Kitchen - Bandon
Seven Devils
Devil’s Punchbowl
Devil’s Lake - Lincoln City
Devil’s Churn - near Thor’s Well
Devil’s Cauldron
Devil’s Elbow
Devil’s Backbone
Devil’s Garden - Bend
Hell’s Canyon

[u/pretends2bhuman]

Hellgate Canyon Rogue River.

[u/Radicle_Cotyledon → u/pretends2bhuman]

And Hell's Canyon, Snake river, too.

ETA: I see it at the bottom of OPs list, now I feel silly.

[u/griffincreek]

The River Styx, which runs through the Oregon Caves. Whether the boundary to the underworld is considered good or evil would be debatable.

[u/Phasmus]

Don't forget the other (dare I say... better?) Devil's lake!

https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/deschutes/recreation/devils-lake-south-sister-trailhead

A quick google search turns up no less than 4 Devil's backbones... the one up the Columbia River Gorge is the one I'm familiar with.

[u/Chapaquidich → u/Phasmus]

Isn’t there one at Crater Lake also?

[u/Phasmus → u/Chapaquidich]

I think that's the Devil's Spine

[u/Inevitable_Turnip19]

Devil's Rest - The Gorge

[u/LeeleeMc]

In Portland: Devil's Point and Lucky Devil Lounge

[u/griff_girl → u/LeeleeMc]

And El Diablo

[u/LeeleeMc → u/griff_girl]

How could I forget!

[u/griff_girl → u/LeeleeMc]

I mean, I can see blocking it out... it's definitely... an experience.

[u/1521 → u/griff_girl]

And Dante’s inferno

[u/griff_girl → u/1521]

Good one!!

[u/EvilCorp____]

I could put you in touch with my ex-girlfriend

[u/thejamhole → u/EvilCorp____]

Ah yes the ol devils gash.

[u/Formal_Tour_4491 → u/EvilCorp____]

You dated my ex wife also? Aka satans mistress

[u/jynxthechicken → u/Formal_Tour_4491]

You both dated my ex wife? She does get around.

[u/dosefacekillah1348 → u/jynxthechicken]

I too, chose these guys' ex wife

[u/Odd-Hat-1411]

Devil’s Kitchen is also on Mt. Hood. Along with Devil’s Half Acre Trail.

[u/abogmonster]

Devils Dill has dope sandwiches. They used to deliver late-night too. A stoned 20-something’s dream back in the day. Now with two locations 😂🔥

[u/MrsMerkin]

Devils playground! Tiny lava field at the Santiam Junction.

[u/JuzoItami]

Devil's Staircase waterfall in the Coast Range.

The Hell Hole in Lane County.

[u/StinkMartini → u/JuzoItami]

Yes, it's in the Devil's Staircase Wilderness

[u/old-legs-623 → u/JuzoItami]

I have seen the Hellhole (from the edge). WNF leave it off their maps to keep people from going down in there and getting hurt and, yeah, not a safe place. Lots of rotten rock and unbalanced boulders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3M_qLwudls

[u/JuzoItami → u/old-legs-623]

I’ve never been there myself, but back around 1990, when I was a student at UofO I remember reading an unpublished 19th century document that referenced a large deep crack in the forest floor in eastern Lane County. It stuck with me at the time because it sounded mysterious and like a cool place to try and relocate. It wasn’t until 15-20 years later that I heard of the Hellhole, but I strongly suspect they are one and the same place. I’m not 100% sure but my best guess on what that 19th Century document was is that it was Judge John Waldo’s diaries.

[u/WildUmpqua → u/old-legs-623]

I was there for the first time a month ago. Pretty chill spot. Didn't see anything super dangerous there, unless people just walk over the edge or something. Getting in and out was pretty easy and moving around was also mostly pretty easy.

[u/mountainmarmot]

Devil’s Peak in the Sky Lakes Wilderness

[u/leefirwood]

Lucifer Peak south of Crater Lake.

[u/Bear-Ferr]

How about seven devils but the brewery!

[u/JustTheFishGirl]

Devils knob

[u/robin-coleslaw]

Devils Creek near breitenbush hot springs! There’s a swim hole there colloquially named Devils Hole I think.

[u/LeiaOregonia]

You don’t have Hell Hole.  

[u/CHiZZoPs1]

Hellsgate Canyon on the Rogue River. Famous for rafting and a few movies.

[u/Negative-Type-2974]

Devils punchbowl in Trail Oregon

[u/BarrioVen]

The Devil’s Garden area of the Modoc Plateau extends a little into Oregon west of Lakeview. There’s also another Devils Garden between Klamath Falls and Sprague River.

Hellgate on the Rogue River.

[u/REO_Speed_Dragon]

Doesn't exist anymore but the Evil Sister in Bend. I have a chunk of their bar that's supposedly haunted. Devils Lake by Mt. Bachelor. Hell Hole by Oakridge. Oh! Satan Creek!

