Wait, why are there no pictures in this posting...hmm... sorry, but blogger does not like uploading them for this posting. Click here to see the pics.
With my last day of pure freedom before I start working Monday, G the roommate, AA the co-consultant, S AA’s roommate & N S’s friend ventured out of the park in search of waterfalls. And wow, was it a great day (both weather and fun-wise).
North and Northeast of Crater Lake in the heart of the Cascades is the Umpqua River, which, thanks to the guidance of a travel brochure, we found to host a bounty of great waterfalls. About 20 minutes north of the park boundary is Clearwater Falls:
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The next falls, Whitehorse Falls, was definitely the loser of the trip. While still a nice set of falls, compared to the others it was like running a garden hose off the porch – a small drop and not a huge volume of water, hence there’s only one photo.
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Stop three, unanimously the best of the bunch, featured a mile hike to the falls but on the way offered many great sights, flowers and smaller falls. As one of SW Oregon’s largest falls, Watson Falls drops 272 feet with such force on to a pile of rocks that it sent spray through the thick forest half way to the trailhead.
A small waterfall with the 272 ft drop in the background
The group, minus AA (she’s taking the photo), at the falls
The force of the water crashing down on the rocks; the falls were so fierce water couldn’t pool at the bottom like with most falls.
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Waterfall 4, as you may tell from the title, was closed. Looked cool in the brochure though.
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Waterfall 5, Fall Creek Falls, was your stereotypical waterfall scene: mild hike to arrive at a calming waterfall that fell gently into a nice wading pool. It also provided a great opportunity to each lunch by the creek.
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Waterfall 6, Susan Creek Falls, was nice as well. At this point in the day we were getting a little tired of waterfalls, but felt the need to complete the circuit.
After waterfalling out ourselves, we drove back to Crater Lake and finally saw the lake not covered by clouds (it was the first day there it hadn’t rained, a lot). The water was calm enough to actually see the cliff’s reflections and the water appeared as blue as ever.
