Watson Falls
Our waterfalls-hiking agenda on Monday in the Oregon Cascades was a bit of a jumble. I had several browser tables open on my computer to various falls I wanted to hike, and a few sections bookmarked the old-fashioned way (i.e., with a scrap of paper) in Smedley's waterfall book. As we went through the day, having hiked 3 trails already, we were discussing tradeoffs on which ones to add to the list or skip.
"Watson Falls, hmm, I don't know," I said. Then I checked the notes. "272 feet tall, third highest falls in Oregon." Fuck no, we're not skipping that!
The trek to the base of Watson Falls is short but steep. Short, as in less than half a mile. Steep, as in it rises 300 feet in that short distance. But then views like this open up...
...and you forget about your aching legs and just focus on finding stable footing while not taking your eyes off the falls.
The trail proper turns away just behind where I'm standing. Yes, everyone in the frame, including yours truly taking the picture, is off trail. But how could we not?
A little ways up the social trail is a flat-ish rock to sit on. We sat down for a bit and enjoyed the lush undergrowth and gentle cascade in the foreground with the horsetail of Watson Falls swishing in the background. ...Yes, it really was swishing. Breeze in the canyon blew the water back and forth, left and right.
After a bit we picked our way back to the official trail. I mentioned it bent away at that point.... It climbs higher through a pair of switchbacks to a vantage point that's about one-third up the height of the falls. Oddly this vista was very uncrowded compared to the bottom of the falls. It's like everybody had energy to climb the slippery rocks at the bottom and make yoga poses for their Instagram accounts, but nobody had energy or was curious where the rest of the trail went.
BTW, the rock on the cliff here is also basalt, similar to the rock face at Toketee Falls. Here the columnar structure isn't so pronounced. A kiosk at the trailhead explains that this volcanic basalt filled the canyon sometime between 25,000 - 100,000 years ago when a volcano near the top of the pass erupted.
"Watson Falls, hmm, I don't know," I said. Then I checked the notes. "272 feet tall, third highest falls in Oregon." Fuck no, we're not skipping that!
The trek to the base of Watson Falls is short but steep. Short, as in less than half a mile. Steep, as in it rises 300 feet in that short distance. But then views like this open up...
...and you forget about your aching legs and just focus on finding stable footing while not taking your eyes off the falls.
The trail proper turns away just behind where I'm standing. Yes, everyone in the frame, including yours truly taking the picture, is off trail. But how could we not?
A little ways up the social trail is a flat-ish rock to sit on. We sat down for a bit and enjoyed the lush undergrowth and gentle cascade in the foreground with the horsetail of Watson Falls swishing in the background. ...Yes, it really was swishing. Breeze in the canyon blew the water back and forth, left and right.
After a bit we picked our way back to the official trail. I mentioned it bent away at that point.... It climbs higher through a pair of switchbacks to a vantage point that's about one-third up the height of the falls. Oddly this vista was very uncrowded compared to the bottom of the falls. It's like everybody had energy to climb the slippery rocks at the bottom and make yoga poses for their Instagram accounts, but nobody had energy or was curious where the rest of the trail went.
BTW, the rock on the cliff here is also basalt, similar to the rock face at Toketee Falls. Here the columnar structure isn't so pronounced. A kiosk at the trailhead explains that this volcanic basalt filled the canyon sometime between 25,000 - 100,000 years ago when a volcano near the top of the pass erupted.