Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Discussions and Trip Reports for off-trail adventures and rediscovering lost trails
Post Reply
User avatar
Rustygoat
Posts: 507
Joined: August 27th, 2012, 2:28 pm
Location: SE Portland

Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by Rustygoat » February 26th, 2017, 8:36 pm

It's been quite awhile since I have posted on here. :roll: Not because I haven't been hiking but because I have been doing too much of it. :lol: I have been to tons off-trail waterfalls that were worthy of their own TR but I have just been too busy to get around to it. Writing a TR for me takes some time and to be honest I felt that not very many people were interested in reading about Melinda and my adventures. Earlier this winter while on a snowy adventure we ran across a young hiker on his way out of Clackamas Falls. Ten inches of snow and here is some other crazy hiker making his way back and I startled him. He recognized me from my post on OH and said Melinda and I were like legends! :mrgreen: That really made my day! From that encounter and many others from people I have run across, hikers are reading my reports even though they aren't replying . Thank you everyone who contributes and reads! :D

Ok, enough of that and now to some epic off-trail waterfalls! Way back in 2013 when Melinda and I were trying to see a ton of waterfalls, I came across a couple of waterfalls in Columbia County south of Clatskanie. Lava Creek Falls and Carcus Creek Falls. I could not find any info about either fall at the time so they were all but forgotten. In 2014 Melinda and I were trying to see some of the falls we didn't get around to the year before. We made a couple of trips to the area but found that the entire area was being managed by a logging company and there was no way to get close. Both falls are pretty much in the center of a no access by car area. We did find a couple of gates that had hiking, biking and horse back riding allowed signs. We told ourselves....someday!

January 28th 2017...finally we got around to making an attempt to see Lava Creek Falls. With time came better imagery on Google Earth and we could tell that Lava Creek Falls was worth the five plus mikes to go see. With friends Nick and Doug, Melinda and I decide to do a bike and hike along the old logging roads to reach our goal. If we had enough time we would continue on and see Carcus Creek Falls on the same trip. The hike in was slow and uphill pushing the bikes most of the way. At one spot we had to carry our bikes through a clear-cut which was not very fun. Most of the way in was spent like this.
20170128_111805.jpg
The roads were clear most of the way but for one short stretch we were on an active logging road. We had to jump out of the way when a logging truck barreled down the narrow road. :shock: After what seemed like the longest five miles ever we finally reached the end of the road. Lava Creek was just below us and we could hear the falls!
20170128_125117.jpg
Bushwhacking was pretty easy down to the creek as the deer, elk and all the other animals had provided us with a great game trail right to the top of the falls. There is something about a waterfall that attracts the forest critters as well as curious explorers. ;) We found a perfect viewing ledge directly across from the falls that made for a great lunch spot. There was another creek flowing in from the side that had it's own waterfall. A double falls...whoo hoo! :o Here is our view from our lunch perch above Lava Creek.
_DSC7545.JPG
After lunch we headed downstream to try and find a way down the steep cliffs to get to the creek. The rim of the canyon had a great game trail and was easily followed to a way down. Got to love those curious deer and elk! Doug, Nick and I near the base of Lava Creek Falls.
20170128_135725.jpg
From the base of the Lava Creek Falls and the smaller side creek.
_DSC0687.JPG
Melinda at the base of Lava Creek Falls.
_DSC7783.JPG
Looking up at the 108ft Lava Creek Falls
_DSC7795.JPG
After climbing out of the canyon we realized that there was no way we could make our way over to Carcus Creek in time. We headed back to our cars weaving our way through the maze of logging roads. We barely made it back by sunset on what was suppose to be a ten mile trip. I did some measuring on GE later on and realized that it was 8.5 miles just to the end of the road where we ditched the bikes. :roll: Now I know why that 5 mile trip took so long...well that and that we only rode our bikes about 5 of the 17miles we traveled. :shock: Still I was glad we were able to see Lava Creek Falls! :D

February 25, 2017...trying to finish what we started. Not being able to reach Carcus Creek Falls on our last trip was bugging me. We were so close...but not really. I set out with a new plan or three with Melinda and our good friend Lisa. Knowing that the area was an active logging area I looked at every possible way we could reach Carcus Creek Falls from the east side of this forest. We got an early start!

