January 3, 2013

Heading up to Washington, Timothy and I found our way over to Lucia Falls Park.  A nice easy hike on a sunny yet cold winter day.

# 5  Lucia Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

Over at Moultan Falls Park there were sheets of snow and ice.  The part that made it pretty chilly was having to kneel of frosted rocks to get the shot of Moultan Falls.

# 6  Moultan Falls  (kindof trail - easy access)

Just before we grabbed that picture, we did manage to see a bald eagle resting on a branch up river.  Unfortunately he took off before we could get a better picture.

bald eagle

On the next trail the sun was poking out a bit more.  We stumbled across an interesting find; a wagon wheel that a tree had grown up through.

Yacolt Falls was a bit of a slipper slope to get down to since the trail was coated in ice.  Thankfully there is a handrail which made traversing it possible.  Was a nice view, even though the sun was blasting out part of the fall.

# 7  Yacolt Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

Hopping back in the car we headed off to the last trail to Sunset Falls.  I preferred the lower shot I had last year, but with the cold and lowering sun we got the shot from up top.  Not to mention the water level was a bit higher as well.

# 8  Sunset Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

The road down to the last waterfall had icicles along the roadside and some construction workers clearing out for road drainage.

Apparently the closed road down to the falls is a favored spot of some poachers.  There were quite a few deer carcasses laying around.

We went a short distance down the old road before turning off at the bridge.  The waterfall is right there at the bridge, but the best shot is almost always from the bottom, so down we went.  I got pretty scared going down a short chute, mainly because my worn shoes were showing their age and not gripping worth a damn.  Plus my hands were quite cold, therefore not gripping to well either.  Down at the bottom though we did see a good view of the falls.  There was a lot of ice covering just about everything.

# 9  Big Tree Creek Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

Also down river we saw something a bit unusual.  For a while I was certain it was a dead body because the red looked like a motorcycle helmet cover and the yellow looked like a reflective jacket, but we concluded that it was probably just some garbage.

With all the waterfalls done for the day we headed out.  A ways down the road I noticed a waterfall through the trees just past this utility box.  Sadly I couldn't get a better view of the waterfall.  The falls isn't listed in any information I have (my main sources being Northwest Waterfall Survey and World Wide Waterfall Database), so will have to check it out on another day.