I ditched my city water for some mountain water at the Herman Camp spring. I've drank unfiltered water from many springs around Oregon, and this one seemed fine after some days of sustained moderate rainfall. It's nice because you can scope the area above the spring for any immediate health-compromising variables on the user trail down to it.
Some major blowdown on the trail between Herman Camp and the wilderness boundary. One tree took out the trail entirely, and I barely squeezed under it. There were many obstacles which made for great awareness whilst hiking solo. These obstacles included the blowdown, large puddles, and raging creek crossings. The only one that gave me some real trouble was Camp Creek, but after 5 minutes I found my way to the other bank.
This was the first waterfall I encountered. It was quite the wonderland up there, with the falls flowing through 3 tiers down between rock pinnacles. There were many falls on the side creeks.
I hear this one is called Nick Eaton falls
The last falls I took a picture of, though there was another.
My goal was to explore the ancient forest I heard was around the Casey Creek area and the Herman forks confluence area. It began to pour rain so hard I could not take any photos of the majestic trees. But oh! Very worth the jog/slog up the wet trail. I ended up taking the wrong user trail down toward the forks area and only hit Casey Creek. It was so wet and muddy when I returned to the ancient grove back on the main trail that I ate my lunch under a big Doug and thought about returning to the car.
I looked up and saw three hikers and their canines emerge out of the fog in the old growth grove (very groovy, mystical looking) from the correct Forks user trail. After speaking with George, I decided turning back was best. Hey, maybe he's on this website!
There were small patches of snow on the trail, but I jogged/hiked the whole thing in my Trail Gloves with no problems. A thorough soaking by Mother Nature was just what I needed. Gorgeous!
What a long strange trip it was! A little more than 8 miles from about 10:30 - 2:00 PM.
