Memaloose Falls and South Fork Clackamas River

cfm · Post by **cfm** » February 9th, 2011, 5:43 pm

Hey Brian,

It's too bad about the garbage. That is so infuriating!!! I am going to head up there again soon, I'll be sure to pack some out.

I'm confused on some details. I recall you also doing recon on the 300 foot tunnel, but I thought that was upstream on Memaloose creek from the falls, right? Or is it above the rotting log bridge? on the SF Clackamas? So you crossed the stream that the rotting log bridge spans, by going upstream to cross it, then coming back down to the tunnel entrance?

Also, on the lower Clackamas falls shot, is that a section of pipe in front of the falls, or a very regularly ribbed tree?

BrianEdwards · Post by **BrianEdwards** » February 9th, 2011, 6:08 pm

Hey CFM, I'll draw up a nice map tomorrow of the whole basin, as I've been in there quite a bit since 2004. And I agree, it's amazing how rude some folks are, just showing up and dumping a whole truck load of garbage off. Errrr

And the lower falls, those are two logs laying in the falls, one on each side. The pipe follows the road the whole way. I'll sit down and draw a nice map and post it.

HikingisaMustDo · Post by **HikingisaMustDo** » February 10th, 2011, 8:27 pm

Brian,
I missed you guys by two days! I was out there again today with some friends and we couldn't believe the trash at the beginning of the spur road either! It was nice to see that the trash by the cave is slowly disappearing (thanks to fellow hikers). I took some pictures of that shelter at the beginning of the trail in your description. Do you think that's the same cave squatter from previous times? It's too bad we didn't choose to go two days earlier or we would have ran into you guys. Also I saw your guys footprints in the mud all day today and kept saying to everyone, "there may be another group of people down here", but there wasn't.
They looked fresh, but I had no clue they were that fresh.
Let me know when you're heading up again.
Aaron

BrianEdwards · Post by **BrianEdwards** » February 10th, 2011, 8:50 pm

Aaron, did you or one of your guys lose a light? I found a nice one right on the trail that still worked. It's nuts how much junk is at the trailhead. I know it's not because of this thread, as there's always been suspicious activity going on in there. Glad you had another successful trip, let me know about the light.

HikingisaMustDo · Post by **HikingisaMustDo** » February 10th, 2011, 9:05 pm

Brain,
None of us lost a light, we we're just scouting around down there again, examining how much the trail has changed since summer/fall and such.
Thanks for asking though

BrianEdwards · Post by **BrianEdwards** » February 11th, 2011, 7:08 am

pyles_94 wrote:cool. I'm really looking forward to the next years worth of your reports now complete with wide angle shots and such! I'll have to get the brian edwards tour of these at some point.

Wow, I totally missed your reply Jamey. Thanks for the kind words. This canyon is begging for a Fallguy or Jamey Pyles photo outing. I've only had the D90 since December, and the wide angle lens for 3 weeks. Still got a long way to go before I can be even mentioned in the same conversation as your photos tho

Splintercat · Post by **Splintercat** » February 11th, 2011, 5:19 pm

It's nuts how much junk is at the trailhead. I know it's not because of this thread, as there's always been suspicious activity going on in there.

Absolutely true, Brian. One of the great myths is that posting info about places like this invites trouble, but in my experience, it's just the opposite -- regular visits by off-trail explorers keeps the crack heads and criminal element AWAY from places like this. The illegal activity and squatting in the tunnels goes back many years, long before the waterfalls became more widely known.

Tom

BrianEdwards · Post by **BrianEdwards** » February 13th, 2011, 10:11 pm

Tunnels (tunnels are yellow)
Decommissioned Spur road
Hiking trail
Rotten Log Bridge
Black Dashes are the falls

On every map I see, there is a label of 'Falls' downstream of the Big falls on Memaloose Creek, but there isn't so much as a cascade there, just flat creek. In fact the creek is flat from the bottom of the big falls, all the way to its confluence.

Sore Feet · Post by **Sore Feet** » February 13th, 2011, 11:17 pm

Thinking out loud here, but since the USGS used a double hash mark on the phantom waterfall, I wonder if they could have been meaning to mark the one next to the tunnels with that marker? Which might infer there may be a second waterfall a short distance upstream?

BrianEdwards · Post by **BrianEdwards** » February 13th, 2011, 11:21 pm

Bryan, I reconed up Memaloose Creek above the falls about 1/4 mile past the first canyon coming into Memaloose Creek on the west side. (it's obvious on the map) There's only 5-8 ft bench drops. On google satelite view, right where that western creek comes into Memaloose Creek, it appears to be a waterfall, but it's just a slide

http://www.portlandhikers.org/forum/vie ... =10&t=4256

Oregon Hikers

Memaloose Falls and South Fork Clackamas River

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