7/18/10 Eagle Creek to Twister Falls

[SandM]

Michelle and I headed out yesterday morning to do a bit of hiking. Since we have been concentrating on progressively higher/steeper peaks over the last few weeks, we decided to take a break and do Eagle Creek to Twister Falls. We arrived about 6:50am with only about 12 cars in the parking lot.

The hike itself was absolutely gorgeous. It was perfect weather and relatively cool. As I said before, we were looking at this hike as a break from our norm. It was a little more than I had expected. The climb is very gradual, but it's pretty rocky. Our feet and ankles are actually a little sore this morning. I thought it would almost literally be a walk in the park, but I guess 13 miles over some rocky terrain is a little more than that.

Anyway, the hike is awesome and, if you get there early, not too crowded. We saw about 18 others on our way up to Twister, but coming down...holy smokes. 100s of people on the trail. Especially once you get down below Punch Bowl Falls. That last couple of miles was like waiting in line at the grocery store. We actually saw multiple people in flip flops. Maybe we are just old fashioned, but even though this is a fairly easy trail, it wouldn't even occur to us to wear flip flops.

One more item of note before I run the risk of rambling on. If you have a fear of heights (as we do) this trail can be really scary in parts. We don't let our fear stop us, but it has a tendency to slow us down a bit. There are quite a few spots that have exposure. Especially the Vertigo Mile. Wow. We were actually in the middle of the Vertigo Mile, and had a discussion about turning around. Luckily we didn't, but man that was spooky! The photos below don’t do the trail a bit of justice.

Have a great day,
Seth and Michelle

[AlexanderSupertramp]

Great report guys. I don't care much for the vertigo mile type places either.

[BrianEdwards]

Very nice TR. I too have seen the crowds of people at Punchbowl wearing only flip-flops.

[tomoforegon]

Great pictures there! And you're right that one can't capture the splendor of this trail with photographs. That warbler picture is wonderful. And you captured TWO butterflies in one shot! Pale Swallowtail [Papilio eurymedon] and Lorquin's Admiral [Limenitis lorquini]. There's a sunny spot just beyond "The Potholes" where you can photograph butterflies in small flocks...California Tortoiseshell's appear here in August. If you stay still they'll land on your arm. Really cool.

--Tom

[jeffstatt]

Cool osprey nest photo! Looked like a great day for a hike