“Once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.”
William Safford (Oregon Poet Laureate, 1970-71)
Falling Waters (March 2017)
Hiking and Other Stuff We've Done
“Once we have tasted far streams, touched the gold, found some limit beyond the waterfall, a season changes and we come back changed but safe, quiet, grateful.”
William Safford (Oregon Poet Laureate, 1970-71)
BOOTS on the TRAIL 
That’s the blessing and the curse of the Internet. I have been working on a post about what wilderness means in the age of social media and how a lot of places have been heavily impacted because increased awareness meant increased traffic. I had a run-in with the forest service wilderness director here over that very issue years ago. At the time I thought he was over the top. Now, I am a little more sympathetic to his position…though not totally convinced.
LikeLike
I looked at USGS maps going back to the 1930s and could find no trails to the falls from either the east or west. Some logging roads pushed toward them from the east in the 1950s, but these were abandoned once the wilderness was established. The Skyline Trail (now the PCT) never went east of the divide. The Native Plant Society seeming led a trip or two in from the east and I found one post of a cross-country hike in from the west. The falls don’t show on any map and, if you get to the divide from the east, you can’t see them (or even any water) in the pumice plain below, so you wouldn’t be encouraged to go down and look. They do show on Google Earth and that is how another hiker brought them to my attention. I just hope the hike in from either the east or west stays sufficiently challenging to keep the falls from being loved to death.
LikeLike
This calls for pure speculation, but why do you think there is no trail to those falls? They look like an excellent specimen in a spectacular setting. I would imagine they would be a popular destination rather than an unknown cataract.
LikeLike
Same here. They’re on our list just not sure when we’re going to fit them in.
LikeLike
If you’re up for a fairly easy and straightforward 14 mile hike, I’d put a visit to these falls on your hiking list for this summer or Fall. With all the rain and snow we’ve had this year, these falls ought to be roaring!
LikeLike
All great, but that one on Cottonwood Creek is going to haunt me until I get there, someday.
LikeLiked by 1 person