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

[joerunner]

Hiking through country like that has got to be exhausting but the pay offs must be worth it. Great report!

[greglief]

WOW!!!!!!

You four are ANIMALS! Devil's Club makes me long for poison oak.

[pyles_94]

You four are ANIMALS! Devil's Club makes me long for poison oak.

more specifically MOUNTAIN GOATS!!

im lucky the only time ive bushwhacked through the clubs of the devil they hadnt leafed out yet! and it was also a pretty small patch...

nice photos andy and jamie! very cool scenery

[Don Nelsen]

Great photos and report on our trip, Andy, Jamie and Lindsay, and thank you for again for being such enthusiastic and indestructable partners in abuse!

Sunday's trek had it all: Forests of slide alder and vine maple; dense thickets of devil's club; slippery and very loose over-steepened talus, and cliffs we couldn't see until we were directly above them - yep - a perfect day in the woods.

Here are a few more pics of the event: Here's Jamie as we started down through the first of the devil's club thickets - this one wasn't so bad since the leaves were just starting to come out and it was only about waist high. The "good" stuff came later lower down the hill where it was head high and fully leafed out:

The slide alder was epic, especially in the spots where we had to traverse to avoid the cliff bands:

The slope we were navigating in the above pic was epic - here's the view to the side from where the photo of Jamie, above, was taken:

Here's Lindsay about to cross the creek - There was a lot of debris here due to snow slides and small avalanches over the winter.

Here's another view looking downstream from the same spot as the previous photo. Elevation here is just 2,400 feet!

Here's my parting shot of the upper twin falls:


I'll go back but I will wait until the snow is ten feet deep again and do it with snow shoes - I think I've had enough devil's club and slide alder to last for quite a while! (- edit: I went back, TR later)

- Don

[Splintercat]

Great photos, Jamie and Don! I like that term, Don - "slide alder". Definitely gnarly stuff to negotiate, but like vine maple, kinda handy on the uphill crawl.

This is a gorgeous canyon and epic trip report! But I'm with Bryan - I'll look forward to the GPNF blazing a nicely graded trail up that canyon... gnarly looking bushwhack!

Tom

[Sore Feet]

I like that term, Don - "slide alder".

You say that like you've never heard it before. Maybe its less profuse in Oregon, but its practically the state plant up in these parts. I believe the phrase is required to be learned in all Washington State History classes, along with Geoduck, Seattle Sombrero and Gortex.

[Splintercat]

Hmmm... must be a Washington thing! Never heard that term before, though it's pretty intuitive. Miles of that in Alaska, of course. Slows the hikers down for easier snacking by the Grizzlies.

-Tom

[fettster]

Good work guys! Intense stuff. Is there any good visibility on these from the trails?

[NickingUp]

Waterfall looks amazing!

[Don Nelsen]

Waterfall looks amazing!

Thanks for the comment. Yes, that area is one of the best for waterfalls but one has to expend some serious effort to enjoy them. I went back the next year to explore the entire waterfall canyon. Here are the photos of that trip taken May 7th, 2009: (update - bad link below - working on fixing it)

http://www.fototime.com/users/donnelsen ... and%20more

enjoy!