[Sore Feet]

Snagtooth Falls is one of the big waterfalls in the South Cascades and its been on my hit list for a long time, so I did a run to the Lewis River area to do some waterfall bagging and hit this one as a centerpiece. Its accessed from the Quartz Creek Trail, opposite the northern terminus of the Lewis River Trail. The Quartz Creek Trail sort of sucks. And by sort of, I mean really. Its a fairly quick trail to hike, but it neither follows the creek nor follows any sort of order. Starts flat, climbs up around a slide area, drops back to the creek, climbs way up and up some more, then drops down and down more to cross a creek, then climbs up again, etc. Some nice old growth, lots of big blowdowns, but generally a blah trail. Not nearly on the level of blah as the Pete Lake trail, but were there not waterfalls up it, I wouldn't bother. Snagtooth Falls is 4 miles up the trail, then a mile up Snagtooth Creek from the trail via a nasty, steep, rather brushy bushwhack. Easily the most difficult bushwhack I've done, and I've done some bad ones. Took me 9 hours to go car to car, 9 miles total. Half of that was just going the mile from the trail to the falls and back. This was partially because I'd go 1/4 mile, see a nice flat, rocky streambed below me and try to travel at stream level only to get cliffed out ahead then decide to climb up the opposite side of the canyon only to find out it was brushier, steeper and generally less travelable than the side I came from, so I had to backtrack. Again and again. Finally I learned my lesson and stayed on the east side and after some very precarious sidehilling I got to the bottom of the falls, and I have to say I was a little underwhelmed. For a 311 foot waterfall (the maps suggested 360 feet, which may have been part of my disappointment), I've seen more impressive. Of course, it is a fairly small stream, and the light sucked, so that could have been part of it. I'll probably end up going back for better pictures at some point just because I seem to enjoy that sort of torture. Stopped to photograph the falls on Straight Creek and two falls on Quartz Creek on the way down, finished the day with a Raspberry Shake from Burgerville. I think the anticipation of the Shake over the 47 mile drive from Cougar to Woodland was worse than the pain of the hike. Oh yeah, then like 1/2 mile from my car on the way out, I saw something funny looking in my peripheral vision that caught my eye, but I couldn't make it out without turning my head. So I turned my head and just about jumped out of my boots - there was a full grown Deer carcass lying right next to the trail...half decayed. Its face was still fairly intact, legs were attached, but its whole belly was gone, ribcage was all exposed and I'm pretty sure everything within was missing - I didn't take a close look. I don't know how I missed it on the way in, sure didn't smell it. Saw several BIG cat tracks on the trail, so I can only assume theres a very satiated Cougar somewhere nearby. Got to sort lots of pictures, will post some later (no pics of the carcass though, guess I need to get a pocket size camera for such intrigue).

[aywolfpac]

Can't wait to see the pictures.