I'm of like mind about protecting untouched places when they're likely to remain untouched. But given that about a million new residents are expected in Portland in the next 25 years, new trails are not an option, they're a necessity. Otherwise, we will see places like Eagle Creek, Multnomah Creek and Angels Rest further trampled by the crowds, and Walmart-sized parking lots at trailheads.

There is also the inevitable fact that places without trails are already developing "unofficial" trails due to the high demand, and these boot paths are more destructive to the landscape, in the end, than an official route. Consider the boot paths to Middle Oneonta Falls or especially Ecola Falls that are badly eroding the canyon slopes, for example. Does anyone think that you can actually prevent people (us!) from wanting to visit these spots?

So I would like very much to see many new trails built in the Gorge - including Ruckel Creek, Tanner Creek, Bridal Veil Creek, and more. There will always be trail-less areas that lie beyond the Portland "weekender" reach for those seeking rugged solitude, after all - and like it or not, we off-trail enthusiasts represent only a small share of the forest "owners", e.g., the hiking public.

My $0.02.

-Tom

    GXC

Very cool to hear this story. I found the grate below the tree as we were trying to find more staples in the tree, there was some wire that led me to the grill. I decided not to keep looking for stuff, I figured there might be more but I figured better left alone. So you did proceed beyond the Big Upper falls, did you climb out to the upper left where we were taking those comparison shots? It looked as thought you could get out that way but we were running low on time. There was also a really nice game trail off to the right that looked as though it might have potential but that looked a lot steeper.

So do you know what the story is about the pick ax and cables?

I also agree with you on the trail thing on this one, some places are best left hidden for the few who dare to venture there.

Cheers / JAmie

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When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
- Wendell Berry

im with splintercat on the trail thing.  i think they should make a trail.  those are such great falls and i think they should have at least some kind of trail.  besides, eventually they might actually have to pave the eagle creek trail! :(  because soooooo many people go there

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jamey pyles

Woah woah woah!  Wiat a second and lets get back to the history of the area.  Let's discuss trails elsewhere, it's going to be contentious and no matter what happens there will not be a trail here for a LONG time. 

So GXC, I had trouble really understanding the message, what else do you know about the history of the area?  It's important we get the information we can out.  These places are on the internet now, and we cannot stop the groups of off trail enthusiasts from visiting them now, the more we can tell them about the history of the area the more they will RESPECT the area and leave it untouched.  Please help us here!

Would you mind sharing the route around the uppermost falls so we don't have to spend a few hours in dangerous places looking for it?  Is there an implication here that there is a perfect punchbowl falls on Ruckel Creek?

As for the naming, I think we just have to leave it lower middle and upper for now.  Certainly, given the moderate difficulty of these there have been people going here for a long long time, we'll never know who was first.  It's best not to credit anyone and possibly offend someone else.

It's great to see this thread has brought out some of the gorge bushwhackers from previous generations that I knew existed, and had probably seen eveything I thought might be undiscovered!  Pleadse chime in and join the discussion guys!

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Andy

Hello GXC,

Thank you for the compliments and for the great history of this amazing canyon! It's really great to have people contribute their knowledge in these forums and we all benefit from hearing the stories. I'm sure all involved here would like to hear anything else you could add.

I saw the deer path when I went high on the east side of the upper falls so obviously they can get up that slope but it was too wet and slippery for me to want to try it last Sunday. You mentioned your friends dog: It's incredible what they can do in the wild - several times I've seen dogs on the uppermost reaches of Mt. Hood, repeatedly running up and back down, (even in the "chute") while their owners, equipped with crampons and ice ax, gingerly and carefully make their way up. My companions and I noted that a dog likely climbs a mountain at least three times for his owner's one time!

Is the punchbowl you mention above the 120 foot falls? If so, how far up? I'd like to see that.

You've raised the often thorny issue of access to the few wild and woolly places left. I think the issue here is where the balance should be between access and preservation. While I respect your opinion and I agree that "not every creek needs a trail", there are a hundred creeks without trails for every one of them with one. Splintercat has some excellent points especially with his observation that folks are going to go anyway and the existing trails are few and crowded. Airdrum, too, with his thoughts that the more people know about these areas, the more they will respect them. We've seen the first ½ mile or so of the Wahkeena trail get paved this past year or so and the Multnomah Falls trail is paved all the way to the top of the falls. Even the Eagle Creek trail was paved (in concrete!) for the first few hundred yards many years ago. I'd hate to see more paved trails - I might as well take a walk through Laurelhurst Park! The construction of new trails, IMO, has woefully lagged behind our increasing population. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I believe I can count on one hand the number of new trails built in the past forty years or so. I'm fairly certain that the total trail mileage in the Gorge has actually dropped. (Sure, there have been a few realignments, some old rail beds and old logging roads converted to trails, but how many truly new trails have been built?) As it is, only an extremely small minority of folks get to see places like Ruckel, upper Tanner and even the upper Bridal Veil falls. A few new trails to these places would surely take some load off the other overcrowded places and make it more enjoyable for all. Thanks for your consideration of these thoughts - and BTW, welcome to the forum.

