Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Discussions and Trip Reports for off-trail adventures and rediscovering lost trails
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airdrum
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Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by airdrum » July 7th, 2008, 6:31 pm

Well, Pablo's inspiring reports on the Starway trail and his pictures of enchanting waterfalls led Jamie, Don, Lindsay and I to go investigate the area on Sunday. The trail is described very well by Pablo, and man, when he says the first part of the trail is very steep, he means it! It is super steep, so steep, and consistently so, that on the way back down, you are always right on the verge of turning the feet sideways. So bring poles, you'll need the push and the stability on the way back down!

After the body burning at the beginning of the trek, we eventually broke out into a lovely forest on the top of the ridge. It was beautiful in here, and soon at 2700 feet elevation, we were in the clouds, adding to the enchantment. We walked through here for what seemed like a half-hour or so.

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Eventually we broke into the open, and started to get some views.

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The clouds we low and we could not see the falls, but, as if by some careful plan, the clouds broke and we could see the falls in all of their glory with the clouds rushing past us.

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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5925&hl=en

We spent a while on a couple of viewpoints to decide our plan. The lower falls looked so exciting, and with the cloud cover, we were very nervous about the upper twin falls, we just didn't have enough vision to scout a route. So, we decided to go for the lower falls. Check out the video below where I detail a way (maybe) for the upper falls to be accessed, and our plan for the lower.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 5118&hl=en

So, down the slope we went. It was steep and covered, just covered in a slide alder mess. Occasionally we broke out of the alder to be met with solid walls of devils club. And the slope was so steep, you had no choice but to grab on, good thing we had tough gloves!

Here is a shot of one of our rest stops going down, I drew a red line to highlight the angle the log is laying at, in case you wanted to make any conjectures about the average angle of the slope.

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And now the classic shot of the day, and the only one I had energy to take on the way down or up. As you can see, we could rarely see more than 10 feet ahead, or even where to put our feet, and the upper body was getting a massive workout from manhandling those alders! :!:

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We basically crashed our way down, it was not graceful at all, we had to avoid so cliff bands that had been hidden in the green. About half way down we seemed to be cliffed, but we traversed and don in the lead found what we had been looking for, the big talus field! Now it was easy! There were some great views of the falls from the talus.

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We made our way to the creek, crossed, Jamie and Don checked out the lower section, and then we bouldered the rock formation in front of the falls to gain access to the base. Spray is a major problem at the base, I didn't even try for quality pictures, plus I was exhausted, but at least the water was doing so beautiful dances. Don at one point wandered behind the falls but Jamie and I were doping off to much to grab a shot of him back there! It was very refreshing.

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Here is a diagram of where we went at the bottom of the canyon, it will help you understand where people were when the post their photos later.

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And then, we went for the grueling 1100 foot assault back up the hillside. Little explanation needed. All I can say is if you plan on doing this, develop a crush on devils club, because you will be clutching it like your girlfriends hand at the movie theater! Also, please don't expect deep conversations, because the extent of your vocabulary on the way back up will be four letter words and "ow!" :oops:

After this it was back down the mountain, man that descent hurt, like I said, bring poles, I had to commandeer some branches to keep my descent under control.

I look forward to seeing some portlandhiker crazy comrade trek to the upper twin falls, we all thought it was doable, and probably best accessed from the Ed's Trail, on the adjacent ridgeline. Certainly a trip for another day. Please be aware that this is a brutal canyon, if you would like to replicate the trip, bring extra food and water, and wear body armor, butt pads, shin gaurds, etc... This morning Lindsay counted 16 small lacerations and 28 individual bruises on my left shin alone, and the devils club has left my arms with what seems like hundreds of pokes and scratches, so be careful out there!

8.8 miles and 4350' vertical on the day
Last edited by airdrum on July 8th, 2008, 4:03 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Andy

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vienturia
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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by vienturia » July 7th, 2008, 6:59 pm

For perspective, scroll back up & check out Andy's shot with the talus slope in the foreground. From creek level to the top of the ridge, he's probably about 1/4, or at most 1/3 of the way up that slope, so that picture gives a good impression of distance. Here's an upward viewpoint from around the same height, 'though there's not a good grounding point for distance/perspective in my shot:

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This shot gives a good view of the tiers that are visible from the top of the ridgeline:

