Dry Creek Falls, Sunday, 2/21

[sparklehorse]

My dog Kirah and I hiked up to Dry Creek Falls today, then continued up the PCT to the Herman Creek Pinnacles and Pacific Crest Falls (all of which can be found in the Field Guide, btw). With the gorgeous spring weather (what, it's winter?) I was hoping to avoid the crowds, and this lesser-known hike seemed to fit the bill nicely, especially since I hadn't been here before. It worked out really well. I just saw a few folks as I made my way up to the falls, then no one else for the rest of the day. It's a great little hike too, I thoroughly enjoyed it. And kudos to Steve and Tom for their excellent work on the Field Guide entries for this area. Well done gentlemen!

Headin' up the trail a little bit after noon...



In short order we arrived at beautiful Dry Creek Falls...







We took a nice long break here, then headed back down to the PCT.

Crossing the Dry Creek bridge...





Continuing on the PCT...



The trail crosses a talus slope that offers a view across the river...



The rather odd pinnacle formations...







I scrambled up one of the formations and got a bit of a view from its summit...







A short distance beyond the pinnacles is Pacific Crest Falls...





It's a pretty enough waterfall, but it strikes me as odd that of all the world-class falls in the Columbia River Gorge, this rather unremarkable one is the only one a PCT through-hiker would see. I mean, the Gorge should arguably be one of the great highlights of that 2650 mile long journey, and yet for a hiker sticking to the PCT I think their experience of it would be rather ho-hum. I'm not saying I have a better route mind you, I just thought it was interesting.

On the hike out, somewhere near the pinnacles, I saw a large, black glove on a rock next to the trail that I hadn't seen on the way up. A couple hundred yards later there was an empty pistol holster next to the trail. I hadn't seen that earlier either and I hadn't seen or heard anyone for at least a couple hours. This didn't exactly creep me out, but I was definitely looking over my shoulder a few times on the way down!

Aside from that little bit of weirdness it was an awesome day.

Gordon

[mayhem]

Thank you for sharing .......But now I'm creeped out

[turtle]

It's a pretty enough waterfall, but it strikes me as odd that of all the world-class falls in the Columbia River Gorge, this rather unremarkable one is the only one a PCT through-hiker would see. I mean, the Gorge should arguably be one of the great highlights of that 2650 mile long journey, and yet for a hiker sticking to the PCT I think their experience of it would be rather ho-hum. I'm not saying I have a better route mind you, I just thought it was interesting.

A large number of PCT hikers use the Eagle Creek trail. It is kind of an unofficial detour; like the side-trips by Devils Post Pile, Mt Whitney, and Crater Lake. Nice report and pictures.

[Splintercat]

Nice pics, Gordon -- I especially like your very wide view (first image) of Dry Creek Falls. It gives a nice sense of the basalt formation that makes this falls so interesting. The Kirah-on-the-bridge shot is nice, too... maybe you can rig up a Kirah-cam for a dog's-eye-view on future hikes..?

Tom

[mattisnotfrench]

That's a great hike. We did it last month starting at Herman Creek. From that trailhead to Dry Creek Falls is about 8 miles and about 1,000 feet of elevation gain. We didn't see anybody that day either. Great hike!

Your pictures are lovely, btw.

[CherokeeDriver]

I had not seen any pics of Dry Creek Falls before -- thanks for adding something to my to-do list.

-Robert

[Aridd]

Adam ( AlexanderSupertramp ) here on PH's did a nice article accompanied with good photos on Dry Creek Falls last week for his hiking write up, http://www.examiner.com/x-35937-Portlan ... -waterfall and now this trip report gives it even more cred' to being a very nice waterfall, added onto my list as well.

[Don Nelsen]

Gordon, excellent photos and report! I think those are by far the best Dry Creek falls pics I've seen. That's a nice new bridge, too - It's been years since I was on that section of trail and remember a very dilapidated, falling down structure at the time. Kirah looks happy on the new one.

-Don

[sparklehorse]

Thanks Don, and thanks everybody for the nice comments on the report and photos. Yeah, Kirah looks a little nervous or something in that bridge photo but she actually took it quite in stride. She was having a great day.

G

[bretvogel]

I didn't catch any of the crazy spooky stuff you did. I was by myself on Saturday and thought I saw a little kid hiding on a hill in a very horror movie sort of way. Pretty sure it was a stump. It was getting dark. . . I agree with Tom about the wide view, these are some of the better picks I've seen of DCF. I've tried to photograph this falls a bunch of times, and never gotten it right. I think the key is to include the whole thing like you did! We'll see if embeding photos works. . . Obviously this photo has been monkeyed with.

Bret