Chasing Waterfalls

In search of waterfalls!  Out on the Boulder River Trail in the Cascades with a true blue friend who cheerily volunteered to share the very rainy Pacific Northwest with me on my quest for waterfalls on a precious day off from work.  Just look at this beautiful, fast flowing river that we were treated to walk beside on a gorgeous forested trail.  Up and down, we gained about 700 feet elevation on the moderately easy trail.  The peak, 1,550.  And most exciting were the lows where we were so close to the river.  Of course, with all the fall rains now there are little streams that cross the trail here and there as they seek out Boulder River as an outlet.

My friend Barb insisted these are diamonds sparkling in the trees instead of raindrops. She may be right, or these may be early Christmas trees with strings of lights.

The trail teases us with a pretty, staircase waterfall.  Well, the trail is 8.6 miles round trip and we've hardly begun so we know there are more and bigger waterfalls ahead. You can see the raindrops falling too

Now this is what I call a waterfall! It's actually named Boulder Falls 

And look what's just ahead!  Once we saw this around the corner, we quickened our pace with excitement

Here it is in all it's glory, giant waterfall. Notice the dripping moss and bright yellow monkey flower between the two braids of water.  This is a stunning, double, unnamed waterfall.  What would you name it?

The tremendous, thunderous power of water

The river water is very silty this time of year.  This hike is just off the Mountain Loop Highway, and just past the highway where people suffered the sad Oso slide.  It was heartwarming to see all the planting that is happening in the slide area, and also all the trees planted commemorating those who died

Here you can see the trail we followed, and the trampled, wet leaves

Just by the side of the trail, yes winter is on the way

A glimpse through a framing glen at the rushing waters of a stream headed toward Boulder River.  We enjoyed a wonderful hike along this trail.  It's truly an all season, all weather outing with different delights on display at different times of the year.  I'll certainly be back, and hopefully on a drier day.  Thanks to my true blue friend for sharing this fall hike with me.