Waterfalls Lost & Found
Sep. 7th, 2022 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerPacific Northwest September Travelog #5
Northwoods, WA - Sat, 3 Sep 2022, 3:30pm
Our plan to visit 5 waterfalls today on a big driving loop around the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington got off to a strong start with the stunning (if clumsily named) Falls Creek Trail Falls. Right after that, though, the plan started to unravel. After Falls Creek, and well outside of cell signal range, all of our apps decided, "What is this 'caching' you speak of? We will clear our screens now and reload from the web!" Finding our next destination, McClellan Falls, became difficult. And it wasn't listed in either or our printed guides.
Through use of crummy map kiosks posted at out-of-season snowmobile stops, and some dead reckoning, we did at least find McClellan Viewpoint.
McClellan Viewpoint offered a nice vista of Mount St. Helens in the distance. Cloud cover obscured much of it, though. I saw cloudiness in the weather forecast this morning, which is why I decided to do the waterfall loop today and save Mount St. Helens for tomorrow. Mountains are hard to appreciate without clear skies, while waterfalls often look amazing under gray skies.
So, the trail to McClellan Falls was supposed to start near this viewpoint. And for all I know, it does. But we couldn't find it. The online guide did warn that it's "hard" to find. I'd edit that to note that two experienced hikers couldn't find it and gave up.
We drove on from McClellan Viewpoint toward our next hike, Big Creek Falls, about 8 miles away. Halfway there, though, we saw a small sign indicating a turnoff for Curly Creek Falls. "Why's that not on our list?" we both asked. We decided since McClellan Falls was a no-show we had time to add Curly Creek into our itinerary, an impromptu swap.
We parked and found trail notes for Curly Creek in one of our guidebooks. The trail would actually be a two-fer: Curly Creek Falls and Miller Falls. We could see both with a hike of less than 1 mile round-trip.
Well, Curly Creek Falls was another a no-show. Except unlike McClellan Falls we found where it was supposed to be; it just wasn't there. It's dried up for the season.
We continued on toward Miller Falls. It's almost dried up for the season....
This photo shows Miller Falls hanging on by a thread. Earlier in the season it's probably quite a sight, with a drop of 80' or so.
...Actually I don't have to say it's probably quite a sight. It's definitely a sight. We have pictures! Pictures from 5 years ago, that is.
While we hiked this trail Hawk and I debated whether we'd been here before. She said yes, as it looked familiar; I said no, as I didn't quite recognize it. She dug through the photos on her phone, searched by location (we had a wisp of cell signal here to support geolocation), and found photos she'd taken of both these falls 5 years ago. Photos taken in April that year, when the rivers were flush with spring snowmelt.
So, today's trip is a mix of hits and misses so far. I'm looking forward to the next falls on our list, Big Creek Falls. It should be flowing well even at this time of year. Stay tuned for more!
Northwoods, WA - Sat, 3 Sep 2022, 3:30pm
Our plan to visit 5 waterfalls today on a big driving loop around the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington got off to a strong start with the stunning (if clumsily named) Falls Creek Trail Falls. Right after that, though, the plan started to unravel. After Falls Creek, and well outside of cell signal range, all of our apps decided, "What is this 'caching' you speak of? We will clear our screens now and reload from the web!" Finding our next destination, McClellan Falls, became difficult. And it wasn't listed in either or our printed guides.
Through use of crummy map kiosks posted at out-of-season snowmobile stops, and some dead reckoning, we did at least find McClellan Viewpoint.
McClellan Viewpoint offered a nice vista of Mount St. Helens in the distance. Cloud cover obscured much of it, though. I saw cloudiness in the weather forecast this morning, which is why I decided to do the waterfall loop today and save Mount St. Helens for tomorrow. Mountains are hard to appreciate without clear skies, while waterfalls often look amazing under gray skies.
So, the trail to McClellan Falls was supposed to start near this viewpoint. And for all I know, it does. But we couldn't find it. The online guide did warn that it's "hard" to find. I'd edit that to note that two experienced hikers couldn't find it and gave up.
We drove on from McClellan Viewpoint toward our next hike, Big Creek Falls, about 8 miles away. Halfway there, though, we saw a small sign indicating a turnoff for Curly Creek Falls. "Why's that not on our list?" we both asked. We decided since McClellan Falls was a no-show we had time to add Curly Creek into our itinerary, an impromptu swap.
We parked and found trail notes for Curly Creek in one of our guidebooks. The trail would actually be a two-fer: Curly Creek Falls and Miller Falls. We could see both with a hike of less than 1 mile round-trip.
Well, Curly Creek Falls was another a no-show. Except unlike McClellan Falls we found where it was supposed to be; it just wasn't there. It's dried up for the season.
We continued on toward Miller Falls. It's almost dried up for the season....
This photo shows Miller Falls hanging on by a thread. Earlier in the season it's probably quite a sight, with a drop of 80' or so.
...Actually I don't have to say it's probably quite a sight. It's definitely a sight. We have pictures! Pictures from 5 years ago, that is.
While we hiked this trail Hawk and I debated whether we'd been here before. She said yes, as it looked familiar; I said no, as I didn't quite recognize it. She dug through the photos on her phone, searched by location (we had a wisp of cell signal here to support geolocation), and found photos she'd taken of both these falls 5 years ago. Photos taken in April that year, when the rivers were flush with spring snowmelt.
So, today's trip is a mix of hits and misses so far. I'm looking forward to the next falls on our list, Big Creek Falls. It should be flowing well even at this time of year. Stay tuned for more!
