Eagle Creek – Just Peachy

Saturday, June 4, 2022

I haven’t hiked Eagle Creek since the 2017 wildfire, but today I finally returned to this beautiful place.

The cold wet spring continues in NW Oregon. Just about every weekend has been wet, including this one, however we were able to get this hike done on Saturday before the rain started.

Despite this prominent sign at the trailhead we saw numerous off-leash dogs today:

We saw plenty of wildflowers; scroll to the end to see some of the flower photos I took. All the rain has made for a lush green landscape in addition to gushing waterfalls:

Thanks to all the rain there had been a trail-closing landslide recently that the PCTA had quickly repaired. This looked like the spot where it may have been:

It’s been almost five years since the wildfire and things were pretty green in this lush wet season, but it was still obvious that a fire came through here:

The burned trees means there’s a clear view of Sorenson Falls now:

Less than a year before the fire, a big section of cliff fell into the creek, wiping out the viewpoint for Metlako Falls and there’s no longer a good view of that waterfall. You can see some of that debris still in the creek below:

So green!

We took the side trail down to the bottom of Punch Bowl Falls. After the fire a rockslide fell into the creek and now you can’t get a view of the waterfall from this spot anymore:

Further up the main trail there’s a view down onto Punch Bowl Falls that is still very good:

There were some sections of impressive sections of trailwork done by the PCTA:

Loowit Falls:

After 3.3 miles we reached High Bridge:

There was a trailside spot on the far side of the bridge where we were able to hang out and eat a snack for awhile. Consider the torrential rain that would arrive later in the day, it was surprisingly pleasant sitting here:

After our break we headed back, passing way more people than we had seen on the hike in, including lots of backpackers. Hope they were prepared for rain!