Corlieu Falls (Lewis Creek Tral, part 3)
May. 16th, 2022 09:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerWhen we visited the Lewis Creek Trail Saturday we started in the middle. The middle seems like a strange place to start, but it's possible here because there are 3 entry points to the trai: upper, middle, and lower. And the thing about starting in the middle is that we get to hike both ways. We hiked from the middle trailhead north, up to Red Rock Falls. Then we retraced our steps to the junction and hiked the other way, south to Corlieu Falls.
When we visited this falls on a similar hike several years ago we didn't know it was called Corlieu Falls. I dubbed it Bigger Lewis Creek Falls because, well, it was bigger than Red Rock Falls. ...Which I also didn't kow was called Red Rock Falls, so I called it Smaller Lewis Creek Falls. Yup, Bigger and Smaller; those were the names I went with. 😅
This trip we discovered more than just the name, Corlieu Falls. We discovered that Corlieu Falls actually has upper, middle, and lower sections unto itself. The falls we sat at the base of 4 years ago were Middle Corlieu Falls. We'd gone around the upper falls— which are shown in the 2 pics above— without realizing what we'd missed!
Well, Upper Corlieu isn't much to sit at and watch. Mostly that's because there really isn't anywhere to sit at its base. 😂 The best vantage is from a narrow perch on the steep use trail down the canyon from the main trail. There are no guide ropes here to help you like there are at the middle falls.
Speaking of Middle Corlieu Falls....
Yup, 4 years later it's still there. 🤣 And the really helpful ropes to get to the base are still there, too. Though a really large redwood tree has fallen across the pool at the base, making it a lot hard to enjoy. I'm actually atop the redwood as I shot the pic above. And for sense of scale, that falls is about 80' tall. So even laying on its side, that tree is big.
The existence of an upper and a middle implies a lower, right? I mean, unless this is an American restaurant where there are two sizes pizza, large and medium, or 3 sizes of soda, medium, large, and extra large. ...Okay, so maybe Red Rock Falls should be renamed Extra Upper Corlieu Falls? 😂 Haha, well, no need for stupid restaurant adjectives here, as there actually is a Lower Corlieu Falls.
This picture (above) shows all three of the tiers. The lower falls is in the foreground, in deep shade. Middle falls is in the middle. You can see that fallen tree I wrote about it front of it. Above that, kind of hard to make out in the distance but still visible in this picture, is the upper falls. Plus there are actually more cascades below this point. Call those Extra Lower Corlieu Falls, or maybe Kids Size Corlieu Falls. Altogether these falls drop more than 200'.
When we visited this falls on a similar hike several years ago we didn't know it was called Corlieu Falls. I dubbed it Bigger Lewis Creek Falls because, well, it was bigger than Red Rock Falls. ...Which I also didn't kow was called Red Rock Falls, so I called it Smaller Lewis Creek Falls. Yup, Bigger and Smaller; those were the names I went with. 😅
This trip we discovered more than just the name, Corlieu Falls. We discovered that Corlieu Falls actually has upper, middle, and lower sections unto itself. The falls we sat at the base of 4 years ago were Middle Corlieu Falls. We'd gone around the upper falls— which are shown in the 2 pics above— without realizing what we'd missed!
Well, Upper Corlieu isn't much to sit at and watch. Mostly that's because there really isn't anywhere to sit at its base. 😂 The best vantage is from a narrow perch on the steep use trail down the canyon from the main trail. There are no guide ropes here to help you like there are at the middle falls.
Speaking of Middle Corlieu Falls....
Yup, 4 years later it's still there. 🤣 And the really helpful ropes to get to the base are still there, too. Though a really large redwood tree has fallen across the pool at the base, making it a lot hard to enjoy. I'm actually atop the redwood as I shot the pic above. And for sense of scale, that falls is about 80' tall. So even laying on its side, that tree is big.
The existence of an upper and a middle implies a lower, right? I mean, unless this is an American restaurant where there are two sizes pizza, large and medium, or 3 sizes of soda, medium, large, and extra large. ...Okay, so maybe Red Rock Falls should be renamed Extra Upper Corlieu Falls? 😂 Haha, well, no need for stupid restaurant adjectives here, as there actually is a Lower Corlieu Falls.
This picture (above) shows all three of the tiers. The lower falls is in the foreground, in deep shade. Middle falls is in the middle. You can see that fallen tree I wrote about it front of it. Above that, kind of hard to make out in the distance but still visible in this picture, is the upper falls. Plus there are actually more cascades below this point. Call those Extra Lower Corlieu Falls, or maybe Kids Size Corlieu Falls. Altogether these falls drop more than 200'.
