Waterfall Hunters: 2010-2011 Must See List?

[BrianEdwards]

2010 so far has been a good year for waterfall hunting. Several of 2009's must see's have been conquered for the most part, and as of late Splintercat Tom has been stirring things up around here. So, waterfall hunters, what's on your must see list?

Here's Mine:

---- Coe Branch & Compass Creek waterfalls
Both of these creeks on the North face of Mt Hood have been on my list for several years now. Tom recently dusted this one off a bit (http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =10&t=5229). This would be a fairly intense day-trip from Cloud Cap Inn on the Timberline Trail. On Compass Cr, there are falls above and below the trail. The most impressive being way below.

Upper Compass Cr Falls


The main attraction: Compass Cr Falls.


One drainage over is the Coe Branch.



----Breitenbush Cascades.
Breitenbush has the chance to be Oregon's tallest waterfall. The topo's show atleast 900 ft of elevation that is potentially one falls after another in many tiers. This one has been explored by fellow Portland Hikers a bit, but so far nobody that I'm aware of has documented it top to bottom. I need to take a good day or two and knock this one out.



----Whale Creek - Indian Henry/Clackamas
With Pup Creek being a smashing success earlier this year, nearby Whale Creek has many of the same terrain features and elevation loss. This would be a long shuttle with two cars, but looks totally doable in just a few hours.



----French Creek Basin
Just north of Detroit lies French Creek and a basin completely filled with waterfalls. Many of them are close/right off the road but there are many others tucked up in that need a photo. Atleast two, possibly three break the 200 ft mark, with Marten Butte falls nearing 300ft. As of late though, the road has been closed in multiple spots due to slides, so this one may have to wait pending access.


----Hideaway Falls
Tom dusted this one off as well lately (http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =10&t=5148). Any exploration in the upper reaches of the Salmon River is a very committed undertaking. The prevalent riverside cliffs and deep pools make fording/accessing any west side falls difficult. I may take FR 5850 to its end, and then make a bee-line through the bush 1.5+ miles to the creek, which would allow avoiding the treacherous Stein Falls area.


----Gnat Creek Falls
Supposedly down in this canyon east of Astoria is a major multi-tiered falls totaling 250 ft or more. A recent logging operation punched a road in very near the falls, so access to the rim won't be too complicated. Getting down in remains the question.



----Lamberson Branch Falls
This one was introduced to me by the ever resourceful Splintercat , and this is his name for the un-named fork of Cold Springs Creek on the East side of Mt Hood. There looks to be atleast one very significant drop, with several more upstream. Access to this very remote part of Hood is on an abandoned 6+ mile trail up one of the many ridges, then a good 1-2 mile bushwack down to the creek. Still it looks very rewarding for anyone reaching them.

This is Tom's image



----Tumala Creek Falls
This is the old Squaw Meadows area off 4610/Abbot Rd near the Roaring River. ~4 years ago I was in the area and seen the severe elevation loss this creek encounters, but didn't actually see a falls itself. There's definitely gotta be a falls or two on the creek, but of any significance? I don't know at this point.


On 6/26/10, me and another member here sucessfully reached the base of the big 250 ft falls near Opal Lake, trip report coming soon.

There are many more falls in the central and southern part of the state that are just-as or more impressive than any of these, and would be quite rewarding to any WF-hunter. The Upper Middle Fork of the Willamette, Linton Falls, etc come to mind. But for a weekend warrior like myself these would take ALOT of commitment.

Anyway I'm very curious to see anyone else's must see falls list

[Sore Feet]

For the rest of this year, I'll be focusing mainly on the Three Sisters area. The falls in the NFMF Willamette canyon, Linton, Proxy, Whychus, Tumalo, Soda, Crater and Fall Creeks all in the Mackenzie Pass / Cascade Lakes area. I'd really like to get down to the Wallowas too, but I'm not sure I'll have the time to make the trip worth it this year - I'll need enough time to slog up to Ice Falls at the bare minimum so its probably a 4 day trip at least.

