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PUNCHBOWL FALLS

Eagle Creek Trail

July 27, 2013

The Coon Family Hiking Club
Official 2013 Hike

4.2 miles - 3 hours 55 minutes
Elevation Change: 400 feet

PREVIOUS PUNCHBOWL FALLS HIKES Punchbowl Falls CFHC Hike #1 Punchbowl Falls CFHC Hike #2 Punchbowl Falls CFHC Hike #3 Punchbowl Falls CFHC Hike #4 This is the fifth CFHC Punchbowl Falls hike. We also did a Tunnel Falls hike that included the hike to Punchbowl Falls as part of it. We met up with Dotti's brother Rip, and he came along with us for the hike. It was the third time he has joined the group hiking to Punchbowl Falls. Like us, he enjoys this hike a lot. We got a great parking spot right at the trailhead, and got on the trail right at 8:44am. The temperature was around 62°F. When we returned it was 12:39pm and the temperature had climbed to just over 70°. Later that day, it peaked out around 79°F, but we missed all of that by getting an early start, and that kept things nice and cool throughout our hike. But it wasn't cold, to be sure. As you will see from the pictures we were not very bundled up, even at the start, though Dotti and I had long sleeved shirts on at the beginning. This was our first hike in a long time. And face it, we were not in great shape. So, we wanted to start off with something we knew well, and that was not too terribly taxing on our systems. We took it slow and easy and had a fun time!
	We really didn't arrive super early and we were very lucky to get a parking spot so close to the trailhead. You can see a couple walking towards us from way down the parking lot, and numerous cars are already filling up parking spaces. It was purest optimism that brought me around to even try for a close parking place. Sometimes things go right.
Since we were not in great shape, we wanted to avoid loading ourselves down with stuff to carry. So, I didn't wear my backpack, nor did I bring my larger camera. These photos were all done with pocket cameras. One issue we faced repeatedly was the extreme contrast of various scenes. It was a bright sunny day, but the trail has a lot of shadows as well. Sometimes one or the other of those things won out.
Here is Rip getting out of the van and swapping his shoes out for hiking.
	Here is yours truly, with pocket camera in hand, and my cane tucked under my arm. I weighed 223.5 pounds that morning, and I also have my hiking boots on ready for the trail. The reason I was carrying a cane rather than one of our walking sticks, was because I found out that morning that we had stupidly left our walking sticks in Spokane when we moved and they are gone.
It was too late to do anything about it for this hike, but on the way home Dotti and I stopped and purchased some new walking sticks for future hikes. (You will notice that the couple in the background are getting closer as we get ready.)
Rip was practicing for old age here, as he hunched down to appear shorter than he really is. And don't let that gray beard fool you. He was born less than two years (less by 4 days) before my oldest son Glenn! I am old enough to be his father, and he is pretending to be old.
	Two young pups here! Rip is 18 years younger than I am and Dotti is over 5 years younger than I, as well. They will help me feel younger too! And they look happy to start the hike, don't they!
And we are off! Dotti jumps out into the lead, and Rip is coming up fast on the outside. Several lengths behind, the old man is following.
	I was taking most of the pictures, so I had to shoot a few of myself. On the way back we will get a look at what that sign says. They have had some rather unwise people taking risks, diving into waters that are unsafe and it has been costly for them. They are trying to discourage people from followig their bad example.
This little pond is right beside the parking lot and we stopped over there when Tom Kreider joined us on this hike back on August 27, 2005.
	We are only a few yards up the trail so far, because you can see cars in the background still. Just getting started. As you can see, Dotti brought her cane as well, because we lost our hiking sticks in the move.
Now Punchbowl Falls you will see in this hike. High Bridge and Tunnel Falls you can see on our Eagle Creek Tunnel Falls hike on my 52nd birthday in 2003. However, we have yet to make it up to Wahtum Lake. Just one way to it is farther than the round trip to Tunnel Falls. That is a long hike! Maybe one day we will tackle it.
	This is a nice new bridge. If you compare it with what was here in 2003 (the bridge was about the same in 2005 as it was in 2003) it has a nice railing now that was not there before. Also, they put some effort into reinforcing the railing so if someone leaned on it, it would stand up to it fairly well.
