- red: my route 2010
Yellow: possible routes I never took
Solid Blue: tributary creek (where unnamed falls are)
Once at the bottom, the creek flows right next to the canyon wall. Creek is flowing strong about knee/thigh deep at the most. $10 aqua shoes from Dicks Sporting kept my boots dry for the crossing. Once across my plan was to follow the creek bed upstream. Not so easy, the valley floor here is grown in thick with impenetrable brush. I followed along the creek, but not too long ran into brush. I charged in and found myself crawling in places. Way too thick in here, if I had much more of this I would not make any objectives. Luck gave way to an opening, this valley floor is one huge debris pile from storm damage years ago. big boulders washed down by what I imagine a glacial burst from above. From my new opening, a dry portion of a stream bed allowed easy rock hopping/scrambling way up the canyon where the brush lessens and opens up. My goal was to hike up canyon to 4200 ele, then traverse over to Compass Creek.
As I arrived at my way-point, I noticed the deep bass sound of Coe Falls. From here you can get your first glimpse of Coe Falls... it did seem odd the sound was so vibrant. I didnt think it could be this loud so close so.... To the west I spotted whitewater pouring in full force, vertically... the real source of the sound of a waterfall. I detoured a bit for a better view and behold, this was a gigantic waterfall flowing in full force through a cliff band on the ridge. I took a few pics, this confirms Splintercat’s falls on the Elk Cove Creek that flows. However, this would be a tributary of Elk Cove Creek, the same one I crossed a year ago higher up descending into the canyon from that point. I am glad that trip, I decided NOT to descend that creek bed itself and realize now how lucky I was that trip to not get cliffed out. The terrain in this portion is much steeper than any topo map shows. This falls is flowing so strong, I can suspect it might not be seasonal. Last year crossing the stream above I remember and noted it flowing strong too. If it’s seasonal, it would be on only the driest drought years. Another thought... since this is not Elk Cove Creek itself... are there any falls over there? No time to explore... off too Compass Creek.
- Elk Cove Creek Tributary falls
- Coe Falls on the left, unnamed tributary falls on the right
- lower Compass Creek Falls
the right side of the lower falls is made up of cliff and rock, the forest further right is the bottom of a steep bowl with thick thorny brush on its slope. Immediately adjacent to the rock buttress is a rocky laden steep chute... up I went blindly, this was the only way. Climbing this was with all fours in places. This chute though shot straight up the hill and barely cleared the thorny brush slope. Up top, above the falls it was more bushwhacking up creek. Up here is easier access to the creek bed, and thus easier scrambling along creek side in places. Compass flows much cleaner than Coe... and is more attractive in this spot. Its not long though the terrain once again steepens climbers right. Its either climb up and hike above creek, or go right up the creek bed. Looking upstream here showed yet more brush closing in on the stream bed. I chose to stay in the timber. The way I should have gone was right up the creek bed, for full access to the amphitheater of upper Compass. I was quickly cliffed out getting looking down to the creek bed along with heavy brush. But I had my full frontal view of Compass Falls and its huge amphitheater. My endpoint did not disappoint. I was out of time and strength and low on water to dig up the energy to re-route and finish the last bit to the base of the falls.
- upper Compass Creek Falls
My return trip is obviously the same with just a few events worth noting. About 15 minutes I came within 10 feet of a elk calf that sprang to life and scared the daylights out of me. Beautiful animal though. The next challenging part was finding my chute at the lower falls. My Garmin was proving difficult reception and I was not exactly on my original path, in this terrain deviating even just a bit is a big deal to correct. Climbing down the chute I made a mental note from now on to always bring a rope exploring waterfalls. Descending steep terrain is much more difficult going down. This was the most precarious moment holding on to pine boughs, ferns, surrounded by thorns. I slipped, a firm hold on a branch anchored me.. every move was not made without a confident hold, but my right knee dug into some thorns. Carefully down the chute, puts you back at the viewpoint of the lower falls. its really cool to stand that close to it, all that water flowing mid air right next to you. Back at Coe Creek in the valley floor I followed my dry creek bed path till I had no choice to crawl thru the brush. Still a ways from my crossing way-point, I decided something different, to move directly into Coe creek and leave my water shoes on. Impossible if you want to keep your feet dry, but the aqua shoes allowed good hiking on the rocks and boulders. If I had to come up this way again, i would just hike up the creek bed this way, rather than keeping my feet dry and swimming in the brush. I made good time getting to my crossing way-point. I must have crossed the creek 7-8 times though. All that, much easier than clawing through the brush. Back at the crossing... I ran out of water. What saved me is my emergency Aquamira Filter straw. My first time using this... and it worked so well. My only inconvenience was not having my hydration tube. I filled my reservoir with cloudy creek water, and anytime I needed water, which was a lot getting up the canyon, I had to stop and drink from the straw from the bladder. I was parched between drink stops... but at least I had water. The filter did a great job with the silty water too, the drinking end was crystal clear water... cold too.
By coincidence, this hike is exactly the same day a year ago when I hiked into Coe Falls...
*edit to fix a missing hyperlink I forgot to add. **edit again to add this edit comment
It would be very easy to get cliffed in that area, based on your photos.