Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

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Rustygoat
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Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by Rustygoat » June 18th, 2013, 7:36 pm

Inspired by 'Bobcats' recent trip report of Rattlesnake Falls, Melinda and I headed to Washington for a weekend of chasing waterfalls. First stop was Rattlesnake Falls which we had never visited before. The falls are located ten miles east of the town of Husum in Washington. On the drive out towards the falls we passed large patches of poison oak on the sides of the road, that made the hair on necks stand. :o We reached Rattlesnake Creek and with caution scanned the area for poison oak. There is no official trail here, so we followed a cattle-trail down stream.
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Finally we reached Rattlesnake Falls.
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The canyon was huge compared to the size of the creek. It was really impressive. After grabbing a few pictures, Melinda and I hiked down stream until we reached the lower falls. The best view point of the falls was quite sketchy on the edge of a cliff. :shock: Lower Rattlesnake Falls.
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Me hiking by Rattlesnake Falls back towards where we parked.
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After leaving Rattlesnake Creek we stopped by Husum Falls when we got back to the main road. We grabbed a few pictures and then headed up the road to BZ Corner to visit the falls there. BZ Falls are access via a trail on the way down from where the kayakers launch. Not the most impressive falls, but an easy hike to do. BZ Falls
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After BZ Falls we headed towards the town of Glenwood to check out Outlet Falls which lies six miles to the east of the town. Mt Adams from the southeast side.
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Outlet Falls are located right off of the main road going to Goldendale. Views are easily had with a short scramble. Outlet Falls
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While Melinda was taking pictures above I made the steep scramble down the canyon to grab a shot from below.
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Outlet Falls from below.
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Even though this waterfall seems pretty, the water just looked dirty. Yuck!

The sun was setting and our next set of waterfalls were on the southwest side of Mt. Adams. We made it to Dry Creek and set up camp just before dark with anticipation to what lied ahead.
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I've run out of time for today, but I will continue this report for that weekend soon.
Last edited by Rustygoat on June 19th, 2013, 11:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
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merelunacy
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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by merelunacy » June 19th, 2013, 4:10 am

I find it so amusing how I keep finding myself at cliffs when I'm terrified of heights. It would have looked better if the sun wasn't blaring, although that's just the summer for you. There are plenty of bugs out already. When I was scrambling over rocks from the viewpoint of Lower Rattlesnake Falls I heard something that sounded like a rattle..... probably just my ears playing tricks on me, but either way I went double time after that.


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BrianEdwards
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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by BrianEdwards » June 19th, 2013, 1:05 pm

Good job again guys. Lower Rattlesnake Falls is just as good as the main falls. Keep up the good work
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by jeffstatt » June 19th, 2013, 11:00 pm

I saw your photo of the falls near Goldendale and I was sure I had stumbled upon the same falls scouting around Sleeping Beauty. Looking back through the archives mine was definitely totally different! I love the Rattlesnake Falls pics. I'm jealous!

(very) old trip report!
http://www.portlandhikers.org/archive/view/19452

aywolfpac
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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by aywolfpac » June 20th, 2013, 10:54 am

"I find it so amusing how I keep finding myself at cliffs when I'm terrified of heights."

I'm not really scared of heights but I feel much more comfortable standing on top of a 200' cliff than I do climbing up an 8-foot step ladder. Kind of funny.

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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by Rustygoat » June 20th, 2013, 8:04 pm

