TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3rd

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Splintercat
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TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3rd

Post by Splintercat » July 3rd, 2013, 11:51 pm

Had a great time on one of the more unusual TKO projects today. A small crew consisting of yours truly and first-time TKO volunteer Christopher had the green light from the Forest Service to take a 16-foot pole pruner up to Metlako Falls to clear brush that was almost completely blocking the falls view.

In recent years, this has gone from nuisance to hazard, as hikers were increasingly crossing the cable railing for photos -- with potentially disastrous results, as it is a sheer 150' cliff dropping straight into Eagle Creek, below. Our task was to trim a thicket of brush -- including 15-foot shoots from a maple stump -- to reopen the original view, and hopefully encourage hikers to stay on the right side of the fence! We wanted to get up there today since there will be hundreds of hikers up there over the long holiday weekend.

All went well, though the maple shoots were about as far as we could reach with the pole saw fully extended! We considered sawing the old stump, but didn't want to risk getting the saw blade stuck... in a stump hanging over a 150-foot cliff! :?

Here are some photos from the project -- starting with the HUGE TKO crew, pictured at the trailhead:

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Christopher hauling the somewhat unwieldy pole pruner up the trail:

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Scoping out the task at hand - pretty much everything in front of Chris had to be trimmed to the ground:

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Yours truly sawing/lopping the thicket of ocean spray and snowberry at the upper edge of the cliff -- trimming the maple shoots in the background was the more difficult part of the project:

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Boom! After about 90 minutes of somewhat awkward sawing, we dropped the last maple shoot, and had our waterfall view back!

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The sun was making photos difficult, but in this before/after, you can see the top of Metlako in the shadows in the first photo, for comparison:

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The TKO crew leader suggesting a new photo opportunity from the safe side of the fence... :D

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The sun was dropping fast, so we waited a bit to celebrate the newly restored view with some pictures with the big camera -- as you can see in this view, it's now very easy to capture the "classic" Metlako view from within the fenced viewpoint:

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This view was taken with all three legs of my tripod inside the fence -- so very safe:

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Had a great time on this project, and want to thank Edan Lira at the Columbia River Gorge NSA for giving us the green light to proceed! Also, big thanks to Christopher for helping out today -- very much appreciated! :)

BTW, I should mention that TKO will be doing some work on the Mirror Lake/Tom Dick and Harry trails on July 13 -- you don't need any special skills, and in this case, can even do just half a day (the Mirror Lake section) if that works best for you. After that, some work at Angels Rest later in July and on the PCT near Ramona Falls in August -- all popular trails that will be fun to give back on! Just go to this page on the TKO website to learn more.

Tom :)

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by Splintercat » July 4th, 2013, 10:10 am

Oh, and one more thing to post -- this is the pitch that we sent to the Forest Service that shows the (brush free) viewpoint as it appeared in 2001, plus the well-worn spot that had developed on the opposite side of the fence over the years:

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One thing I've always wondered about this viewpoint is whether it was part of the original 1916-19 construction, or added later? The posts and cable look more like something from the 1950s to me -- so perhaps were added at that time? I also haven't seen historic photos/postcards of Metlako (as compared to Punch Bowl Falls), which kinda suggests that it wasn't a common stop during the 1900-1940 postcard heyday...? Hmmm....

Tom :)

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by Don Nelsen » July 4th, 2013, 8:00 pm

Tom,

Thanks for taking care of that - well done!

dn
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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by BrianEdwards » July 4th, 2013, 8:19 pm

Thanks Tom for this, nice work
Clackamas River Waterfall Project - 95 Documented, 18 to go.

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by justpeachy » July 5th, 2013, 6:19 am

This is great! I never felt comfortable totally hopping the fence to take a photo, so I'd just put my tripod over there, but that made it pretty awkward to compose and take a shot. This will be an improvement!

I notice that the branches of a maple further along the cliff are just barely starting to encroach on the view. Hopefully it will grow up and not out because I don't see how it would ever be safe to prune that particular tree!

Thanks for doing this!

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by greglief » July 5th, 2013, 7:46 am

Well done! And thanks to Edan for his cooperation.

I share Cheryl's concern about the maple branches further along the cliff. Let's hope that they cooperate. :)

Greg

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by Splintercat » July 5th, 2013, 8:48 am

I hope so, too, Greg! That tree is definitely beyond the reach of my pole pruner! :lol: I noticed that, too -- compared to my 2001 photo, that pair of maples has really grown significantly. But Mother Nature is pretty hard on maples in the Gorge, so keeping my fingers crossed... :)

BTW, for photo nerds, one of the surprising things (to me) was how much of the gorge below Metlako was hidden from view by the brush -- I guess I hadn't really remembered it this way, but it's sort of a jumbo version of the gorge at High Bridge:

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BTW (also for photo nerds), the moss-covered pair of branches in the lower left is "the stump" from the maple that we trimmed. There's one small branch still attached (you can see the leaves, though the upside-down leave are from a couple small branches that got hung up), but this stump will put up new shoots as long as it survives... so, we'll trim it again someday, if needed!

Thanks for the kind comments!

Tom :)

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by Splintercat » July 5th, 2013, 8:52 am

Oh, and @ Cheryl: I kept all three legs of my tripod on the safe side of the railing, just for demo purposes -- so you can definitely move the maple a bit further out of the frame by straddling the fence with your tripod, and safely leaning on a post... or, if you stand at the far end of the viewpoint, above the spot where people have crawled over to the "landing", you get a very clear shot. So, I think we're okay with the big maples in the mid-ground for awhile...

Darned nature getting in front of our waterfall photos, anyway! :lol:

-Tom :)

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by Rather B Hiking » July 13th, 2013, 4:18 pm

Thanks for doing that! Those darned waterfall books have people taking all kinds of risks to get photos. Farther up the trail, at a large boulder where you catch the first glimpse of Loowit Falls, a steep user trail has caused most of the main trail to erode. Next winter's rains may make that spot totally impassable.

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Re: TKO Metlako Falls Overlook Improvement Project | July 3r

Post by jaimito » July 15th, 2013, 7:26 am

Good work guys! Tom sorry I missed carrying the torch, LMK about OP.

J

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