Dalton Falls to Mist Falls Loop 12/19/10

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Guy
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Dalton Falls to Mist Falls Loop 12/19/10

Post by Guy » December 19th, 2010, 9:06 pm

So I had a couple of free hours this afternoon & 2 choices, rake leaves in the garden or scramble around in the Gorge for a couple of hours, the Gorge Won! I figured I had enough time to finally cross Dalton Falls off my list! I set out from the parking area opposite the pond between the old highway & I5. Dalton creek pours over the cliffs just to the West of this parking lot.

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There is a use path that heads up from the middle of the parking area, if you follow this to the East it will take you up above the cliffs. It soon fades away but not before you can see Dalton above the cliffs.

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Rather than fight the brush I went straight up the rock field until I was almost at the base of the second band of much higher cliffs then cut over to the base of the Falls.

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It's only a quarter of a mile from the freeway to the base of the Falls. Rather than return the way I came I decided to see if I could cut across to Mist Falls. I was already getting wet thanks to Mist Falls even though I couldn't see it the strong winds were blowing Mist Falls Mist as far as Dalton! However once I started heading East on the slope is wasn't long before Mist Falls came into view.

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The Mist Falls Mist turned to Mist Falls Rain & by the time I made it over to Mist Falls I was pretty wet! I'd planned to take more photos of my journey between the 2 falls but with the howling wind and cold Falls rain I couldn't be bothered taking my camera out.

Once I finally got there I was dry as all the water was blowing away from the Falls to the West!

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I made a quick and dirty movie of the falls that you can see here:

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From here it was just a quick decent of the Mist Falls use path and a walk back along the highway to the Dalton Parking area. The walk along the highway may have been the most dangerous part of the trip :)

The GPS said this whole trip was under a mile but it will seem like more! Also I'm not sure I'd do this trip when the Poison Oak has leaves on!

A few more pics here
Last edited by Guy on December 20th, 2010, 7:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
hiking log & photos.
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pyles_94
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Re: Dalton Falls to Mist Falls Loop 12/19/10

Post by pyles_94 » December 19th, 2010, 10:00 pm

I did this one a while back, this year in january. It was nice- glad to see another person get in there and shoot some pictures! The waterfalls arent particularly photogenic but both are impressive to see in person!
Jamey Pyles

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Splintercat
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Re: Dalton Falls to Mist Falls Loop 12/19/10

Post by Splintercat » December 20th, 2010, 8:18 am

Neat video, Guy -- Mist Falls is like a fine wine for waterfall lovers. Truly amazing when the winds are blowing! It's also quite photogenic on a still day in Autumn, too, when the cliffs have fall color -- I like the view from near the entrance to Benson State Park.

Tom

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