Between graduations, birthdays, family and work I have had little time to be on PH. Lucky for me I found some time today. :)
Saturday 6/15....Melinda and I got kind of an early start today and headed to an undocumented waterfall near the Forlorn Lakes area on Dry Creek. There was a recent thread on PH about a lost trail to a Dry Creek Falls in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It was supposed to be far from this area but when I looked at a topo of this falls, it looked like there was a trail or road to the falls at one time. I had scouted the area the week before while on a spelunking trip with my son. I didn't find any old trail....but I did find a waterfall on a seasonal stream. Unnamed stream near Dry Creek.
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So not finding a trail, I decided to just bushwhack my way to the falls from FR6035. We started a little upstream at an old logging road and made our way down to the falls. They were only about 20-25ft tall but definitely a cool find. Dry Creek Falls.
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Me trying to get a good picture of the falls. :mrgreen:
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On the way out we headed south towards the road and ran across a cool skeleton. Bambi? :P
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Next stop was another waterfall marked on the topo map nearby. Lost Creek Falls, it is marked on the topo map but it is only a small series of cascades totaling about 15ft. It was kind of difficult to get a good picture of all the drops. Lost Creek Falls.
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It might not have been that great of a waterfall but it did have a cool cave behind the uppermost tier. :P
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From here we headed to FR88 and up to Little Goose Creek. Jeffstatt...this is the one you saw on your trip years ago. :) Upper Little Goose Falls.
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A little further down stream we came across Little Goose Creek Falls. I ran across these falls years ago while scouting the area for caves. I only learned the name of them last year when I took Melinda here when I was on crutches. It was a lot easier trek without the crutches this visit. ;)
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Heading north on FR88 we came upon Tire Junction.
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Langfield Falls were right up the road. Time for lunch and a great waterfall. Langfield Falls.
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After lunch we decided to head up to a waterfall we had not seen before. It was up off of FR23 where the PCT crosses the road. Thanks to Bryan Swan and his directions on http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/nws/ we were able to find Swampy Meadows Falls.
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The bushwhack down from the PCT is pretty bushy so we made our way down a little further north of the creek and found what appeared to be an old forgotten trail. It lead down to what were probably switchbacks to the base of the falls. On our way up it connected with the PCT at a large clearing that is now a primitive campsite. The old trail head is blocked by debris and blow down. If anyone has any old trail maps or info about this lost trail, please share! :D This waterfall may have had a different name years ago.
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We left Swampy Meadow and headed north til we hit Big Spring Creek and stopped off for some roadside pictures of the waterfall here. A little further north we hit the junction with FR90 the main road that travels along the Lewis River. Melinda and I have already been up in this area a couple of times in the past six weeks so there wasn't a lot left to see other than some neat off trail falls.
I can say not having a gps or a working odometer on your car makes finding some waterfalls a challenge. Having driven the area before I was pretty sure where to park and head down to Steamboat Falls. Another hiker pulled over right after we did and was heading to the falls too. On the way down we encountered what appeared to be an old trail. We followed it down a ways as it lead away from the falls but it did get us closer to the river. We broke off and dropped down to the river and worked our way up to the falls. Steamboat Falls.
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Awesome waterfall and well worth the bushwhack. :D
It was getting a little late but we still had time to check out one more waterfall before making camp. Upper Pin Creek Falls was blocked six weeks ago when we tried driving up to it. The road was blocked by lots of downed trees....but not today. :mrgreen: I didn't have any info on the falls this time but I kind of remembered where it was. We drove up to a junction of FR089 I think and parked at a primitive campsite. We then hiked toward the creek and soon found a cliff side view of Upper Pin Creek Falls....or so we thought. :shock: We made our way to the base of the falls and I kept thinking they didn't look right. We grabbed some pictures of this cool 35ft waterfall and made our way back up the hill.
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The waterfall looked too small from memory to have been Upper Pin Creek Falls. On the drive down, I saw a large cliff through the trees and had to pull over and cheek out the view. Wow....there it was , Upper Pin Creek Falls.
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So what should the falls upstream be called? Upper Upper Pin Creek Falls? Melinda liked Pin Head Falls, but really it should have a name. (only so we can count it) :P Really, the top falls are pretty cool. 8-)
So I am out of time again....but stay tuned because I will be posting Sunday's falls soon. :)
Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
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Sore Feet
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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by Sore Feet » June 20th, 2013, 11:03 pm

Dry Creek Falls looks more substantial than I thought it would be. Never got a chance to check it out because the creek was basically dry and it didn't look like the effort would have been worth it last time I was there. I'll have to make my way over there now. Lost Creek - that ain't it. It was totally dry when I found it several years ago (in early September), but it's a pretty obvious waterfall, about 60 feet tall. I think the stream you found is one drainage too far to the west (I think we had to cross one gully en route but I don't remember for sure). Good find on the upper upper falls on Pin Creek though, I am definitely using "Pin Head" as the name for that one.

