Whale Creek Falls + Barrier Falls (merged)

Discussions and Trip Reports for off-trail adventures and rediscovering lost trails
User avatar
BrianEdwards
Posts: 2405
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:32 am
Location: Oregon City, OR
Contact:

Re: Barrier Falls, Whale Creek Falls, + an old relic

Post by BrianEdwards » October 12th, 2011, 4:26 pm

Thanks Wayne, ya I think these falls will remain a novelty unless some canyoneers descend em.
Last edited by BrianEdwards on October 16th, 2011, 12:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

User avatar
BrianEdwards
Posts: 2405
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:32 am
Location: Oregon City, OR
Contact:

Re: Barrier Falls, Whale Creek Falls, + relic (revisited 10/

Post by BrianEdwards » October 16th, 2011, 12:07 pm

Update:

My friend talked to an elderly fella regarding this 'engine'. He immediately identified it as a 'hit and miss' engine. He said the extremely heavy flywheels were there to keep the engine moving when it would miss. Said they were very common before 1920.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit-and-miss_engine

Image

Image
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

boringlarry
Posts: 11
Joined: December 9th, 2009, 8:38 pm

Re: Barrier Falls, Whale Creek Falls, + relic (revisited 10/

Post by boringlarry » October 16th, 2011, 7:00 pm

...Perhaps that wheel/engine came from the old mercury mines just below the dam?...

User avatar
Splintercat
Posts: 8328
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm
Location: Portland
Contact:

Re: Barrier Falls, Whale Creek Falls, + relic (revisited 10/

Post by Splintercat » October 17th, 2011, 8:38 pm

Welcome, Larry!

Brian, nice shots into that canyon -- always hard to capture those drops from 1500 feet above... in the forest..! What Wayne said -- both look like very nice drops!

Tom :)

boringlarry
Posts: 11
Joined: December 9th, 2009, 8:38 pm

Re: Barrier Falls, Whale Creek Falls, + relic (revisited 10/

Post by boringlarry » October 23rd, 2011, 7:10 pm

...And Howdy!..I spent a lot of time between Harriet and the waterfall back in 94, and there is an easier, although much longer way in.
If you (coming from Harriet) drive over the rise by the dam, on the west side of the top there is a trail, and also if you drive further there's an old road (Gated, and sorta in the vicinity of the old trail CCC cabin there...)that goes into what used to be the mercury mines, and you could trace some sort of old road that branched off of that, and went to a shallow ford then downstream from there, for awhile, till it petered out, then a faint trail, then mostly easy bushwacking along the river...but i never got to see that great old relic!....
At the spot where an old wooden bridge crossed the river to go to the mines, there is a cool former waterfall that's now just a trickle, thanks to the dam, but still a nice place...I should be seeing that area this fall, I'll get some pics..

User avatar
BrianEdwards
Posts: 2405
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:32 am
Location: Oregon City, OR
Contact:

Whale Creek Falls 12/16

Post by BrianEdwards » December 16th, 2012, 8:15 pm

Today I headed back to Whale Creek to see if I could reach the base of any more of the falls on the creek. Whale Creek is located up the Clackamas River. It's the creek that flowed through the now-closed Indian Henry campground.

Got to the trailhead around 2pm, not a great time to start a trip in December. It had been snowing since passing Fish Creek.

Image

Parked and headed up. There were no cars in the lot.

To start, there's a very nice user trail that leads up the creek a few hundred feet from the parking lot. I have no idea what it's for, but its very beaten and even has sawed branches.? Anyway, I knew from past trips that the best way was to follow this trail a hundred feet up the creek, then turn and start angling up the hill on the right. Sidehill upward along the creek at maybe a 30 degree angle for a while, then start picking your way up or down around the fallin' giants. The going along the creek is Brutal past the end of the trail, so climbing the hill is a must. The going is much more clear up higher. All my photos on this stretch turned out blurry for some reason.

After maybe 30 minutes of dedicated bushwacking, I finally came to the big cliffhead and sharp corner in the creek that signified where the first falls were. Here's a view looking out into the creek from my lofty perch under the towering cliffhead. The waterfall is behind a tree on the far right.

Image

From here, I had to find a place to slide down, as the snow was not gonna let me safely follow the base of the cliff. Just ahead of where I slid down the hill was my first good view of the falls today.

