TOKETEE FALLS
/AUGUST 2016
TOKETEE FALLS
UMPQUA, OREGON
I feel like Instagram made this waterfall famous. It’s really in the middle of no where and there isn’t much to do near by, but it really is worth the drive. We actually showed up the first day around 5pm, a couple hours before sunset and the light was horrible. There was no cloud cover and the sun was just shining in all the wrong places. The hike back there has to be less than a mile and it has steps and guardrails, its a highly trafficked trail. We knew it was a famous water fall and an easy hike but what we didn't expect was that the trail ends at a platform overlooking the whole thing. You end up looking down on the waterfall and into the pool of water. But all the pictures we had seen were at the base of the waterfall with mist going everywhere, people swimming in the pool, and none of that was going to happen from where we were standing.
So after the initial shock wore off I immediately thought, we obviously took the wrong trail. As we looked around for a different trail, low and behold there is a hole in the fence. Yes, that magical hole in the fence where every photographer has pushed the limits and risked getting a trespassing ticket. I think there’s a hole like that in nearly every instafamous photospot. But like I said, we showed up that first day with horrible light and we planned on coming back tomorrow early before the crowds and sun showed up.
The next day we got to that overlook platform around 6am and headed through the magical hole. Now once we got through that hole what we did not expect was the steepest dropoff from that platform to the dirt which then quickly turned into an unmaintained scramble down the side of the mountain. When I say scramble I mean hands and knees, like hold on for your life, scramble. Anyone who is a rock climber is laughing in my face but I am not a rock climber, I am a Mcway falls paved road, Yosemite meadows, kind of hiker. So this was quite the test of our athleticism to say the least. At one point there is a rope to help you… I, however, decided not to trust the random person that tied the rope and I found my own way down.
The moral of the story is don’t attempt this if you're in like a dress and heels, or if you have a bad knee, or if you have a baby, or if you have a dog, I would strongly suggest doing this little hike in tennis shoes and pants and don’t be afraid to get dirty, because the lower you are to the ground the less fall you have. Anyways, after you accomplish that task you just have to climb over some fallen trees and you are at the base of a beautiful waterfall! Oh and guess what, going up is even harder than going down. Have fun with that!
