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Oregon Cascades Travelog #11
Blue Lake OR - Wed, 2 Jul 2025, 6:30pm
According to our map on AllTrails, it was going to be an uphill climb from Lower Proxy Falls to the upper falls. Up, up, all the way; the steepest uphill on the trail. Well, aside from the off-trail climbing we did getting back up to the trail after climbing over logs and walking through water to see Lower Proxy Falls from its base, it was basically flat on the way to Lower Proxy Falls. In fact, the last little bit was gently downhill. AllTrails was out to lunch.
One thing I always enjoy about the Pacific Northwest, especially the Cascade Mountains, is how we're so often surrounded by huge trees.
I grew up in a neighborhood where a stand of old growth trees remained behind our house. It's almost unheard of today to have old growth trees in a suburban neighborhood. Developers bulldoze the entire plat for simplicity, build houses, and maybe plant a few saplings in the yard. But we had a few mature trees in our yard plus a stand of untouched forest behind us.
As a kid I always the view from our back yard of the tall, straight trees behind the house. But those were East Coast trees. They only seemed tall relative to my diminutive size. The tallest one, a looming Black Walnut, probably wasn't much more than 80' tall. But compared to everything else, and compared to me, it seemed huge. Out here in the PNW the commonest tree is the Douglas Fir, which easily grows to 200'+. It's humbling to feel so dwarfed by nature. It throws me back to my childhood sense of wonder.
It was just as well that the trail to Upper Proxy Falls was gently because Hawk and I were seriously flagging. It had been a long day, going on 6pm already as we wound down the last bit to the base of the falls.
Upper Proxy Falls was both pretty and a disappointment. Pretty, because, well, look at it. 😅 And yet also a disappointment because it was shrouded by so many trees and didn't seem to have a big, main tier anywhere but just a series of steep cascades.
Two groups of hikers arrived practically on our heels. One pair were the gal and guy who said "Yeah, no" when we told them about our adventure getting to the bottom of Lower Proxy Falls. They were content to admire these falls from across the pond at the bottom.
Another trio of hikers were young women who immediately started climbing a faint trail up the hill to the right of the falls. It seemed their goal was to get about 1/3 of the way up— that's as far as any of them got before them stopped, anyway— and take Instagram pictures (or is it TikTok videos nowadays?) of themselves in one of the larger cascades with water pouring over their heads. I timed my photos for when they were standing behind trees so they wouldn't ruin my Instagram-worthy pictures. 😂
After this Hawk and I hiked back up the slight rise from the bottom of the falls and the finished the loop back down to the parking lot. I honestly don't remember a lot about the hike from that point, other than that it was down at the end. We're both tired enough that we fell into the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other mindset, kind of block out other things around us. Now we're back at the car, resting for a moment before beginning the drive home over the McKenzie Pass to Bend on the other side of the Cascades.
Update: But wait, there's more! An unexpected hike appeared on the way home, when we thought we were too tired! Stay tuned....
Blue Lake OR - Wed, 2 Jul 2025, 6:30pm
According to our map on AllTrails, it was going to be an uphill climb from Lower Proxy Falls to the upper falls. Up, up, all the way; the steepest uphill on the trail. Well, aside from the off-trail climbing we did getting back up to the trail after climbing over logs and walking through water to see Lower Proxy Falls from its base, it was basically flat on the way to Lower Proxy Falls. In fact, the last little bit was gently downhill. AllTrails was out to lunch.
One thing I always enjoy about the Pacific Northwest, especially the Cascade Mountains, is how we're so often surrounded by huge trees.I grew up in a neighborhood where a stand of old growth trees remained behind our house. It's almost unheard of today to have old growth trees in a suburban neighborhood. Developers bulldoze the entire plat for simplicity, build houses, and maybe plant a few saplings in the yard. But we had a few mature trees in our yard plus a stand of untouched forest behind us.
As a kid I always the view from our back yard of the tall, straight trees behind the house. But those were East Coast trees. They only seemed tall relative to my diminutive size. The tallest one, a looming Black Walnut, probably wasn't much more than 80' tall. But compared to everything else, and compared to me, it seemed huge. Out here in the PNW the commonest tree is the Douglas Fir, which easily grows to 200'+. It's humbling to feel so dwarfed by nature. It throws me back to my childhood sense of wonder.
It was just as well that the trail to Upper Proxy Falls was gently because Hawk and I were seriously flagging. It had been a long day, going on 6pm already as we wound down the last bit to the base of the falls.
Upper Proxy Falls was both pretty and a disappointment. Pretty, because, well, look at it. 😅 And yet also a disappointment because it was shrouded by so many trees and didn't seem to have a big, main tier anywhere but just a series of steep cascades.
Two groups of hikers arrived practically on our heels. One pair were the gal and guy who said "Yeah, no" when we told them about our adventure getting to the bottom of Lower Proxy Falls. They were content to admire these falls from across the pond at the bottom.
Another trio of hikers were young women who immediately started climbing a faint trail up the hill to the right of the falls. It seemed their goal was to get about 1/3 of the way up— that's as far as any of them got before them stopped, anyway— and take Instagram pictures (or is it TikTok videos nowadays?) of themselves in one of the larger cascades with water pouring over their heads. I timed my photos for when they were standing behind trees so they wouldn't ruin my Instagram-worthy pictures. 😂
After this Hawk and I hiked back up the slight rise from the bottom of the falls and the finished the loop back down to the parking lot. I honestly don't remember a lot about the hike from that point, other than that it was down at the end. We're both tired enough that we fell into the one-foot-in-front-of-the-other mindset, kind of block out other things around us. Now we're back at the car, resting for a moment before beginning the drive home over the McKenzie Pass to Bend on the other side of the Cascades.
Update: But wait, there's more! An unexpected hike appeared on the way home, when we thought we were too tired! Stay tuned....