Image

There's a cool slot that the creek flows through before bailing over the cliff. The water is shot out in a narrow stream, which makes it look small at this angle. But in reality there's plenty of water flowing over the brink.

Image

Video, 720P option



From here, I remembered there being a very sketchy spot to possibly get up to the top of the cliff, to hopefully continue upstream. To the right of the falls is a very intense looking chasm between the cliffs that a recent landslide has made scaleable. Time to check it out. From down below, it looked climbable. I headed along the side of the left cliff, walking underneath the hanging logs most of the way. The going is slow, but straightforward. After a good 10-15 minutes, I popped out onto a small bench. Here's looking back down at the chasm. The bottom couple inches of the right-hand cliff you can see the waterfall shooting out from the cliff. The left Cliff also towers several hundred feet overhead. Surreal area.

Image

Vertical shot showing the height of both cliffs.

Image

Now that I was a little ways up the chasm, there was a break in the cliff with a gully that'd been the source of the landslide.

Here's looking up where I had to go.

Image

This part was the hardest part of the whole trip. The mud under the snow was completely smooth and had virtually nowhere to get a foothold. The lack of vegetation didn't help matters either. Eventually I made it up above the smooth mud, but the amount of downed logs piled on eachother again made it quite slow going. I debated on bailing because it was 3:20 and I had no idea how long it would take to keep going up the creek to the next falls. I decided I would give it ten or fifteen minutes of dedication and see how far I got. I was glad I did. I hiked back over to the creek, and started heading upstream. I immediately spied falling water. The closer I got, the taller it became. Sweet! I had to bail clear down to the creek itself and rockhop due to the steepness of the terrain. In no time I had a nice view of it.

Image

After more rock hopping, I was finally at the base. I"d Guess it in the 70 ft range. I wondered if I had seen this from the high cliffs above on a previous trip.

Image

Video - 1080P option



It appeared that one could get above this falls with a very dedicated scramble up a gulley on the left, and then sidehill over. The right side cliffs went all the way to the top of the canyon, some 500 ft straight up.

Looking at my phone, it was 3:45. Time to get back to the car. Going downhill was a little easier in the snow, as I could do a controlled slide down some area. The Chasm was easier going down then up. On my way back, I decided to get an image that illustrated the first falls form by walking almost underneath it.

Image

After this, I hightailed it back along the same path that I came up, following my tracks for a bunch of the way. 4:19pm I was back, in the near darkness. Mysteriously enough, there was a car in the lot. Night hiking?

Thanks for looking.
Last edited by BrianEdwards on December 18th, 2012, 9:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

User avatar
shawjr
Posts: 127
Joined: April 14th, 2010, 7:02 pm

Re: Whale Creek Falls 12/16

Post by shawjr » December 16th, 2012, 9:29 pm

Night hiking??? That's odd..

Nice trip Brian..

User avatar
BrianEdwards
Posts: 2405
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:32 am
Location: Oregon City, OR
Contact:

Re: Whale Creek Falls 12/16

Post by BrianEdwards » December 16th, 2012, 9:56 pm

Thanks Jamey.

Upon comparing a shot that I got from way above on another trip, I can confirm these are the same falls. The little 'arm' on the right side of the waterfall is the proof.

Image
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

User avatar
mayhem
Posts: 3579
Joined: December 22nd, 2009, 7:46 pm
Contact:

Re: Whale Creek Falls 12/16

Post by mayhem » December 17th, 2012, 10:01 am

shawjr wrote:Night hiking??? That's odd..
Well... I guess to some, but not Tom/Roy or myself :) Many many many night hikes!
Shoe Shine Boy Has Left The Building!

User avatar
BrianEdwards
Posts: 2405
Joined: February 2nd, 2010, 1:32 am
Location: Oregon City, OR
Contact:

Re: Whale Creek Falls 12/16

Post by BrianEdwards » December 17th, 2012, 3:35 pm

mayhem wrote:
shawjr wrote:Night hiking??? That's odd..
Well... I guess to some, but not Tom/Roy or myself :) Many many many night hikes!
The thing was, it'd been snowing the whole time I was up there. It was just beginning to really dump when I got to the car. It rained hard all night at home. Who goes out at night in that up in the Clackamas district? Crazy...
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

Post Reply