North Umpqua Waterfalls

Edwin came up with this crazy idea of hiking to a bunch of waterfalls on a bunch of short trails. Seemed like an interesting concept so Cleve and I both joined him for this multi-trailed multi-waterfalled sortie which began at touristy Watson Falls. Now, I do see Watson Falls on a regular basis because the parking lot at the base of the falls is a designated pit stop when driving to trails further east into the Cascades. The cascade is readily visible from the parking lot and provides a nice ambience before and after the emptying of bladders and other disgusting body parts. On the other hand, the stench of human offal emanating from the pit toilets do detract somewhat from the beauty of the waterfall. It's better to grab the trail to the falls and get away from that certain essénce du pit stoppe wafting in the breeze. 

Splash landing at Watson Falls

The short trail climbed steadily next to Watson Creek tumbling over, around, and through the rock pile formed by the crumbling of the cliffs above. At 292 feet, Watson Falls is one of the taller cascades in Oregon and while we are partial to all our waterfalls in Douglas County, it is one of the prettier ones. A small crowd of visitors oohed and aahed appropriately at the misty torrents hanging in the air like 292 foot tall literal shower curtains. 

Whitehorse Falls is just a short walk
away from the campground parking lot

Next up was Whitehorse Falls, a place which I'd visited just once in my life and that was when I had young children with me. That leads me to an odd little factoid, too. I have taken my children on plenty of hikes and they all hated it at the time but now remember hiking with such fondness. Despite the incorrect warm fuzzy memories, they still don't hike but my grandchildren can't get enough. Don't ask me why this is so, I have no clue. Anyway, the walk to the cascade was shorter than this paragraph but the cascade falling into its punch bowl shared with several logs was certainly attractive enough.

One small piece of feathery Clearwater Falls

Not on the itinerary but since we were in the area, we also paid a visit to Clearwater Falls. These falls were perhaps the most geologically interesting because the Clearwater River births into existence about a mile above the falls when it emerges fully formed from underground. Because the porous volcanic soil is so amenable to water flowing underneath, the river simultaneously flows above and under the earth. All underground water conduits must submit to the Earth's gravitational pull at the falls however, so the appearance is that of the cliffs leaking water at the white-watered cascade. This is one of my favorite waterfalls and much photography ensued. 

Lemolo Falls in all its thundering glory

Next up was Lemolo Falls and the hike on the east side resembled a real hike, complete with the rough and dusty drive to the trailhead. I've always walked to Lemolo Falls on the North Umpqua Trail on the west side and unfortunately, the venerable trail only offers partial views of the falls unless you want to cling to trees above a precipitous drop, and I don't. On the east side of the river though, the Lemolo Falls Trail takes hikers right to the windblown base of the thundering cascade. Watson Falls may be taller but Lemolo Falls carries a lot more volume and makes a lot more noise.

Waterfall-driven mist is a constant at Lemolo Falls

It was hard to adequately photograph the splendor of the falls because the sun shone directly into the camera and also because the perpetual spray constantly clouded up the camera lens. I did my best, scrambling up a damp and mossy slope to shoot a few pictures that hopefully didn't involve any barked shins from scrabbling over slippery rocks. 

Photogenic Warm Spring Falls

One more rough and dusty drive delivered us to the trailhead at Warm Spring Falls. The hike to the falls was not much of a hike at all, ending in about 0.3 miles at a railed wooden platform overlooking the photogenic cascade. This was my first visit to Warm Spring Falls and I must say I was impressed. The falls tumble over a rocky overhang comprised of hexagonal basaltic pillars, splashing into a bowl with a pile of rocks directly underneath the cataract. 

Quality shade time on the North Umpqua River

By this time we had hiked to five waterfalls and managed to get in around six miles of hiking. Seemed like hardly worth all the trouble to drive to all these trailheads so we quickly came up with the idea of hiking on the North Umpqua Trail down to the overlook of Lemolo Falls. 

Just another nameless cascade on the river

The forest surrounding the North Umpqua River was green and lush, and certainly the shade was much appreciated on an increasingly warm afternoon. Bees, butterflies, and beetles cavorted and frolicked upon the late summer flowers and we partook of ripe thimbleberry and dewberry for extra sustenance. As stated, only a partial view of Lemolo Falls was offered but there were other smaller nameless cascades that were impressive in their own right. 

Ripe thimbleberries slowed our progress a bit 

All told, we wound up hiking 9.6 miles, a worthy distance, especially with the many aqueous wonders seen on this hike. Good thing we left it to Edwin to plan this busy outing, it had been a fun day indeed. For more photos of this hike, please visit the Flickr album. 