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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by Splintercat » June 21st, 2013, 8:40 am

What a wonderful way to wrangle a whirlwind of way-cool Washington waterfalls, Tim! ;)

(thanks for posting!)

-Tom :)

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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by merelunacy » June 21st, 2013, 10:08 am

Sadly my camera wasn't doing so hot with battery life since I brought the wrong batteries. :cry: I did manage to get a few videos though. Dry Creek Falls was a bit of a bushwhack, but certainly worth it.



@Bryan Swan
It's funny that Timothy was joking about the name 'Pin Head' because I thought it was perfect. Glad you agree. :D

Unfortunately we weren't entirely sure on Lost Creek, however the road was washout at this point. :o
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We hiked up the road a little ways and didn't see anything so we just assumed. :oops: I did get a shot of a cute frog before it jumped away. (So happy I got to upgrade my camera! :mrgreen: )
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Thanks for the correction. :) While it isn't a waterfall I could see it being a popular swimming hole as there were nice size pools. The rocks give some character to this creek.
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Definitely will have to go back to get that one and see about finding more neat stuff. Hopefully taking the road from the other side will work out.

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Re: Weekend of whacking our way to Washington waterfalls

Post by Rustygoat » June 21st, 2013, 8:22 pm

Thanks Tom and Bryan. :) Sorry about Lost Creek Falls....the road was washed out and I thought we were on the right creek. (looks like a return trip is in the making) :oops:


Sunday 5/16....Melinda and I got an early start to our next waterfall, Snagtooth Falls. This was our second try to gain access to the top of the falls and find a way down from there. Driving up FR9341 last time we encountered snow...this time something much worse. Landslide. :o
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So again Snagtooth is put on the back burner so off we went to check out Chickoon Creek Falls just south west of Lower Lewis River Falls.We parked on the south side of the Lewis River on FR90 to bushwhack our way east to Chickoon Creek. Just as we crossed Crab Creek we encountered Bambi's remains.
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The game trails along the south side of the Lewis River were in really good shape (better than some other boot paths I've been on). We made our way to a flat area....kind of like an overgrown park. Really easy hiking for a while til we reached Chickoon Creek. Melinda and I then bushwhacked our way up the creek looking for a waterfall. We knew there was one up there but didn't know how big it was. After a while of bushwhacking we spotted a waterfall through the trees. Chickoon Creek Falls. :D
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This waterfall was way more impressive than what we were expecting. At about 70ft Chickoon Creek Falls.
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On the way back we detoured up Crab Creek to check out what Melinda had been seeing on GE. We didn't find a waterfall but we did find a cool waterside. There were two lower slides around 15ft but the upper one was around 100ft long. Crab Slide.
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Really good morning but what to do for the afternoon? I originally planned on Rush Creek Falls as a back up trip if we had the time. Lucky us, today we did. :mrgreen:
Melinda and I drove up to the Curly Creek snow park sign on NF30 and parked at the old Curly Creek Rd. Good for us no one was shooting today. :) Hiking down the old road really sucked as it has been plowed. A bit of an overkill for decommissioning a road.
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After what seemed like the longest 3mile trek ever, we arrived at our bushwhack down to the falls. Without GPS or a compass I managed to find our way to the top of Rush Creek. We were excited to find a roaring Rush Creek Falls hiding in the woods. :D
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This is truly and awesome waterfall! Great way to end our weekend of Washington waterfalls. :D
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Tim

Chasing waterfalls can be addictive.
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