Coast range waterfall trip 4/13/13
Posted: April 14th, 2013, 6:20 pm
Off to the coast today...not to see the shops or the beach, but instead to see waterfalls. Our first stop as Drift Creek Falls east of Lincoln City. Our last trip here was a couple of years ago, shortly after the big landslide that altered the waterfall. It looks totally different than what it used to but still worth the hike. Drift Creek Falls.Cove trail but it was closed until 7/15...we'll have to come back after the birds are done nesting.
We then headed up the 101 to hwy 130 and headed east. We stopped at Upton Falls on the side of the road and then headed a little farther to Stella Falls. We grabbed a few pictures and headed farther east till we got to Gunaldo Falls. Visible from the road but we had to do a bushwhack to get to the base of the falls. Gunaldo Falls. Successfully we crossed the creek and didn't fall in so we were good and dry to go to our next stop. The roads we were looking for were marked with a tiny sign and we drove right by them so our next stop ended up being Alder Glen Falls up to the north off of Nestucca River Rd. Alder Glen Falls. After grabbing a few pictures here we headed west again until we found our turn off for Niagara Rd. We headed south and found the trail head we were looking for. This was our first time hiking this area an we had only seen a few pictures of what we were looking for so needless to say we were very happy with what was at the end of the trail. A happy Melinda with Pheasant Creek Falls behind her. Same amphitheater...Niagara Falls. Back to the main road and just across from us was Forestry Rd. and the next set of waterfalls we were looking for. I drove right past the lower one and stopped at the upper one for pictures. Upper Clarance Creek Falls. Lower Clarance Creek Falls. It was getting late and we were worried that all of our picture taking and hiking was going to deprive of us our real goal for the day. With ten minutes to spare we got free samples and ice cream. Yay! We still had daylight after the nice treat so we headed to one more trail that we weren't able to do in Jan. because of snow. University Falls....funny thing is that it was dumping snow on us while we were taking pictures. Another great day of hiking and seeing waterfalls....thanks for looking.
The trail is very nice and very welcome after all of our recent bushwhacking adventures.
After Drift Creek we headed up the coast to hike the Heart We then headed up the 101 to hwy 130 and headed east. We stopped at Upton Falls on the side of the road and then headed a little farther to Stella Falls. We grabbed a few pictures and headed farther east till we got to Gunaldo Falls. Visible from the road but we had to do a bushwhack to get to the base of the falls. Gunaldo Falls. Successfully we crossed the creek and didn't fall in so we were good and dry to go to our next stop. The roads we were looking for were marked with a tiny sign and we drove right by them so our next stop ended up being Alder Glen Falls up to the north off of Nestucca River Rd. Alder Glen Falls. After grabbing a few pictures here we headed west again until we found our turn off for Niagara Rd. We headed south and found the trail head we were looking for. This was our first time hiking this area an we had only seen a few pictures of what we were looking for so needless to say we were very happy with what was at the end of the trail. A happy Melinda with Pheasant Creek Falls behind her. Same amphitheater...Niagara Falls. Back to the main road and just across from us was Forestry Rd. and the next set of waterfalls we were looking for. I drove right past the lower one and stopped at the upper one for pictures. Upper Clarance Creek Falls. Lower Clarance Creek Falls. It was getting late and we were worried that all of our picture taking and hiking was going to deprive of us our real goal for the day. With ten minutes to spare we got free samples and ice cream. Yay! We still had daylight after the nice treat so we headed to one more trail that we weren't able to do in Jan. because of snow. University Falls....funny thing is that it was dumping snow on us while we were taking pictures. Another great day of hiking and seeing waterfalls....thanks for looking.