Ruckel Creek. Three trips and counting. Trip 3

On this trip I knew we were not getting past the first falls but I wanted to see what things looked like in the summer as well as show my father the drainage. We got a late morning start and headed out of town. After arriving at the usual parking spot we hit the old highway and were soon at the trail head for Ruckel Creek trail. The first thing I noticed was how low the water was.

Low water in Ruckel Creek

Low water in ruckel creek

The water was so low that I was not sure what the water at the first falls would look like. We headed up the drainage quickly by just walking up the creek. This did make things easier but I missed all the water. Soon we were at where the first small water fall was and there were no falls at all. Just a small pool.

Reflection pool.

we moved on quickly and found our self's at house of the hollies in no time and this time I got to walk through.

My father walking through House of the hollies.

Going through the boulders there was no visible water in the creek. We wondered at this point if there would be a falls at all. Soon we got our answer.

Mossy Grotto Falls.

Mossy Grotto Falls.

Mossy Grotto Falls.

Mossy Grotto Falls.

From the falls the water traveled for about 200 feet before it went into the ground. The time of year is mid July and I think I like it better in winter to be honest. We decided at this point to finish the day off by finding a small trail that went from the Ruckel Creek trail down to this falls.

Low water flow for sure.

After a little searching we found it and made a quick trip up to the Ruckel Creek trail. This is definitely the best way in if you just want to see the falls. The trail starts a the back of this scree slope and is not hard to find.

This is were the trail heads down.

A nice walk down the Ruckel Creek trail and back to the car finished the day. I will soon be back to check out the rest of the drainage. When that happens I will put it all up hear. I just wanted to thank the people over at the Off Trail Forum on PortlandHikers for all the great information I found there. DFTBA
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