Most of my prime targets for 2010 are in Washington: Margaret (1100+ feet), Williwakas, Pearl (300+ feet), St. Johns and Sunbeam Falls in Mt. Rainier NP, Green Lake Falls (900+ feet) and Berdeen Falls (800+ feet) in North Cascades NP.

[retired jerry]

If you do Compass Creek and Coe Branch from Cloud Cap, you have to cross Eliot Creek on the officially closed crossing with the 100 foot drop into the canyon using the ropes (if they're still there) on the very loose slope.

Maybe you can cross Eliot Creek higher up, and then traverse over to the falls.

Or you could go up from Elk Cove Trailhead and avoid Eliot.

I've walked along the Timberline Trail and looked up at what might be the Compass Creek Falls area and it looked inviting but I haven't made it up there. One not very good picture:

I assume the falls in question is further up. It looked like there was almost a trail going up, at least it would have been straightforward.

[Splintercat]

My list is pretty short for the summer -- I do most of my waterfall trips in spring and fall, but the exception are alpine waterfalls and I've got a couple on Mount Hood that I'd like to visit. Waiting for a trail fix at the Eliot Branch before I venture to the easy Compass Creek waterfalls -- the three in relative proximity to the trail... the big, lower falls is a bit much for a day trip, I think.

Looking forward to those pics, Brian -- you da man!

-Tom

[pyles_94]

herman creek

linton falls (three sisters).. Ive seen the base of this one, and Id like to try getting up to a vantage point with more of the falls... wishfull thinking....... oh well...

I'm going on a backpacking trip in late august to the area around kaleetan peak in the snoqualmie area up north. There are several falls listed there that arent documented but are on bryans site... they arent my priority to explore, but I think I'll have a lot of extra time to explore.

moffet creek stuff..

If I can I'd like to work on my landscape photography more this summer instead of waterfalls and get out light chasing and stuff up in the mountains. In the fall I will re focus my work on the waterfalls!!

[shekblazer]

I always wanted to find Opal Creek's 250 foot drop but know of a seasonal cascade that I think might be a candidate for Oregon's tallest. On the Hunts Cove trail above Pamelia Lake and across the canyon is a very tall sliver of water on Jefferson's southwest shoulder. I know for sure when I counted the topo lines that it is easily over 1000'. Due to the low snowpack and hot summer of 2015, it was barely visible, even in July but it might be worth a long day of bushwacking to at least get to the base. Aside from the Cascades, the Adam's Creek Falls along the Ice Lake trail in the Wallowas has several hundred feet of a drop and possibly one of Oregon's tallest.

[Sore Feet]

The one above Pamelia is certainly interesting - I've dubbed it Hunt's Cove Falls for reference purposes - it very well could be among the tallest, but I think it'll end up being somewhere around 600-700 feet at most rather than over 1,000, as there's too much talus below it. There is one in the Wallowas just to the north of Fraser Lake that looks like it could top 800 feet, but it likewise is seasonal (most likely, at least). I really doubt Oregon is going to have anything substantial that will top 1,000 feet, the geology just doesn't support it.

Ice Falls (the big one on Adam Creek) is definitely Top 10 tallest, but if we're counting the lower volume stuff like Hunt's Cove, then it won't quite make the Top 5 (it's about 480 feet tall, the other falls on the creek are separate enough that they should be considered separate waterfalls entirely).

[shekblazer]

Very true Sore Feet. However let's not forget the trio of falls on Hood that can be seen from the Bald Mtn Trail to McNeil Point on Yocum Ridge. To my amazement, the main falls still flowed last summer despite the drought. In fact, i'm surprised they weren't mentioned earlier in this post already. I've read reports of those each totaling over 700', also worthy of a bushwack to the base.

[Sore Feet]

700 feet is definitely an overestimate for that group. The two smaller volume ones I don't think I'd even bother dignifying individually since they flow for a very limited period (it would be more appropriate to group them all together as one set of waterfalls instead). The larger one (unofficially referred to as Yocum Ridge Falls) is absolutely significant enough. All three of them though are more in the 475-500 foot tall range under the most generous possible circumstances, based on the LiDAR data available, which is generally quite accurate. I think I'd probably spot the big one at closer to 475 than 500 though.