[Sore Feet]

Originally planned to do this as a single hike, but reading the FS site last night, it sounded like the connector I planned on using was in bad shape, so I opted for a twofer for the day. Started out at Palisades # 1198 (AKA Dalles Creek). I went up this one about 3/4 of a mile maybe 10 years ago, but I didn't remember much of it at all. The trail is in much better shape than I recall, and the sinage is better now. Starts off climbing above 410, reaches a junction w/ White River Trail #1199 in 1/4 mile. Crosses Dalles Creek, sans bridge (but easy at high water) a short distance further. Then the switchbacks start. It's actually quite an easy trail, considering it gains 1000 feet in about a mile. The climb up Dalles Gorge is really nice, reminds me of some of the hikes in the Columbia Gorge. Sheer 300+ foot tall basalt walls covered in mosses, small cascading stream at the bottom. Unfortunately, there were pretty much no real good vistas of the gorge proper - too much alder and scrub brush in the way. Lower Dalles Creek Falls is encountered 1 mile in, very pretty right now. Here's where I started to get confused. The trail sign says Upper Dalles Creek Falls is 2 miles in, but Waterfall Lover's Guide to the PNW says it's 1/4 mile beyond the Lower Falls. It's plainly obvious that Dalles Creek proper drops over the Lower Falls, and the "falls" that the book calls the upper falls are on an unnamed, low volume tributary, so they aren't really upper. It's pretty, but covered with trees, so it's hard to see. The trail climbing next to the falls is cool - at one point, scaling parallel to the creek via a neat set of stairs. However, after walking probably 1.6 miles or so, unbeknownst to me at the time, I thought I'd passed the Upper Falls (later consulting with the topos indicates I was probably wrong). Turned around after crossing Dalles Creek at the top of the climb - the creek is very pretty in this area. Before starting back down, I noticed a glint of falling water a short distance upstream, so I headed up and found a pretty 30 foot waterfall, which I am now confident is actually the very bottom of Upper Dalles Creek Falls. The trail more than likely passes near the top section of the falls (which I'm sure are more than 30 feet tall). Back down to the car in 30 minutes, and on to Camp Sheppard. Parking lot was full, so I prepared for a zoo, but oddly, only passed 3 parties. Musta been camp traffic. For as nice as Snoquera Falls is from the road, this was easily the highlight of my day. The trail, however, wasn't. Yeah, it was built by boyscouts, but I think boyscouts have an aversion to 'short and sweet'. This damn thing went on forever. The falls are, as the bird flies, 4/10 of a mile from the road. The trail is 1 1/2 miles long. Don't tell me that at LEAST 1/2 a mile couldn't have been shaved off by building tighter switchbacks! Anyway, trail goes straight past the amphitheater for the camp, then heads uphill, at a nice easy grade, but still enough to work up a sweat. Four really really long switchbacks later, reached the base of the falls. My first impression was that the creek at this point is MUCH larger than it is at the camp. I'd guess probably 2/3 of the volume of the creek flowing over the falls goes underground by the time it gets below, with another small portion being diverted for drinking water for the camp. This is the time of year to go see this one. Lots of water flowing over the falls, but still a small enough stream that it gets pushed around by the wind. I spend several minutes watching the water blow side to side, and the resulting flow on the second step of the falls was really cool. One side would suddenly increase, and the other side would shut off more or less. It wasn't as soaking as I'd expected, maybe because I didn't actually climb all the way to the base of the falls (didn't have to - found a viewpoint where I didn't need to stitch photos), but that's a good thing.