Our first point of entry was only going to be a 3.5 mile hike but we were soon shot down with no trespassing signs. :( Entry point number two was looking good with a 4.75 mile hike from a gate that led to the Carcus Lakes. We went on to our third entry point that was south of the lakes that got us just a wee bit closer. We set out hiking a power-line road heading north to the lake road. At the lake road we found ourselves looking at a pair of no trespassing signs heading towards the lake. We continued north along the power-line road.
20170225_084615.jpg
This was not the route I had planned but I did study the area over really well. I knew there was another road running parallel to the west only a few hundred feet away. We scrambled our way through the thicket of a regrowing clear-cut and found our way to the upper road. Things were looking good and we continued through the forest passing many forgotten relics from the lumber industries past.
20170225_135949.jpg
The entire area is a maze, with roads that weren't on topos or visible on satellite. There were even old roads that were recently graded and widened for upcoming logging harvest. Even worse was running across new no trespassing signs a couple miles into the hike. Lucky for us there was an old overgrown road that took us away from the no trespassing area and dropped us onto a lower road that led us to Carcus Creek. ;) This lower road followed the creek downstream, eventually it spurred off and took us to the top of Carcus Creek Falls!
20170225_123402.jpg
We weren't the first to see this fall but I am curious as to why I could not find any pictures of it online? Maybe some cool historical book I haven't seen or perhaps someones private collection has a photo of this falls. There are roads that can take you right to the top of this fall... but are only accessible to those who work for the logging companies. :( On an up note... I did find an article proposing these two falls to be turned back over to the state and a trail be made to the two! It would be nice but for now they are only going to be enjoyed by crazy waterfall hunters like Melinda, me and whoever else is willing to make the journey. :)
_DSC8688.JPG
Not a carcass...just the skull of a squirrel at Carcus Creek Falls.
20170225_111905.jpg
Happy hikers Melinda, Lisa and I at Carcus Creek Falls!
_DSC8691.JPG
No disappointments and I really lived up to my shirt getting us here. :mrgreen: The 105ft Carcus Creek Falls was worth the five mile trek to reach.
_DSC8704-c.jpg
We spent a couple of hours enjoying and photographing the falls. Truly an amazing place that should be enjoyed by more. On our way out we were able to find a better route shaving off a little mileage and seeing some more relics of logging past. Me checking out my next project a 1955 Chevy 10700 3ton dump-truck with Lisa trying to coax a robber bird to land on her hand.
20170225_134911.jpg
I hope one day a trail system will be built to these two amazing waterfalls so they can be enjoyed by all. I am sorry that I did not include maps of my treks to these waterfalls as the topo maps and satellite images don't line up with how we reached both places. The area is an active logging area so things will constantly be changing.
Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
NW Off-trail Waterfalls -Facebook Group

User avatar
Koda
Posts: 3466
Joined: June 5th, 2009, 7:54 am

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by Koda » February 26th, 2017, 10:58 pm

let me be the first to say well done and I admire and follow your posts even if I don't reply. I'm jealous of your lifestyle and sense of adventure and you make some of the best videos of your adventures keeps me captivated.

Cheers
lightweight, cheap, strong... pick 2

User avatar
Bosterson
Posts: 2317
Joined: May 18th, 2009, 3:17 pm
Location: Portland

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by Bosterson » February 27th, 2017, 9:30 am

Image

This is a nice looking waterfall, Tim!

I'll also echo Koda: I'm not really a waterfall hunter myself, but I definitely admire you guys (you are legends!) and always read your TRs, even if I don't reply, so please keep posting them! :)

And if you need more ego props, your OFG episode was sooooo much better than the Valhalla one! :D
#pnw #bestlife #bitingflies #favoriteyellowcap #neverdispleased

Limey
Posts: 706
Joined: December 19th, 2012, 2:34 pm

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by Limey » February 27th, 2017, 2:11 pm

I'm another one who enjoys and appreciates your reports, especially since it's getting harder for me to do those kind of off trail adventures. Hope you start posting more of them again.

User avatar
derwoodynck
Posts: 286
Joined: April 21st, 2013, 2:26 pm
Contact:

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by derwoodynck » February 27th, 2017, 6:47 pm

Add one more to those who look forward to your TRs!

