Finishing the Gorge waterfalling

[arieshiker]

Went back today to finish what mother nature decided I wasn't going to finish last week, but before she brought in all the forecast bad weather to stop me short a second time. Man was it cold out there today. Did Upper McCord first, and pretty much saw what Thum saw in his excellent report. Not sure if they encountered the obstacle course for heads on the Upper McCord trail but it was a sight to behold, and carefully pass. I've never seen icicles that large before. The view of Elowah without all the brush and shrubs view blocking is amazing - you can see where the ice wall is forming up from the base. And on that wall with the railing, oh it was cold in the winds!!! Well, it was just cold when it warmed up a bit, otherwise frigid comes to mind. Upper McCord is always the enigma - sometimes none, sometimes one, and sometimes two awesome plunges - today was a duplicate of Thum's image. Then on to Wahclella, and it's always a treat. Trail is in great shape and the falls are in great form. The icy frost on the canyon walls is just impressive to behold, with chunks of it breaking off every few seconds. Then I stopped at Starvation Creek Falls just to round out the effort to shoot falls in the Gorge from Latourell to Starvation Creek while working the legs/lungs back into shape for the spring. A total of eleven waterfalls in two very short treks, the longest being up to Upper Latourell, and I even skipped Bridal Veil.....is there any place on Earth this can be done in less than a day?

[Splintercat]

...is there any place on Earth this can be done in less than a day?

Not that I know of, Aries -- we're very lucky that way. Thanks for the report!

-Tom

[Thum]

Wow, two thums up for the great report and pics Upper McCord and Elowah are awesome but the ice spears werent as heavy and looming when we went. It's a lot of fun to visit several of the gorges finest in one day, specially when its too cold to stop much. Thanks for posting AH

[Derk Vogel]

Great shots, thanks. Those icicles are EVIL. Seeing that prompts me to bring a helmet on gorge hikes. Thanks for posting.