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Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRun

Create Routes or Search for a route from millions at MapMyRun

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Lemolo Falls

Despite the profound enjoyment received from hiking, one should always be aware there is always an ever present element of danger in any given hike. There are so many ways to get into trouble, from falling trees to landslides to being robbed by rude deer. In my view however, the most dangerous part of hiking is the drive to get there. A recent case in point was on the drive to the trailhead near Lemolo Lake. I was tootling along in that happy empty-mind mode of driving when I felt something crawling on my middle finger. WASP!! I tried shaking it off but the lethally armed insect desperately clung to my middle digit. Finally I just sort of rolled it around between my fingers, frantically scraping it off onto the floor before it could sting me. The malevolent bug was indestructible however, and I could see it already crawling up the car seat to reclaim its rightful throne on my finger. At that point I decided to do the smart thing and pull over and deal with the wasp in a more prudent fashion. It was right then and there I noticed the car drifted across the center line but fortunately no onrushing cars were in the vicinity to further complicate an already complicated situation. Come to think of it, the forest might be safer than the real world!

Ho hum, just another spectacular cascade

That's not to say that the great outdoors does not have it's risk, though. But a lot of trail safety involves risk management decisions, with the outcome dependent on those decisions. For instance, one time I was hiking in the desert when a dreaded rattling sound emanated from the dried grasses in my feet. Rather than scream and flail, I stopped and calmly assessed the situation, located the snake, and made the right move to get out of its venomous reach. But then there's times where in hindsight, I have to ask myself what I was thinking of when deciding what to do, and that was the story on this hike. Spoiler alert: not that big of a deal (this time) and all turned out well but I wanted to make the point that smart people can do dumb things sometimes, like on this hike. 

Small springs seeped onto the trail

Dumb people do smart things on occasion too, and the smartest thing done on this day was simply to get out onto the trail on a warm spring day. Wanting some quality river time with an extra large helping of massive waterfall to go along with, I selected the North Umpqua Trail from Lemolo Lake to Lemolo Falls as the lucky trail of of choice. As the footpath descended through lush woods, it quickly became apparent this would be a good photography day.

A twisted stalk flower hangs like a spider from Mars

The trail was dropping down into the North Umpqua River canyon and the slopes on the right were adorned and bedecked with copious amounts of wildflowers and the slopes on the right had a rushing mountain river flowing below the trail. What to to take photos of? Why, everything, of course! And that again is the story of why I hike so slow.

Columbia windflower plays affable host to a longhorn beetle

It was mostly a white flower slow, with star-flowered Solomon's seal, Columbia windflower, vanilla leaf, inside-out flower, and yellowleaf iris all contributing from that end of the color spectrum. For a little variety in color, columbine (orange), candy flower (pink, sometimes), wild rose (pink, again), and rhododendron (eminently pink) contributed to the floral rainbow. I hardly ever see twisted stalk flowers but did run into a couple of flowering specimens on this hike, their spidery looking flowers dangling below their leaves like so many alien pod babies.

This bug was extremely camera shy

Bugs were crawling all over the vegetation and I added longhorn beetles, lacewings, and one strange bug (who was most camera shy) to my photographic inventory of insects great and small. That shy bug clearly could see me and rotated behind the plant it was on, doing his best to hide from camera view. I finally reached around with one hand and got a quick picture when it split the difference between hand and camera. Still don't know what kind of bug it was, though.

The North Umpqua River, all hike long

The North Umpqua Trail is 78 miles long and I have hiked on most (but not all, amazingly enough) of those miles. The river is not always visible for all of those miles but can be seen often in bits and pieces in many trail segments. However, this river section is one of my favorite river views on all the miles of the NUT that my feet have trod. Here, the river leaps from pool to pool, often doing the leaping via the photogenic medium of scenic cascade or noisy white-watered chute. On a warm day (like this one), the cool air emanating from the river and frequent cascades are always appreciated by overheated hikers.

Thundering Lemolo Falls

After a mile and a half or so, a loud roar announced the presence of Lemolo Falls. The river was still carrying the spring volume so accordingly, the falls were at their cascading best. There is a trail on the other side of the river that provides a great and unimpeded view of the falls but the trail is short so I've never seen it from the other side. From the North Umpqua Trail you get a partial view of the upper half of the falls, although you can get a better view by bushwhacking down a steep slope, holding onto trees for support as you do so. Any complaining about the view being less than all of the falls is just whining in my opinion, for the trade-off is you get a longer hike on the beautiful North Umpqua Trail.

The rhodies were putting on a show

The path below the falls was quickly overtaken by tall rhododendron bushes putting on a spectacular show. The trail was festooned with pink rhodie blossoms and an already slow hike remained slow but the photography was fun. Eventually, the trail dropped down to river level downstream of Lemolo Falls and now we get to talk about the bridge crossing the North Umpqua River.

It was a lot worse than it looked

In years past, a stout wooden bridge crossed the river. Over time and floods, logs began to pile up against the bridge supports. First it was one log, then two, then several and then many severals. You could see the bridge flex and cant to the downstream side with all the weight and pressure of the backed up logs and clearly, it would be just a matter of time before the bridge let go.

