Dog Creek falls and more

[Splintercat]

Old concrete dam...? That's interesting! Lots of odds and ends up there, Zach -- great report!

But yeah, lots of poorly equipped mooks climb up into that canyon on summer weekends, and i suspect some return with cobbled together "climbing" equipment.

-Tom

[chameleon]

Yeah, it's really strange, but there are chunks of a concrete dam/bridge of some sort right at the top of Dog Creek falls. I'll post another pic or two later, but it appears that at one point there may have been a road or something that came down from Cook hill to the top of Dog Creek falls. The positioning of the chunks suggests a bridge or scenic lookout of some sort may have been there. It is pretty interesting as there doesn't seem to be anything indicated on the map that would give a clue. Maybe Don knows something about it?

[ken leibert]

Hi Zach,
I run the www.canyoneeringnorthwest.com website. The route description on the website was from a canyoneer who wished to remain anonymous. He went up from the bottom bypassing every waterfall. I would like to post a description for a canyoneering descent starting from the top, staying in the creek, and rappelling each waterfall. Have you done that? Thanks for your help.

Ken Leibert
Seattle

[chameleon]

Ken,
Nice to meet you. Welcome to portlandhikers! I've enjoyed your canyoneering site. I kind of suspected that was the case (staying higher up on the hillside). I haven't done the whole thing as a descent yet, but probably will in the next two weeks (I'm planning on heading up Dog mtn - now that the balsam root is coming out, and then head down and do the whole stream from Elkhorn - virtually staying on the streambed entirely). I'll definately post a report when I do. If you'd like I could help you with a description on that trip for your site too.
-Zach

[greglief]

Hi Zach,

Thank you very much for the wonderful report and photos. It is indeed a shame about the trash.

I have only gotten as far as the first several waterfalls above the "official" Dog Creek Falls (at highway level). I will have to explore the rest of these!

Greg

[chameleon]

Greg, I'd recommend you at least make it up to Elkhorn falls, the double waterfall. Photographically, all the others are nice, but not really in the same league scenically. Though it is more of a trek (unless you figure out the road system to get to the radio facility - who knows, might not be that hard - it looks like an actual road on the map), it is well worth it. I'd wait till late summer though for the best pic options. I was lucky to just get the ones I did on my trip in there - it was pretty high flow on that trip though. Spray is a killer on that beauty. Towards Oct I bet its stunning though, as the leaves begin to change coupled with the low spray.
-Zach

[Sore Feet]

I hit Dog Creek on Monday and was prepared to at least go upstream to the first one or two waterfalls above the lower drop, but when I got to the base of the falls, there were literally THOUSANDS of fish swimming in the pool below the falls and the creek downstream, and I didn't want to ford the creek and disrupt them. I've never seen that many fish in my life outside of an aquarium, just amazing. They were jumping out of the creek left and right.