My 2¢

Don

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"If I had known I was going to live this long I'd have taken better care of myself" - anon

Good afternoon Don,
Liked your picture of the runaway train. Found your adventures at other areas such as the Detroit region to be a great read, as well. We will need to meet sometime for a desperate off-trail run such as Yeon, Nesmith or the Island once the snows melt back a bit.
Anyway... the USFS map I have calls it Ruckel Creek.
As for the falls, Mr Evans just referred to the waterfalls as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd falls so I can live with that. Ascending the gully on the right side of the 3rd falls is correct.
I met Mr. Evans after solo scrambling up the drainage a ways. He was sitting leaning against a log whittling with a knife on a piece of stick. I sat enchanted for nearly 2 hours as he told of numerous drainages and ridges that he, his father, his uncle and grandfather had explored. Ruckel was apparently one of their hunting camp sites at the 3rd falls. Not sure of the pick axe, but likely to expand a cliff ledge to get out of the rain. Evans certainly knew the area, because when I came back later to adventure along some of the Gorge drainages and ridge crests, his beta was correct for the most part. He was living in upper Washington at the time but was thinking of moving back home to Cascade Locks to be closer to family.
Some time later a friend and I explored the entire drainage to about 1/4 mile above the 3rd falls, then we cut up left to catch the hikers trail to descend. Like all Gorge drainages this one is no different; a person can easily make a misstep. We all have busted our shin really good in various Gorge drainages no matter how expert we thought we were. I generally see the Gorge mostly as an off-trail world. Although few new trails have been built recently, that is likely due to new budget goals that entail HR management rather than new trails. It is thorns and briers...
The round punchbowl pool falls I mentioned is actually on another creek system altogether, but it is definitely worth seeing. I have yet to capture a good digital picture of it.
Best regards!

Don, here's that side-by-side -- you did a great job of reproducing the scene!




-Tom

   Tom, I would like to suggest that the 20 ft falls directly below the Indian fire-pit gathering area be named "Hiyu Falls" or "Opitshka Falls."  Either of these names would make a historical statement incorporating the Indian fire-pit gathering area.  Hiyu means "a large gathering" in Chinook, and so could honor the ancient Indian use of that area.  Opitshka means "fire" in Chinook, so it could describe the use of the area for the large campfires.  Either way, I think the name would leave people wondering, and so might cause them to research and find the fascinating history of large Indian gatherings on that slope for whatever reason.

   Personally, I would love to know why and at what time of year those ancient gatherings took place.  I would imagine that it had something to do with the yearly salmon festivals.  I love to imagine large gatherings sitting around those huge fire pits, and talking, celebrating, perhaps worshipping, etc..., and to imagine the visits down to this waterfall that must have occured all the time.  Perhaps this waterfall, and the other too for that matter on Ruckel creek, were of special significance?  That might explain why the festivals (or gatherings) were held on that slope.  Interesting stuff, whatever the true past was.

   Anyway, I'd suggest "Hiyu Falls" or "Opitshka Falls."

-Zach

i think hiyu would sound better; i cant even pronounce the other one.  good reason

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jamey pyles

Beautiful & impressive falls up there -- tho' I'd have to agree with GMX:  keep it wild.

Respectfully, while new trail building may be lagging, there are a number of trails in the Gorge that don't see many visitors already - and many in the backcountry are slowly disappearing per a lack of visitation & maintenance (Tanner Butte / Tanner Cutoff, Voh Ahn Rim, Wygant, Wauna Point, Casey Creek, Hardy Ridge, etc.).  Others could use serious trail maintenance (Rock of Ages, Munra) and some really trails have simply been abandoned and/or forgotten about (Elevator Shaft, Nesmith Ridge, Rudolph Spur, Foxglove, Perdition?).  It's a shame that they've had to pave Multnomah and Wahkeena with potentially Eagle Creek on the horizon, but it's necessary per the sheer influx of visitors eager to see the waterfalls to prevent erosion.  Were a trail put in to the Ruckle drainage - given the relatively low elevation and majesty of the falls - it'd become another draw on the Eagle Creek area and I think paving would ultimately loom in its future too.

-Kevin

    It's great to see all the info that this thread is getting out there.  Your stories are cool GXC, man you sound like someone I'd love to sit down in a pub next to and hear your stories of gorge forays.  I'm just getting started in this area, but I hopefully have many healthy years ahead of me to do a lot more!  Send me a private message if your willing to let me pick your brain in exchange for a pint.

