Shipherd Falls and Steep Creek Falls

[chameleon]

A couple pics from Shipherd Falls and Steep Creek Falls taken this past week...

[Splintercat]

You know, Steep Creek is such a weird waterfall -- very cool setting, and a HUGE waterfall for the size of the stream. It even manages to dwarf Rock Creek, which is a sizable stream. I've tried shooting the colorful sedimentary formations just downstream from the bridge (which have seasonal waterfalls dropping over them) with mixed results. Poor Rock Creek deserves a lot more respect than it gets -- at least the kayakers appreciate it.

Thanks, Zach -- nice pics!

Tom

[Sore Feet]

Where the hell is the access to Shipherd at? I've tried to find it the last two times I was down there but the first time the Hot Springs Resort was under construction and the whole area was closed off and the second time I ran out of daylight but scouted for a trailhead and didn't find anything.

[chameleon]

LOL - I had a similar experience Bryan. I was using Plumb's book as a reference, and couldn't figure out where the Shipherd Springs Road was he mentions. I drove back and forth a couple times. Finally I began to wonder if he had gotten the name wrong. Could he have meant St. Martin Springs Road? St. Martin Springs road seemed to match the little map, so I figured it was worth checking out. Sure enough, a trail leads right back behind St. Martin's Hotel, a creepy place, built between 1897 and 1901 by a man named Isadore St. Martin. I did some research last night for the segment on Shipherd falls and the Wind River in my book, and learned the following...

The hotel not only looks and feels haunted, people believe it is. Isadore St. Martin was stabbed by a man he was throwing off his property after they had an argument about the powers of the water, and collapsed on the main floor of his hotel. He was moved to the third floor, where he died shortly thereafter. Grief-stricken, his wife Margaret died soon after. It is her ghost that supposedly haunts the now closed third floor of the building. In life, she had played a large role in drawing crowds to the springs, given what they'd done for her. Suffering from neuralgia, a disease of the nervous system causing sensitivity and even numbness, the hot mineral waters gave her relief. Others heard of the healing abilities, and came to investigate.

I did some digging, and Isadore himself was an interesting fellow. He acquired the land via the Indian Homestead Act, after discovering the springs on a hunting trip in 1876. He had served as a scout for a time, etc... Anyway, his hot springs became popular, and amazingly, the spooky old hotel still stands, looking almost the same today as it did in 1901. The lettering St. Martin Hotel is now a floor higher, but other than that... pretty much the same.

Anyway, back to the falls - just take the trail behind the hotel and it'll be obvious where to branch off to the falls. Once you're there, there is a neat suspension bridge, with all sorts of NO TRESPASSING and hazardous area signs. There are probably about a dozen of them before you even reach the bridge.

[Splintercat]

That's odd Bryan, because when I went up there several years ago, I thought I was following YOUR instructions..? Maybe I was "romancing" the waterfalls that day, though... hmm... parked on the shoulder of the road, near the hot springs buildings, then followed a trail upstream to the falls, albeit an overlook near the bridge in Zach's photo. Scary during high flow... that's a big river in spring runoff!

Tom

[Sore Feet]

Definitely wasn't mine Tom, since I've never even gotten close enough to get so much as a whiff of it. Maybe you were distracted by all that quality prose that was romancing you.

[SCtoPDX]

would it be possible to get directions to teh st martin's hotel? I have an affinity for old creepy buildings! thanks in advance- you can PM me if you don't want to post here.

[Don Nelsen]

Zach,

Nice shot of the falls - pretty good flow this time of year - last time I was there it was pretty puny.

I didn't know all that about St Martins. I've been up there a half dozen times for the mineral bath soak and a massage. I always thought it was bit spooky, too, but had no idea!

Don

[chameleon]

Thanks Don! Yeah, the rivers are flowing nicely right now. And Hotel St. Martin does have a pretty neat history.

And directions to the hotel...take 14, turn off to Carson, take Hot Springs Way, and eventually St. Martins Road branches off to the north. It ends just a short ways later - perhaps 1/2 mile at the hotel.

[Webfoot]

How these falls accessible?