Leon Turnbull Photography

If you are thinking this sure does not look like 550 ft. Grouse Falls, you will be forgiven. Is Leon off his rocker? What is he talking about now? This is actually the bottom 83 ft. section of spectacular Grouse Falls. You can’t see the upper section of the falls from here, but it is just above this waterfall.

If you’ve ever been to the Grouse Falls overlook, you may wonder how I could ever get down to the bottom. It is incredibly steep (1000 ft. down in about a half-mile), and incredibly brushy (manzanita galore). I’ve been down there twice now. The first time, I did not get any view of Grouse Falls at all. This time, I was determined. My goal and great desire was to get a close-up view of the entire 550 ft. of Grouse Falls. I was denied. I came to this dead end with towering cliffs on either side of the creek. No views of the big waterfall could be found. But I did get to this fantastic waterfall, the bottom 83 ft. of Grouse Falls.

It was worth the effort. But going back up that half-mile was a struggle. It took about an hour and a half to climb back up the mountain. Talk about steep. The GPS was a necessity as well. It was so brushy and there was so much dense tree growth, it was impossible to see where the overlook was until I was almost right back to it. I only knew where to go because the GPS was pointing me in the right direction. There was a lot of poison oak down there as well. I know what you are thinking. Here we go again. I could have sworn that the last time I was down there, there was no oak. In fact, I’m about 90 percent sure there was none. That is one of the reasons I wanted to try again this year. But this time, I found a lot of it. I was careful to avoid touching it, and I bathed myself thoroughly when I got home. I think I avoided getting it this time. Whew.