January 21, 2013

Trip Report from Timothy:

Monday 1/21/13 a nice clear day to have off. My girlfriend and I had the whole day to explore and see waterfalls so I thought we'd start off with an easy drive up the Whasougal River in WA. First stop Dougan Falls. We got there right as the sun was poking up over the hills.

# 30  Dougan Falls  (road side ~ easy access)

# 31  Dougan Creek Falls  (trail ~ easy access)

# 32  Reeder Falls  (road side ~ easy access)

# 33  Mad Dog Falls  (off-trail ~ easy access)

# 34  Docs Drop Falls  (bushwhack ~ easy access)

The water was really clear and you could see the bottom of the entire river. The water has a light blue tint to it and made the water look as cold as it felt. We drove up the river as far as Docs Drop which luckily was as far as we were going. There was quite a bit of snow an ice on the road up there and I didn't feel like chaining up.

We turned around after grabbing some pictures of Mad Dog Falls and Docs Drop then stopped off at Naked Falls on the way back out. The falls are very pretty but in no way did they inspire me or my girlfriend to get naked. :D The wind was blowing down the river really hard and we were both freezing even though we were bundled up. Must be a summer waterfall....still it looked great in the cold.

# 35  Naked Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

I know, not very off trail but that was just the beginning of the day. So we left the Washougal River and headed up Salmon Falls Rd. towards Maybee Mines Rd. 

# 36  Salmon Falls  (road side ~ easy access)

Turned up there and followed it to a fork, going left to a gate. We parked at the gate and started hiking down to McCloskey Falls.

It's only about half of a mile down the road but it seemed a lot longer hiking through the snow. The howling wind didn't help either.

I visited this waterfall last year but the devils club was too thick to get through to the bottom. It wasn't too bad getting down to the river today, just steep. I'd suggest if you plan on seeing this one that you do it in early spring, fall or winter when the vegetation is low.

McCloskey Falls...about a 25ft Waterfall.

I tried to cross the river to get a better shot but all the rocks and logs were covered in ice. I just got over a cold and didn't feel like swimming today.

Another picture of McCloskey Falls. Nice waterfall, kind of bummed I couldn't get across but hey...something to shoot for next time I visit. 

# 37  McCloskey Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

We got back to the car and still had plenty of daylight to go see something we haven't seen before. We drove down to SR14 and headed east to go and see Cynthia Falls. We drove up to go find it last summer and got a leak in the radiator. Little did I know that we were right there at the base of the falls when I decided to go home. My girlfriend reminded me many a times that it was right there, and that she heard the waterfall.  So today we were going to see it, we just had to hike up from the turn a round at Duncan Creek. The power line road had snow on it so a hiking we went.

It was so cold the snow was frozen which was great for hiking on. It just took a little more effort to get up the hill.

We have never been here so we were pretty surprised when we came up on the waterfall. Cynthia Falls down in the ravine.

Cynthia Falls all icy.

# 38  Cynthia Falls  (bushwhack ~ moderate access)

Even though it was a lot more effort than it would have been last year , I was very happy to have made it here today. Well worth the snow trek.

Hiking down the power line road I found a frozen dollar bill under some thin snow...yay  We now had money to cross Bridge of the Gods...  Still had some daylight when we reached the car so we went up to Duncan Creek Falls before heading home. Got to see a lot today and I found a buck, what a great day.

# 39  Duncan Creek Falls  (off-trail ~ easy access)