The trail issue is always going to be contentious.  I personally can't understand the paving idea instead of funding new trails although there as some nice accessability features that paving provides, which must be a consideration.  I agree with mandrake that there are some severely overlooked trails that need help before new ones are built, but anyway, we should talk about this in a different thread.

So this used tobe a hunting camp, we think, interesting.  I suppose with the info out there it won't be long before there is a geocache at the upper falls!  GXC, where is this riley character anyway, we need to enlist him!

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Andy

I went in and bagged the middle and upper falls on Tuesday.  Won't start from scratch because the initial report was pretty much good enough and spot on.  I didn't even have to take a map, just my GPS and remember a few lines from what was initially reported.  So, my various observations in completely random order:

I found that rather than descending down to the creek after crossing the grassy slope, it was easier to drop down a little, then contour underneath the bottom of the cliffs on obvious herd paths until you reach that little gully with the rain-fed 15 foot waterfall just to the right of the Middle Falls, then drop down to the creek.  Cuts out a lot of bashing of brush down along the creek.

I wouldn't consider the little slide waterfall above the Middle Falls to be a significant waterfall.  First of all, its literally no more than 20 feet back from the brink of the big drop, so if anything it should be considered an upper tier.  That it can't be seen from below might work against that concept, so maybe that'll have to be debated.  My eye says its about 4-5 feet tall, no more.  I didn't bother taking pictures of it I felt it was so insignificant (however pretty it may be, but it was also raining on and off when I was in there, and I didn't want to doddle).

Regarding the heights of the two big falls, the measurement of the Middle Falls at 68 feet looks entirely accurate to me.  I don't have my rangefinder yet so I couldn't measure the Upper Falls, but I'd say its around 100 feet, not much more.

I didn't shoot from the "upper" viewpoint where Don replicated the view in the photo I posted a while back (the climb to that point basically drained me), but I do think it is viable to use the scree slope a little north of that viewpoint to get completely around the cliffband and above the falls.  If it doesn't go above the cliffs, I noticed a possible bench that might traverse the cliffs above the falls.  Probably would be a really hairy traverse, not something I'd ever do (I'm not more than 15% certain it'd even go), but its promising at least.

Now as far as a trail to the area is concerned, I'm not sure how that'd work.  Getting a trail to the bottom of the Middle Falls would be fairly easy, but I can't see any viable way one would design a way to get a developed path up that gully and to the upper falls.  Its just too steep and too unstable.  Either way, it'd be a LOT of work to get a trail in there, and I can think of other areas where attention should be directed before such a project should even be considered.

I'll add some pictures later - downloading them now.

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Bryan Swan
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com

    Brian… Glad to hear you bagged this one, it is truly a hidden gem ( the lower 15 footer ), curious to see some of your photos if you don't mind sharing outside of your website. Don and I ventured up to Archer Mountain and I was curious if you have any info on the Falls that drops down into the slot canyon, it was close to where the power lines are, Don probably has it mapped and I'm pretty sure he said it flows all year.

http://portlandhikers.org/forums/thread/30563.aspx

Also do you have any other brief info and what Don calls Cable Creek and the falls that are on that drainage… seems to me they need some proper names… what's your 2 cents?

Cheers and glad you got to see the falls on Ruckel Creek…

Jamie

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When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
- Wendell Berry

Actually I had to skip out on the lower of the three (the one below the indian pits) because I was way too tired to climb down into the canyon and back out a second time (plus it was raining and I stupidly left my umbrella at home, which makes shooting in the rain a lot more difficult).  I took note of where I thought would be best to leave the trail and I plan on hitting that one again sometime later this year, probably May-ish.

One other odd observation about the area.  I always hear theres poison oak everywhere in the gorge, but either its never out when I'm down there, I'm looking for something completely different than it looks like, or I'm just blind, because I still have yet to have a run in with it.

As far as Cable Creek goes, Don knows more than I do.  I know Cable Falls (the big one) is 192 feet tall according to the Mazamas, I didn't even know about that slot canyon falls until Don documented it, and I haven't yet been back to photograph the upper falls on Good Bear (Cable) Creek (or Archer Falls for that matter).

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Bryan Swan
http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com

    Thanks for the update… probably a good idea to bag it without the umbrella. Don pointed out the poison oak stems to use along the way, I never really pay much attention but if it was in full bloom I'm sure it would of been an issue, because it was around.

We're planning more trips up in that area so when you get down here again I'm sure Don would love to drag you through the brush ( mud, rain and snow…LOL)

Cheers / Jamie

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When going back makes sense, you are going ahead.
- Wendell Berry