Inspired by an old post I saw on here, I recently took a hike up to this mysterious waterfall that flows off of Mt. Hood that seemingly no one has seen up close. Devised a plot to take a look for myself on (probably) one of the last possible days to see it before the snow comes. Learned the hard way that they lock the gate to the Ramona Falls Trailhead (why??), so my trip ended up being closer to 14 miles rather then 10 . Started from the gate, then made my way upstream and followed the Sandy river. Took the Timberline trail cutoff, then instead of crossing the river, headed upstream off trail. After many brutal, rainy hours, I finally crossed over the crux, a little scree field with rock raining from above (seriously, I saw 5 come down in the short time I watched.). I was very thankful I hadn’t followed through my original plan of trying to descend that knife ridge, as there appeared multiple cliff bands that one would have to navigate on really, really, crummy rock. After this it was only another hour or so until the mighty Paradise Branch Falls were in front of me! Although the cavern behind is more like an amphitheater then a cave, it still a beautiful waterfall, albeit grueling to get too.
(Apologies for the bigfoot quality photos, my phone sucks )
Lower Paradise Branch falls
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- Posts: 2
- Joined: January 4th, 2024, 7:17 pm
Re: Lower Paradise Branch falls
Congrats! I'm certain I've never been there, nor has anybody else.
Seriously though, cool debut post. That's not an easy hike, especially this time of year. Sounds like you were able to stay right of Sandy on the ascent, which has been tricky for me in past years...but that creek does meander a bit, drifting over time.
Seriously though, cool debut post. That's not an easy hike, especially this time of year. Sounds like you were able to stay right of Sandy on the ascent, which has been tricky for me in past years...but that creek does meander a bit, drifting over time.
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- Posts: 44
- Joined: August 23rd, 2022, 9:19 pm
Re: Lower Paradise Branch falls
I like the view from above… although the climb out to the edge isn’t for the weary.