March 3, 2013 ~ Silver Falls area trip

Well of course it's been a bit... Sadly I didn't catch up in time before we reached our goal of 365 waterfalls.  I'll continue however it will be in reflection.

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Starting out the day the morning showed promise of a dry day.

Our plan was see all the waterfalls on the Silver Falls Trail and a few more nearby. The main gate doesn't open until 8am and we arrived 7am so we started off with North Falls. North Falls is huge and was flowing heavy today.

#79 North Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

Up the trail we made our way to the next one.  Was a very pretty day for grabbing some good winter pictures of the area.

With all the brush still resting from it's slumber we could clearly see the falls from pretty far back on the trail. Getting a decent shot of Upper North Falls we headed back to the car. 

#80 Upper North Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

Considering we were trying to save time we drove back to the South entrance.  The stone work at the beginning of the trail really is impressive.  Before the main falls we took a slight off-trail detour and got a shot of Frenchie Falls.

#81 Frenchie Falls  (off-trail ~ moderate access)

South Falls really is impressive and it's quite amazing that a daredevil actually survived going over it in barrel.  A passing hiker was nice enough to take a picture of the two of us.

#82 South Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

Down the trail we hiked and I got a few pictures along the way.

Then sun was nice enough to let me grab a shot before it hit the Lower South Falls.  Although I was still able to get a decent side shot before the sun started to hit the crest of the falls. The trail goes behind this waterfall, very neat.

#83 Lower South Falls  (trail ~ moderate access)

Lower South Falls

Continuing along the trail I again got more pictures of the trail.  The winter brought down some pretty big trees this winter.

While I can't explain it this no name falls flows year round.  I've tried to find a source on topo maps, however the best guess I have is perhaps it's runoff from farm land.

Moving along I tried to take less pictures, but still grabbed a couple.

Unfortunately the sun wasn't hiding when we were getting a shot of Lower North Falls and Double Falls.  I do think we did get decent shots though.

#84 Lower North Falls (off-trail ~ easy access)

#85 Double Falls  (trail ~ moderate access)

Drake Falls isn't much to see from the viewing platform.  Getting to the bottom though isn't likely possible.

#86 Drake Falls  (trail ~ moderate access)

Coming up on Middle North Falls we could hear it raging from far away.  On the other side really is the best view in my eyes.

Middle North Falls 

#87 Middle North Falls  (trail ~ moderate access)

When we reached Twin Falls I looked for my rose and couldn't find it.  Even after rushing back down the trail where I thought I dropped it, it was still gone.  Considering there were a lot of people on the trail likely as not it got picked up, so we had to grab a picture without it.

#88 Twin Falls  (off-trail ~ moderate access)

Taking the rim trail back to the car.  With a spare rose from the trunk we drove down to the top of Winter Falls and hiked down for our shot.  On the way I noticed this interesting fungus.  Back on the road I got one more shot of North Falls before we were off to see other falls.

#89 Winter Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

North Falls

Timothy had heard of this one waterfall tucked away, but with an impressive amphitheater.  Last year we had a great shot of it and went back for another one.  Taking a well traveled unofficial path we made our way there.

Abiqua Falls really is quite unique as it resides in a large bowl formed in basalt rock formations.

#90 Abiqua Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

Abiqua Falls

Considering we were losing daylight we hurried to our next set of waterfalls to see.  The first one, Upper Butte Creek Falls, was fairly quick to get to.

#91 Upper Butte Creek Falls (trail ~ easy access)

Looking down the creek I could see the top of the next fall.  The trail was a bit cliffed out, although offered a good view.

#92 Butte Creek Falls  (trail ~ moderate access)

The last waterfall on this creek sadly resides past the trail.  While others have bushwhacked to the bottom and crossed the creek for us with the winter weather it would have to wait for another day.  Getting a shot of Lower Butte Creek Falls from the top is a bit sketchy, but we got one and dashed off to the final one for the day.

#93 Lower Butte Creek Falls   (trail ~ difficult access)

In the distance we could see the sunset.  Coming on on Scotts Mills Falls there was barely enough daylight to get the shot.  We did get it though and thus was the end of another great trip.

