Leon Turnbull Photography

Does this look like Lemolo Falls to you? If you have been to Lemolo Falls and know what it looks like, I am sure you are thinking something is not right with this photo!

The last two waterfalls I wanted to visit in the Diamond Lake area were Warm Springs Falls and Lemolo Falls. On the drive out to Warm Springs, we found that the road was closed due to construction. That was a bit of a bummer, and I’m not sure if there was another way to get around to that waterfall, but I turned around and decided to just head on over to Lemolo Falls. Now … I do know the proper way to hike to Lemolo Falls. However, I saw a sign along the road that said “Lemolo Falls, 1.5 miles”. This was a secondary trail that I had not heard about before, and since it was about the same distance as the “proper” hike, and since it was right here and meant I did not have to drive all the way around to the other trailhead, I decided to try this hike. Big mistake. I figured, however, that this trail either joined up with the other trail, or it would give me a good view of the falls from the other side of the canyon, perhaps even a better view.

Well … the hike itself was very lovely and probably much better than the other hike, as it followed the river the whole way down to the falls. There were plenty of small cascades along the river in the 5 to 10 ft. high range. It was certainly a beautiful hike. Eventually, the trail approached the top of the falls and I realized that I would not be getting a very good view point of the waterfall. The trail continued on down the river but did not go to the bottom of the falls, and the viewpoints on this side of the creek were mostly unmentionable. I scrambled down to this (dangerous) spot right near the top of the falls. This was the best view I could find. It was definitely a bit on the freaky side with steep dropoffs and questionable footing. I tied up my dog because she was making me nervous walking around close to the cliff edge, and I sure didn’t want her to fall. It is really a pretty nice and quite different view of this waterfall, so I’m not complaining too much. I still think, though, I would have been better off going the proper route.