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And a close up of the lower tier(s?) where we climbed up to the splash pool:
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I'll second the suggestion to bring poles - I was using tree limbs most of the way down, but walking sideways was about as easy! Between all of us, our ibuprofen bottles got a good workout, though we stopped shy of busting out the Vicodin. :D (kidding, kidding...) Time was more of an issue than we'd expected as well - I think we ended up around 9 or 10 hours, car-to-car, so even if we'd had the ambition to do more exploring, we wouldn't have had the daylight! It was a really pretty area, with lots of wildflowers along the top, and clouds descending & lifting unpredictably - quite dramatic.
- Lindsay

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pyles_94
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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by pyles_94 » July 7th, 2008, 8:00 pm

holy crap!!! thats insane

good job! the upper teir looks amazing!!
Jamey Pyles

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by Splintercat » July 7th, 2008, 9:08 pm

Awesome! Andy by your Madden-map, I'll make a note to always follow Lindsay or Don, not your or Jamie... of course, I already knew that! :D So... what about dimensions? Did you send Jamie to the top with some nylon twine..?

Tom :P

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by pablo » July 7th, 2008, 9:18 pm

Absolutely incredible guys, it was clear to me the lower falls would be the toughest - but geez louise - up Starway then down to the falls and back? Glad you made it with no permanent damage. Great photos, astounding achievement, and a credit to some really gnarly conditioning you folks have attained.

--Paul
The future's uncertain and the end is always near.

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by jaimito » July 7th, 2008, 9:34 pm

OK here is my recap of the day. First I must say this canyon felt as wild as any place I've ever been, it was at times very dibilatating but at other times the best I ever felt. We had to work our way up some of the steepest hills I've ever climbed and then had to traverse some snow piles like this one. Image

as you can see Don and Andy making there way up we figured was a 20' snow pile based upon the tree wells we saw below. After making our way through the snow it opened up to some amazing views with tons of wild flowers.
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Once we made it to the bottom of the canyon the scene was EPIC!! Here's a shot of the first real glimpse of the falls… just awesome.

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Don and I forged ahead making our way to the lower tier of the falls which I calculated to be about 30', here's Don making his way over all the debris covering the stream.

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As we made our way towards the lower falls you can see the upper falls in the upper right, the cliffs were huge and sharp.

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As you make your way around the boulders and cliffs this is the lowers falls, easily 30'.

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Here's a shot with Don at the base for scale for all you disbelievers.

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After visiting the lower falls Don scaled some rock face and made his way to the upper falls where we all soon joined him, it was very tough and NOT RECOMMENDED for those faint of heart. I got a few shots of the upper falls but this shot by far shows the scale, we guessed it's atleast 100' +… Brian Swan will have to be the judge on this one because I don't think we are going back to measure this one. Note that there is an upper slide coming off the rocks above the frame of this photo that you can't see except from the long shots.

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After some of the worse punishment we all stopped to have lunch and joke about what was ahead of us, meaning we had to go through all that punishment again… ouch.

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But all in all it was one of those trips I'll never forget and if I ever go back I'm wearing shin guards…

A true parting shot. Till next time.

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airdrum
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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by airdrum » July 7th, 2008, 10:15 pm

Don is actually standing 20 or 25 feet from the base of the upper falls in that pic, so thery are even taller than it seems. With the slide leading to the rooster tail, I would estimate about 110 feet. It certainly felt like a 100 footer from the base and looking up.

Here is on video I forgot to post, it's Don being Don. Jamie followed in similar fashion but Lindsay and I both fell and slid down the slope!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 8558&hl=en
Andy

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by jeffstatt » July 7th, 2008, 10:30 pm

Add to this that Jamie spent the entire previous day whacking at the ground with a pick-axe on our trail outing - I imagine he is some kinda sore today!

What a trip guys! Amazing. I'll have to check out the videos in the morning cuz I'm heading to bed, but VERY COOL. What an effort.

Hanging on to Devils Club for dear life. Geesh.

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by Sore Feet » July 7th, 2008, 11:42 pm

This board is populated by a bunch of masochists! I don't think I'll be attempting that any time soon. I doubt my rangefinder will work from the Starway trail, too far off, so we'll probably have to rely on the topos to provide height estimates for now. Maybe one day we'll have to just blaze a trail up Star Creek from below.

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Re: Starway to Falls on Star Creek - 7/6/08

Post by jaimito » July 8th, 2008, 6:21 am

Totals for the day… 8.8 miles and a cumulative total of 4,350 vertical feet as per Don's GPS.

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