We moved slowly on this hike, with frequent stops and rest breaks. We were testing the waters, so to speak, to see if we were up to doing some hiking.
	A nice part of resting a lot is you get to visit more and take in the scenery a lot more as well.
So far, so good. We are having fun and enjoying the beautiful Eagle Creek.
	You can see why this is such a popular trail to hike. There is something about a flowing stream that cheers up any hike.
Here you can see the huge contrast in lighting between the area in direct sunlight and the area in shadow. But the water is beautiful in either case.
	Along with the great hiking companions I shared this hike with, the creek makes a friendly addition to the crew. It just relaxes you to walk next to a stream and listen to the sound it makes. And all the lush green is wonderful to see.
The trail doesn't always run right beside Eagle Creek. Here you can see that it moves off to the left, and later on, our path will lead us high above the creek bed.
	The time was 8:51am, only 7 minutes into the hike! We haven't gotten warmed up yet, because Dotti is still wearing her sweater. Rip was watching the bear that was sneaking up behind me. Well, not really. The bear was so quiet we never heard it at all and we didn't see it either. In fact, it may not have been there that day.
This scene is so typical of the Columbia River Gorge! A stream running through rich foliage, green plants of all manner fighting for their own personal bit of space, while moss clings to the trunks and branches of trees and many of the rocks too.
	And sometimes the moss gets very thick. This branch makes me think of a lobster reaching out with its claw.
This is a nice safe stretch of trail, green setting, within earshot of Eagle Creek still, nice and wide, with no major drop-offs along the side, and only a gradual uphill grade.
	And as we walked along we were treated to glimpses of Eagle Creek through the moss covered branches reaching out towards the water.
About 25 minutes into the walk, Dotti took off her sweater, obviously warmed up finally. This photo was taken a minute later. The trail was mostly in shadow, and that was nice, because it kept it cool. When you are hiking, cool is a good thing!
	Paying attention to the trail is always important. You can see here that if you were busy looking around at other things, you would no doubt take a fall by tripping over these rock hazards in the trail. You never know when the trail conditions might change drastically.
Since I was pretty much the only one taking pictures for most of the hike, I had to grab one of myself from time to time. Behind me, you can see Rip helping Dotti across the small stream crossing the path, to make sure she didn't get tangled up and take a fall. Between Rip and I, Dotti was always close to help if she ever needed it.
	Here a little stream is running along the side of the trail. This is something they generally try to avoid. They will put crossing channels or paths for the water to take, to avoid this. Also they will sometimes run a conduit under the path to route the water to the other side if it is a heavy flow. Even a small stream like this can erode a path pretty quickly.
More of that heavy moss. Dotti and I visited the Dismal Swamp in Virginia years ago and I often think of that when I see these moss covered branches.
	We are 35 minutes into our hike and so far we are all hanging in there. The area in shadow is layered in green!
Well here we go. The trail is transforming into a new terrain, with steep rock walls right beside us on one side, and an increasingly long drop appearing on the other. The workers who created this trail cut into solid rock, and that had to be hard work!
	The occasional baby waterfall will wet a part of the rocky trail and add something else to think about as you try and keep your feet and not think too much about the drop that is getting longer off on the right, and make sure you lift your feet and place them carefully along this irregularly surfaced trail section.
Safety becomes more and more a concern as you go along and here you see an anchor driven into the rock to attach a safety cable, that will give us a handhold as we walk along a narrow rocky trail with a wall on one side and a dangerous drop on the other. You hope the anchor is as solid as it looks.
	The drop is not too bad on the right yet, but we already have a good handhold to help us keep our balance. The trail disappears around the bend, and we will have to go check it out to see what is around it.
Looking back, Rip and Dotti are testing out the cable, as some other hikers are rapidly gaining on our group.
	I spotted the moon heading down behind the hill, and tried to get Dotti and Rip's attention in time, but before they could catch up to me, the moon had gone down. However, I did get a picture to show them.
Those are the same hikers who were behind us before, way off in the distance. Clearly they are in a much bigger hurry than we old fogies. The drop-off on the right is starting to get longer, and the trail isn't getting any wider, so that cable grows more and more welcome as we go along.
	It is never a comforting sight to see an anchor point for a safety cable come loose this way. Fortunately, rather than a point of load-bearing physical support, it really is more intended to position the cable away from the wall, so it will be easier to grab, and probably to decrease the rubbing wear and tear on it as well.
