Horsetail-Oneonta Autumn Loop (Oct 29)

[Splintercat]

Took a rare mid-week day off to take in the (late) fall colors in the Gorge yesterday. A perfect autumn day for hiking -- light rain of and on, but mostly just heavy overcast that was ideal for bringing out the colors. But the hike got off to a bumpy start when I discovered that I'd left my wide brimmed trail hat at home... in the oven... where I was sealing it for the winter! Gaa! Well, bald heads + rain are a bad mix, so I backtracked to the Multnomah Falls lodge, pushed through a mob of tourists and my wallet was relieved of $20 for the one hat that fit my basketball-sized head -- thankfully, my alma mater, but I HATE BASEBALL HATS! The only thing it was missing was a propeller on top... Nonetheless, I returned to Horsetail Falls to start the loop hike, albeit with a screaming orange beacon where my head should have been...

Some photos from the trip - starting with an Eric Peterson-inspired selfie of the hideous (but surprisingly functional) hat:



One of my favorite trail signs in the Gorge:



Fall colors just starting to appear at Ponytail Falls:



LOTS of water in Oneonta Creek - complete with an amber cast that you don't often see in our mountain streams:



Triple Falls - running strong enough that you had to time photos to miss the plumes of mist that were roiling up from the falls:



Always a gem of a hike, though getting really hammered by heavy use in the lower sections of the loop -- and especially around the lower Oneonta Bridge crossing. Some really disappointing boot paths have formed there in just the past year or two (to stupid "overlooks" that don't reveal anything), so it's going to take some rehab to get things back to where they were.

BTW, the temporary trail over the slide just downstream from Triple Falls is holding up just fine, though muddy. Shouldn't be a problem to navigate as we head into the wet season.

Tom

[adamschneider]

complete with an amber cast that you don't often see in our mountain streams:

Is that from decaying fall leaves and crud like that?

[Splintercat]

I think so -- plus, just a lot of small, seasonal side streams flushing out a summer's worth of debris, too.

[raftingdog]

really found a way to photo in unique way... thanks for posting

[woodswalker]

Thanks, I was wondering how that slide section was holding up. I had heard it was iffy, so I'm glad it's doing ok.
Woodswalker

[jdemott]

Great photos, Tom (even the hat)! The Horsetail-Oneonta hike is one of my favorites, especially the stretch above Triple Falls.

What a difference a little rain makes! Two weeks ago (October 13), the water in Oneonta Creek was really low:


It will be interesting to see how that slide area holds up through the rainy season. It looks like it will take a fairly major re-routing of the trail to get around the slide on a more permanent basis.

[Splintercat]

John, is that the view from the upper bridge (at Triple Falls)..?

Tom

[jdemott]

I think it was just a little farther upstream, but quite close to the Triple Falls bridge.

Here's one from the bridge (I think):

[Splintercat]

Yep, that's the spot above the bridge, John -- your view covers the upper right corner of this view from Wednesday:



That's a lotta wata!

@Woodswalker - here are a couple of pics of the slide, first a pano looking toward the trailhead from the south edge of the slide:



...and this is looking back from under the downed tree at the far edge of the slide (at some folks who were heading up the trail as I was heading down):



The stairs are the messy part - quite muddy - but the slide traverse was fine.

Tom

[Eric Peterson]

That's more like a Mayhem inspired selfie, he really pioneered the PH selfie!

Go Beavs too!