#94 Scotts Mills Falls (roadside ~ easy access)

Timothy also on Portland Hikers he shows the difference that simply two weeks can make on the flow.

February 24, 2013

My apologizes for procrastinating again.... it seems I have excellent procrastination skills.  Currently we are almost to 300 named waterfalls.  I'm hoping to get caught up.  Got a bit to do and so all I can do is get to it.
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 It was another day heading off into the Gorge.  I grabbed my usual pictures as we headed to Bridge of the Gods.

That day our goals were on the Washington side, so off we went across the bridge.  Snow was still resting on the tops of the mountains.

Our first stop was a little gem that sadly has no trail.  The hardest part here is merely avoiding poison oak and balancing on rocks.

Getting to the top view isn't too bad, although the bottom view is a bit more tricky.

As always it's worth it, here's Spirit Falls.  Thankfully this year the sun wasn't blowing out the picture.

#73  Spirit Falls   (bushwhack ~ access moderate)

And back up we went.  Definitely one way to work in some cardio.

We drove on and stopped off at Cook Falls.  Not quite what I'd consider an official waterfall, but since it has historical value so its still considered one.

#74  Cook Falls   (roadside ~ easy access)

Next up we found ourselves at Dog Creek.  The sun was phases in and out which kept the potential open for good waterfall shots.

The path is a short one to Dog Creek Falls, but it still is pretty.

# 75 Dog Creek Falls   (trail ~ easy access)

Above this falls we had heard of another called Fan Falls.  The canyon is pretty cliffed out, so we went up the left side trying to find a way through.  It didn't get any better the further up we went.  Back we went to look for another way.

Eventually Timothy found a ledge that was big enough to walk on.  It was slightly tilted which at first seemed ok.  Unfortunately the ledge started to get narrower and I pretty much fell apart when we got to a rock outcropping where there was a foot of no ledge I had to step over.  Timothy managed to get me over it even with me shaking in terror.  Yes, I am afraid of heights.  On the other side Timothy looked for a better alternative, but he only found another hurdle.  With no ropes he had to walk me through scaling down a 15 foot wall.  I amazed even my self.

After getting me down that Timothy continued to scout the area.  Unfortunately he discovered that Fan Falls was on the other side of a rock outcropping.  The only view was on the other side of the freezing cold creek water.

Fan Falls fail...

We agreed this one was going to have to wait.  Timothy looked for the best way down, but found my next feat involved me scaling the left side of the waterfall.  To say the least I wasn't happy with the predicament.  He worked me through it and found a lot of comfort when I reached the bottom.  I'm still surprised I didn't piss myself, although more surprising is Timothy did it even with his foot still partly broken.

Dog Creek Falls from above (access crazy without rope)

Not to be deterred we continued on our day.  Stopping only for a moment to grab a shot of Lancaster Falls from afar.

Off of an old dirt road we found Carson Creek and started working out way down.  The brush was a bit thick at time.

Although we got to Carson Creek Falls without any crazy rock ledges to scale, yay!

# 76  Carson Creek Falls   (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

Again up through the brush we went.  It was tiring, although still better than a rock ledge.

On to the last stretch we made our way to Sweeney Falls.  Usually there is a rope to get past this one steep part, but this time we found some steps.  Not sure how long they'll last.  It made this day easier though.

# 77 Sweeney Falls   (off-trail ~ easy access)

With a little day light still left the last goal was the waterfall up the canyon from here.  We worked our way back until there was a way up and went up the canyon.  It was a bit steep at times, but nothing compared to that rock ledge.

Without much ado we reach Crayfish Falls.  It was a little scary grabbing this shot, although it was worth it.

# 78 Crayfish Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

Getting back to the car dragged on a bit since my legs were a bit wobbly at this point.  Curiosity was getting the better of us and we went to see where Nelson Creek was.

There is a pretty waterfall down there, but sadly the whole area is covered in poison oak.  Considering it hadn't brushed out yet, we weren't going to get very close.  Instead we finished off with a nice drive home.