One positive thing about this is that you can see the way the anchor is constructed, with smaller wires wrapped around the main support bar, in order to increase the holding friction in the wall. This failure may be more a case of bad placement in the rock wall, thereby hitting a non-supportive weak spot, rather than a problem with the basic design of the anchor.
It is 49 minutes into the hike, and we are coming up to the end of the cable portion of the trail. I can see Dotti is looking a little tired, but she is hanging in there!
	It is still 49 minutes since we hit the trail, and there is the end of the cable! We are about to return to normal trail conditions. I always feel better when we get past that point. In 2003 Dotti stumbled about here and put my heart into my throat, because I had visions of her going over the drop. It still gives me nightmares thinking about it.
Eagle Creek is not only a long ways down from us now, it is also going through some rough terrain, with lots of bolders churning it white.
	Dotti and Rip are reaching the end of the cable, and now the path widens out and just feels safer.
Dotti was seriously winded at this point. She leaned up against a tree to relax and take in some water. It helped a lot.
	Rip was looking down past Dotti to the creek. We all were appreciating the shade right here, because we were not used to hiking like we once were.
Here is another goofy self-shot. You can see the creek is in bright sunlight, while we were in shadow.
	Poor Dotti looks tired here. It has been a major trek for her, well beyond what she is used to, but she is not a quitter. She just keeps at it until it is done. Way to go Dotti!!!
Rip and Dotti pause to take a well earned break, out over a huge drop overlooking Eagle Creek.
	And here is the drop—they were standing on the ledge on the right in the last picture.
And back to a normal trail again! There is still a long drop-off on the right but the trail is wide enough to let you feel comfortable walking along it.
	As I was saying, the creek is way, way down there...
Since Dotti and Rip were catching up on sibling gossip, I tended to wander ahead a bit to see what was coming on the trail. You can see there is a definite grade to this trail and I just went up a ways as well as ahead.
	The moon is no longer visible but just look a that thick forest growth. It is mostly evergreen with some deciduous trees and bushes mingled in. It is a beautiful area, and it is no wonder it is one of the most popular hiking trails in the Columbia River Gorge.
I appologize for the blurry shot of this sign, but it a sign I wanted to include. We have gone down to the viewpoint in earlier hikes. If you want to see clearer picture of the sign, click here to see the one I took in 2003, and you can also see the Metlako Falls as well. Okay, here is one with Dotti and Metlako Falls and here is one with Rip and Metlako Falls.
As all to often has happened in the past, no one took any pictures of me with the falls on that trip. But that is okay. We did get one of me in 2005: Al and Metlako Falls, just so you won't think I was completely left out. Now the reason I don't include pictures of Metlako Falls from this hike is that we were all pretty tired, and just getting to Punchbowl Falls was going to be enough work for us. It is a downhill walk to the Metlako Falls viewpoint and then a walk back up the hill and it is enough of a climb where none of us really felt like adding that to our plate on this day. Maybe next time.
	The elements are brutal on wooden structures in this area. You can see this sign for Punchbowl Falls is about to fall to pieces. But you can still read the information on it, and Punchbawl falls is only a half mile away. We have walked for 91 minutes so far, and honestly the hard part was over for the outward segment of our hike.
You might wonder, how did we get from up way above Eagle Creek, even above the top of Metlako Falls, and suddenly we are down beside the creek magically? Well, this is a little tributary of Eagle Creek. It runs down into the main flow but this is not part of it yet. It is a cute little stream though.
	But, the cute little stream is running down the mountainside, towards Eagle Creek, and that means our trail has to cut across it. This was a bit tricky, with Dotti's new hips and the lack of conditioning we had. There are stepping stones, but they no longer run all the way across.
And you can see, this crossing is hard to maintain, and the situation has varied considerably from visit to visit to this trail: 2003 Dotti and LeRoy crossing; 2003 Dotti and Tracy crossing; 2003 Rip crossing; and 2005 Dotti and LeRoy crossing.
Next we find a sign that directs you down a trail to "Lower Punch Bowl Falls." You can check our earlier Punchbowl Falls hikes to see what that trail is like and the area around the base of the falls. On this day, we were not making any extra trips to scenic areas. We were on a mission to get to the top of Punchbowl Falls.
