Friday, October 10, 2014

14 Waterfalls+3 Lakes=2 Awesome Days

Dana started Fall of right by trekking through the woods to find some waterfalls that were on his list. But first a special thanks to an awesome wife that let him go in the first place.

Several of these waterfalls are in the heart of the Gifford Pinchot NF and 7 of them had no trail to them. So, with a map, a GPS and some descent directions I went into the woods.

The first stop was Chambers Creek Falls (1). It was a shorter scramble than some, but well worth it:

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A nice view of Mt. Adams and then a stop at Walupt Lake:

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I located the suggested starting point to get to Walupt Creek Falls. Soon, I found the log jam to cross the creek and bushwhacked through the forest.

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I passed Upper and Middle Walupt Creek Falls (2 and 3):

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Then I came to the cliff-side view of the giant that is Walupt Creek Falls (4):

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I found the faint path to the bottom and had a lot of fun climbing around the falls. They are very big and hard to get into one photo (221 feet tall, 267 feet across, and a run of over 400 feet).

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The water was very cold, but the low water level allowed me to get a shot of myself in the falls. At high water nearly the whole face can be covered.

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There was a nice little pool created where the falls entered the Cispus River with cool rock pillars seemingly watching over it.

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After that hike, I found a nice place to camp on the side of a dirt road for the night. The next day I drove over a pass on a very iffy dirt road (about the middle is when I knew I should have gone around), but I made it to Olallie Lake and then Takhlakh Lake, with its nice view of Mt. Adams.

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Near Babyshoe Pass I found what was left of Babyshoe Falls (5) at a lower water level.

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Big Spring Creek Falls (6) has three tiers and a lot of pretty moss:

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My next big scramble was to Steamboat Falls (7) on the Lewis River. I really liked this one and how it sat in this rock section of the river.

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Twin Falls (8) flow into the Lewis River at a defunct campground. You could already tell Autumn was here with all the pretty colors.

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Langfield Falls (9) is very pretty:

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The trailhead is right near Big Tire Junction. Can you tell how it got that name?

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I noticed this little trail that had a spot where Native Americans had peeled the bark of some cedar trees to use for a multitude of purposes. Apparently you can find trees with the peeled bark through out the region.

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My next goal was to get a better view of Little Goose Creek Falls. I have been to this canyon before, but did not find the way down.

Upper Little Goose Creek Falls (10) and the cool basalt column cliff:

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Little Goose Creek Falls (11). I got down to them, and then my camera ran out of batteries, and my backup was not charged. But I still got some nice shots.

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Trout Lake Creek Falls (12), they are small, but very pretty. I also got a Huckleberry milkshake at the Trout Lake Café.

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Heading south to the Gorge along the White Salmon River, I stopped at BZ Falls (13):

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And Husum Falls (14), where I got lucky and watched several kayakers run the falls multiple times. It was fun to watch them.

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Bonus: With the recent rains after a long dry spell, the mushrooms were out in full force. These are two I thought were pretty cool looking.

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