User avatar
merelunacy
Posts: 94
Joined: February 24th, 2012, 5:49 am
Location: Portland
Contact:

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by merelunacy » February 28th, 2017, 4:06 pm

Lisa was awesome and did a video to Carcus Falls. It does end with a side trip to Stella Falls that we did on the way home.

https://youtu.be/mmei32gTvG4

User avatar
Rustygoat
Posts: 507
Joined: August 27th, 2012, 2:28 pm
Location: SE Portland

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by Rustygoat » February 28th, 2017, 5:16 pm

Thank you for those compliments! I'll try to post more in the future when I have time. Like I said we go out every weekend so I'm sure to have a worthy adventure once and a while. ;)
Bosterson wrote: And if you need more ego props, your OFG episode was sooooo much better than the Valhalla one! :D
This really made me laugh! :lol: When OPB was filming us it was suppose to be about hidden waterfalls in the NW. Both adventures we took them on were not easy for them. Little did we know that the Valhalla episode was being put together around the same time they were filming us. Melinda and I had no idea what story they were putting together until it aired. Oh...and I did have that Shangri la Falls on my radar back in 2013! We finally got around to it last summer 8-)

Thanks Melinda for sharing Lisa's video and thank you Lisa for capturing our adventures! :D
Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
NW Off-trail Waterfalls -Facebook Group

User avatar
bobcat
Posts: 2764
Joined: August 1st, 2011, 7:51 am
Location: SW Portland

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by bobcat » March 2nd, 2017, 7:57 am

Great report (and keep them coming)! I, too, have wondered about Carcus Creek Falls, but gave up on deciphering the logging roads going in there. Do you know which company it is? Weyerhaeuser is pretty big in Columbia County, and they have effectively shut off public access to their lands with their new and expensive annual "pass."

Good to know there has at least been some consideration of purchasing the land there. Posting here gives some public exposure to the issue and helps to build some support.

User avatar
retired jerry
Posts: 14395
Joined: May 28th, 2008, 10:03 pm

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by retired jerry » March 2nd, 2017, 8:58 am

yeah, that was a good OFG episode, good that you're still looking for waterfalls

the famous Tim and Melinda :)

User avatar
merelunacy
Posts: 94
Joined: February 24th, 2012, 5:49 am
Location: Portland
Contact:

Re: Lava and Carcus Creek Falls

Post by merelunacy » March 5th, 2017, 10:57 am

bobcat wrote: Good to know there has at least been some consideration of purchasing the land there. Posting here gives some public exposure to the issue and helps to build some support.
This is the file I found regarding making a trail to Carcus and Lava Creek Falls, seems to be from 2011.
http://www.co.columbia.or.us/files/lds/ ... lan%20.pdf

Columbia County wrote: ...these scenic sites could potentially be made more accessible to the public in the future. For example, a trail system could be developed up Carcus Creek to Carcus Creek Falls and Lava Creek Falls, assuming an easement along the creeks can first be obtained from the landowners. Potential also exists to connect these scenic sites with a 280-acre tract of County-owned land situated within ½ mile of both falls. The falls are rare features whose value lies primarily in their aesthetic appearance. Allowing conflicting uses could have serious social and environmental consequences. However, negative economic consequences will be felt if current timber operations are severely restricted. In order to encourage private landowners to allow access to these sites, the County has chosen to place relatively few limits on conflicting uses. Thus, while the County has restricted residential development on these sites, it has not prohibited commercial forestry. Commercial forestry would impact the land surrounding the falls and river, but would not eliminate the scenic values of the falls and river themselves. The impact of commercial forestry will also be short term because of reforestation requirements.

pg.282
Columbia County wrote: F. SCENIC SITES, VIEWS AND HIGHW AYS GOALS AND POLICIES:

GOAL:
To protect and enhance the aesthetic value of scenic resources in Columbia County.

POLICIES:
1. Protect and enhance the aesthetic appearance of scenic areas in the County through the use of low density residential standards, natural resource related overlay zones, and County encouragement.

2. Examine and encourage the use of voluntary tools and techniques to make Carcus Creek, Lava Creek, and Beaver Creek Falls accessible to the public. Avoid additional mandatory restrictions on private property to encourage landowners’ cooperation.

3. Support the designation of scenic corridors by Federal and State land management agencies for land under their jurisdiction.

pg.283

Post Reply