	This is looking back down the trail we just came up and you can see the sign to the lower falls nailed to a tree on the left.
Fallen trees are part of the forest and you can see this one in the foreground is slowly but surely returning its elements to the soil, so a younger tree can one day use them to grow big and strong.
	It is quite common to find large slugs like this along the trail. It is difficult to pass them by without snapping a picture.
Tired hikers, but not quitters! Dotti and Rip keep coming on and they were about to be rewarded because we were getting really close now to the top of the falls area!
	I guess I thought it was time for another self-shot picture.
And here we are! It was 1 hour and 58 minutes into our walk, and there was Punchbowl Falls. However, we did find one little problem, the vegetation made it impossible to see the bottom of the falls. So...
	I led Rip into mischief. We went down a bit from the viewing area to the ledge below, so we could see all of the falls. It was a little scary for me, because I got to sliding down the hill a little quicker than I liked. I was afraid I might have to sit down to stop my motion, but I finally came to a halt. Dotti was smarter and stayed up above at the viewing area.
Dotti got us to pose, once we had a stable position from which to do so. The falls were off to our right from here.
	And from down there we could see the entire falls. I had my camera up and was taking a picture as Dotti took our picture.
And here is the view we got by going down to the ledge. We have seen it many times, but it is always a joy to see it again.
	And of course here is picture of Rip with the falls behind him.
And we swapped places and he returned the favor, taking a picture of me, with Punchbowl Falls behind me.
	Looking up at Dotti patiently waiting for us at the viewing area, and flashing her beautiful smile.
We went back up to the viewing area and then wandered a little further up the trail and found that you could see the entire falls from up there. And that ended our time at the top of the falls. It was 2 hours and 10 minutes into our hike, when we turned around and headed back down towards the car.
	Going downhill is easier on the muscles usually, but it is harder on the knees, and you have to make sure you don't catch your feet on something and fall, because it is tougher on your body to fall forward down a hill. So, there was still lots of work to do to get back to the parking lot.
And here it is, that dreaded cable and drop combo. And you see the sun is shining brightly against the rock wall. It was going to be warm and very bright, as well as critically important that we all pay close attention to what we are doing. And when you meet other hikers on that part of the trail, it is interesting getting past each other.
	Dotti took a picture of Rip and I before we got started on the cable run. (I am doing something unconsciously that I would never do on purpose, pointing my camera up at the sun. The lens can focus the sun into a destructive hot spot in your camera. Not a good idea. Fortunately, no harm was actually done.)
I turned the camera around and then got a picture of all three of us together.
	We stopped here on the way up and again on the way down. There is something about this jutting chunk of rock that captures our attention. It is now in the sunshine, while there was shade hitting it on the way up. But we are about 3 hours into the hike now. Rip is bending over to make his height more closely resemble Dotti's.
You can see here how far down it is from where they are standing. Big drop, really big drop!
	Rip took over the camera so we could get some pictures of Dotti and I together.
We may look older and out of shape, but we still are deeply in love! That is my girl!
	And one solo shot of me out on the ledge. If we started this hike a few hours later, it would have been uncomfortably hot for us on the way up and back down. As it was, it worked out pretty well.
Back in the shade, Rip found a place to rest and stretch his back. That tree looks like it has been through some real interesting times producing a root system like that! Rip is appreciating the big one placed just right for a seat.
	Hey remember this sign? It was right at the start of the hike? We went to Punchbowl falls and back again. I am really glad that Rip could join us for the hike!
And here is the sign I was hiding behind at the start of the hike. They had someone die recently before we did this hike and they were quite anxious to avoid that happening again. Dotti is smiling and that means she made it all the way and is still feeling good! Yay Dotti!
	This is Rip and Dotti leaving the trail! The time was 12:39pm, and the hike was officially over. The parking lot is full and there are a number of people walking around now. It has gotten busier, as it usually does later in the day. It is really worth your while to get going early on any of the popular trails. Even Multnomah Falls is usually empty early in the morning.
Here is my beautiful wife smiling, and that means she made it, and enjoyed it, and is doing okay! Good job Dotti!!!
	And Rip is doing well too. Good job Rip!!! And thanks for joining us and making the hike better!
And I made it back too, and still smiling. I was ready for the drive home!