Time to walk across a very shaky bridge

The Forest Service sent in a crew to remove the logs and build a stronger bridge. It took some time but the new bridge was made out of metal and was indestructible. Well, at least until a tall tree fell on it. So there I am, looking at this mortally wounded bridge with a "Closed" sign on it and really it didn't look that bad, so I decided to go across. In my defense, if you look at the photos, it really doesn't look that bad, but appearances can be ever so deceiving. The closer to the point of impact, the more the bridge leaned toward the river, and it moved and trembled unsteadily under each of my footsteps. Clearly, this was not the smartest decision I've ever made but at least I did get to the other side of the river unscathed. But, boys and girls, please do as I say and not as I do and avoid scrambling across broken bridges that have "Closed" signs on them.

One of many cascades on the river

I only went about a mile further before backtracking and renegotiating the Challenge of the Bridge. By this time the day had warmed up enough to be considered hot, and it was all uphill to the car. It was still a slow hike, but now my snail's pace had little to do with Mother Nature but more to do with Auntie Gravity as I trudged uphill. Before I began the drive home though, I made a thorough inspection of my car for more wasps, just in case. You see, I do practice safety, except for maybe when it comes to bent and broken bridges.

Random whitewater shot of the North Umpqua

For more photos of this hike, please visit the Flickr album.

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North Umpqua Trail - Lemolo Falls

Last year, hiking buddies Toresa, Lisa, and I hiked on the Dread and Terror Section of the North Umpqua Trail. This year, there had been talk of hiking the whole 13'ish mile section but logistics got in the way somewhat. I'm not sure if hiking the Dread and Terror is going to become an annual event or not, but at any rate we decided to hike the Dread and Terror from the northern end for this year's rendition.

Waterlogged trillium

The day dawned as damp and chilly as last night's hairball left on the living room carpet, but it never actually rained. There was a heavy drizzle in the air and the temps stayed in the low 50's: in other words, conditions were just perfect for hiking!

Water black and cold, like my heart

From the Lemolo Lake trailhead, the North Umpqua Trail dropped rapidly through a drippy forest. Visibly waterlogged trilliums drooped their sodden flowery heads from the weight of the water and I knew just how they felt. Small creeks and runoffs trickled across the mossy trail. As we dropped down into the canyon, the North Umpqua River made an appearance, the cold making the waters seem profoundly black.

"That's no waterfall..."

Well, the river was black when it wasn't white and it was white quite a bit as the river leaped from pool to pool. Some of the leaps were 10 to 15 feet high, causing Toresa and Lisa to inquire if one large cascade was Lemolo Falls. In my best Crocodile Dundee impersonation, which really is not very good, I answered "That's no waterfall. Now THIS is a waterfall!"

Half of Lemolo Falls

After a mile and half or so, the real Lemolo Falls showed up. However, it's hard to get a good look at the falls from our side of the river without executing a dangerous tree-hugging scramble down a near-sheer cliff with wrists not partially fused like mine. There is a trail on the other side that provides a great look at the falls but getting there would require a swim across the cold black river, so we had to content ourselves with an obscured look at the nonetheless spectacular waterfall.

Speaking of works in progress...

From the Lemolo Falls overlook, the trail dropped down to the river where some obvious construction is taking place at the plank bridge over the river. In years past, logs had piled up against the bridge and there were obvious cracks and chunks taken out of the footbridge by the logs. But now, the logs had been cut and removed but judging from all the earth removal and tarped equipment hanging around, the bridge repair or installation is still a work in progress.

Tenants on Baughman Bluff 

Our next work in progress, so to speak, consisted of a steep climb up to Baughman Bluff. The path soon acquired a cliffy flavor as it narrowed and clung to the bluff's face like a baby monkey clinging to its mother's back. We sat down and ate lunch there and were treated to a pair of nesting ospreys calling out to each other as they took turns feeding their nestlings.

The river flows next to the Best Campsite Ever

The next several miles were a steady descent from Baughman's Bluff to the best campsite ever at B.D. Bluff. The campsite is sited right next to the river underneath a dense canopy of vine maple. And I do mean dense, the very air was suffused with a soft emerald glow from the ample leafitude.

One more step to the river

Since we had walked 6 miles to get here, it seemed like a good idea to turn back and that long descent then became a long ascent. It's just not a hike unless it goes uphill! We did stop at a viewpoint atop a rocky needle overlooking the river's canyon. Here, the canyon is quite narrow, and it seems almost possible to reach out and touch the cliffs on the opposite side. However, that would not be a good idea as the canyon floor is several hundred feet below; so narrow and deep is the canyon that the river cannot be seen from this trailside aerie.  Much photography ensued.

Moss carries its own hydration bladder

One more protracted climb away from the river and past Lemolo Falls capped this hike off. The hike came in at 12 miles and a couple of more miles would have equaled the distance covered by the entire Dread and Terror Section. As we bid each other adieu, we all agreed it was a great hike with good friends and next year we should do the entire section. It sounds like hiking the Dread and Terror will become an annual event, after all.

The North Umpqua River, above Lemolo Falls

For more pictures of this hike, please visit the Flickr album

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