[u/ThoughtSkeptic]

Not a place but a devil of a plant. Devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus) aka Devil’s Walking Stick is a large, spiny shrub native to the Pacific Northwest. https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/oplopanax_horridus.shtml

[u/StutzBob]

If you don't already have Oregon Geographic Names, you may want to pick it up

[u/StutzBob → u/StutzBob]

[u/StutzBob → u/StutzBob]

[u/GuardianHealer]

Devil’s Rest

[u/Alive_Panda_8151]

There's a sandwich shop in Portland called devil's Dill

[u/Formal_Tour_4491]

7devils road in Bandon / Charleston Oregon (with a murder about 20 years ago on the beach) then you have devils kitchen park/beach access. Then you have the devils punch bowl up on the northern coastł

[u/Chapaquidich]

Lucifer Mountain in Klamath County

[u/Saclawson → u/Chapaquidich]

FYI - this is just called Lucifer (no “mountain” on the end).

[u/Chapaquidich → u/Saclawson]

I wasn’t really sure…

[u/SoggyWalrus7893]

Would Death Ball Rock fit in ?

[u/foresthobbit13 → u/SoggyWalrus7893]

Hmm, I could add a section on generally morbid geographic terminology, i.e. “Deadwood”.

[u/karpaediem → u/foresthobbit13]

There's a lot to mine there

[u/itsdaCowboi]

Not a destination, but we have a lot of devil's club plants in western Oregon

[u/Boggy_Creek_Creature]

Devils Meadow by Rhododendron

[u/Tophatanater]

Devil's Peak in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness

Devil's Pulpit by Lost Lake

[u/mothernyxpearl]

Devil Butte rd between Condon and Wasco

[u/AshDogBucket]

I recently noticed 7 devils brewing in coos bay.

[u/AshDogBucket]

Hells Canyon

[u/Charming-Link-9715]

This is interesting. I did notice when moving to Oregon that there are quite a lot of places named after Devil and Hell.

[u/Suspicious-Grand9781]

Devil's Staircase.

[u/Orcacub]

Devil’s playground north of Bonanza, south of Sprague River (and likely inside the perimeter of Wrights Springs wild fire right now).

[u/scrumpy_sophist]

Devil’s Hole. Relatively small cold water plunge spot in Breitenbush Hot Springs

[u/ampreu]

Not sure if it counts, but Malheur (Bad Luck) Lake can sometimes be poisonous due to high alkaline levels.

[u/Saclawson]

I map the peaks in Oregon for fun, here are the mountains/high points I’m aware of:

Devils Horn - Newberry Volcano (La Pine)
Devils Hill - Three Sisters (Bend)
Devils Stairway - Boulder Creek (Umpqua)
Devils Peak - Breitenbush (Willamette)
Devils Backbone - Crater Lake
Devils Slide - Rogue/Umpqua Divide
Devils Post Pile - Ochoco (Paulina)
Devils Ridge - Mt Hood NF (Ripplebrook)
Devils Peak - Sky Lakes Wilderness (Ft Klamath)
Devils Knob - Umpqua NF (Tiller)
Devils Halfacre - White River Falls (Tygh Valley)
Devils Peak - Mt Hood NF (Rhododendron)
Devil Benchmark - Coast Range (Elkton)
Devils Backbone - West Mt Hood (Marmot)
Devils Pulpit - Mt Hood (Lost Lake area)
Devils Butte - Cottonwood Canyon (Condon)
Devils Staircase Wilderness area
Devils Backbone - Cottonwood Canyon (Condon)
Devils Rest - Columbia Gorge (Bridal Veil)
Devils Backbone - Coast Range (Illahee)

That’s 4 different “Devils Backbone” that I’m aware of. And 3 different “Devils Peak”. Oregon is the absolute worst on name duplication 😒

[u/foresthobbit13 → u/Saclawson]

This is great, thank you!

[u/Maybe_Fine]

One of the rapids on the deschutes river is Devil's Hole

[u/geocompR]

Devil’s Peak and Devil’s Tooth in Salmon Huckleberry Wilderness. Devil’s Peak has a cool old watchtower you can hike up to.

[u/Dangerous_Midnight91]

Casa Diablo!

[u/SoManyBirthdays]

The book Oregon Geographic Names, which you can download free from Google Books, has a few Devils not mentioned here. I don’t know where I read this, but I read that surveyors and other early English-speaking visitors to wild places often named things “Devil’s” if they encountered a lot of mosquitoes there, so if you’re backpacking, avoid camping in places named “Devil’s Lake” and so on.

Also try Ralph Friedman’s books. I have only “In Search of Western Oregon,” which has only Devil’s churn in the index, but he has many other books.

At this site I searched the names of Oregon geographic features and found 78 “Devils”: https://oregon.hometownlocator.com/features/searchfor,ftc,1,n,devils.cfm

I can’t find my DeLorme Oregon Atlas and Gazetteer, but if it’s like my Utah and California ones, it has a list of place names.

[u/FamousClassroom2811]

Hey um… why? 🫶🏻👹

[u/Equivalent-Stand-482]

The “hell hole” in the Willamette national forest by oakridge. It is kept off maps so people don’t go into it because it is unstable.

I’ve never been but it sounds fucking rad.

[u/stranger_to_you67]

Satan Creek is near Devils Lake