Polallie Creek Falls...Video TR and pictures!

[Rustygoat]

*WARNING*
This video makes this appear like an easy stroll...but if that was true there would be more TR's from the base of this fall. Steep cliffs and loose falling rock make this a dangerous trek!


A few weeks back Melinda and I headed back up to Mt. Hood to take on another giant waterfall, Polallie Creek Falls. Google Earth measures it at about 260ft. Our friend Lisa was able to join us on this outing and is the one who made the awesome video! Thank you Lisa! It was a sunny day and there were plenty of cars at the Tilly Jane Trail-head. Most of the hikers headed strait up toward Tilly Jane...hardly any boot prints on the Polallie Ridge Trail. There were a few trees down on the trail as we made our way up to the ridge but pretty clear after that.

Only three miles up til we jumped off trail and headed down into Polallie Canyon. There were plenty of flowers for Melinda and Lisa to admire along the way.

The closer you get to the falls the less chance you have of getting to the base. The north side of the canyon is cliffed near the falls so we dropped down in the canyon well before them and made our way upstream. Only 700ft elevation loss!

We didn't even get a teaser glimpse of the falls until we were almost to the creek. It was pretty awesome to climb the little hill that was in the video and have the falls right in our view. Working our way upstream towards Polallie Creek Falls.

As we approached the falls, loose rocks were falling down into the canyon. We were all happy to have avoided getting squashed...and to have made it to the base.

I went up to get a closer look.

Obligatory rose picture

Not wanting to tempt fate with the falling rocks(a few more fell ) we finished with pictures and headed back up. Along the way up we ran across what appeared to be an old trail. It was way to nice to be a game path so we followed it to a small clearing, there was a view of the upper 2/3 of the falls. Melinda and Lisa kept going up as I tried to retrace the old trail hoping to see where it connected to the ridge trail. I followed it a few hundred feet and then lost it in some heavy blow-down. If anyone has any information on an old viewpoint trail, please share! Thanks! The old trail and the view.

We ran out of time and had to head back before checking out a suspected lower waterfall....don't worry, we got to that one on a different day.

[Koda]

Best photos and vids I've seen of Polallie Falls. Loved the vid and music track. The only time I've seen Polallie is in winter and so its nice to see some summer photogenic justice its a beautiful place.

[BrianEdwards]

Epic stuff guys, looks like a great adventure

[Splintercat]

Love the video -- very nice! Ditto on the falls from stream-level, I don't think I've seen that before, either.

Great work! As always, thanks for posting.

Tom

[payslee]

Not wanting to tempt fate with the falling rocks(a few more fell ) we finished with pictures and headed back up. Along the way up we ran across what appeared to be an old trail. It was way to nice to be a game path so we followed it to a small clearing, there was a view of the upper 2/3 of the falls. Melinda and Lisa kept going up as I tried to retrace the old trail hoping to see where it connected to the ridge trail. I followed it a few hundred feet and then lost it in some heavy blow-down. If anyone has any information on an old viewpoint trail, please share! Thanks!

Could it have been the part of Polallie Falls "Trail 29" shown on this map?:

http://www.cascadesingletrack.com/MtHoo ... _Topo.html

When I hiked Polallie Ridge last year I looked for any kind of trace of a trail down where the map shows it, and concluded: You've got to be kidding. You'd totally fall off a cliff.

But maybe there was a trail down from the ridge at some point? Before fire and landslide and neglect? I have no idea where the data came from for the trails shown on that map. I was not able to find any other references to Polallie Falls Trail 29 and whether it ever existed.

If you find out, please let me know!

Another awesome adventure. Well done.

-payslee

[Rustygoat]

Thanks for the compliments, they inspire me to post more TRs! Melinda and I have seen a lot more of Mt. Hood's waterfalls than we have shared. We are hoping to have ALL of the falls on Mt. Hood photo documented by the end of the summer...at least all that are reachable!

Could it have been the part of Polallie Falls "Trail 29" shown on this map?:

Looking at that map and having been there, the purple part of Trail 29 might have been wiped out by a landslide. The landslide on the north side of the falls seemed to be recent...within 10 years. Thanks for sharing the map Payslee

[SonOfTamarack]

Very cool. BTW there's an old road that goes due south from Cooper Spur junction (it now starts next to the large house on the last curve as you come up from highway 35 @ Pollalie Creek--which now belongs to Meadow's "Mountain Resort"--meaning it's probably private property at that end). You can see a stub of it on the map linked. It used to head over and pass through old sheep meadows before dropping down into Pollalie Creek where it crossed on an old wooden bridge. You could then follow it up onto the plateau NE of Tamanawas Falls and connect to the trail to Elk Meadows there.

The Pollalie flood of 1985 (?) knocked out the bridge and the canyon's since eroded a lot deeper, but you might be able to head crosscountry from the sharp curve on the Cloud Cap Rd just before the ski area and catch it. Could make an interesting loop.