Nick Eaton Falls Hike

Overview

The Herman Creek Trail runs 11 miles to join the Pacific Crest Trail on Waucoma Ridge near Wahtum Lake. There are several possible destinations if you are day hiking the trail (see the Herman Creek Hike.), but one of the most picturesque is just over two miles from the trailhead. Nick Eaton Falls, unofficially named after the high ridge above, is on an unnamed creek and splashes down a basalt face into a shallow pool. It is the highest waterfall on the trail and is a worthy destination for a short morning or afternoon hike. The area was burned during the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, and for most of the hike, you'll be in the burn zone. Both James H. Herman and Nick Eaton were early settlers near the mouth of Herman Creek. The path drops from the trailhead, but then switchbacks up twice before traversing. There are two more switchbacks in shady big-leaf maple, hemlock, Douglas-fir woods. Reach the powerline corridor and cross it, heading up to the right to reenter the woods. Here, you'll begin to see the effects of the 2017 Eagle Creek Fire, with the understory burned away but slowly recovering and the conifer canopy mostly intact. The path winds through an area of large, moss-covered boulders, and then passes an old forest track leading off the left. (This track drops down to Herman Creek Road.) Pass around the nose of a ridge, switchback twice, and traverse up to the junction with the Herman Bridge Trail #406E, 0.6 miles from the trailhead. Keep up on the main trail to switchback and then reach a bend in an old forest road. Stay right and head up the road, which levels in Douglas-fir, hemlock, and maple forest. You'll arrive at a five-way junction after 1.3 miles where the Herman Creek Trail reaches Herman Camp. The actual campsite is up the first trail to the right if you turn left here; in the 1970s, this spot was also a trailhead - if you were willing to risk your vehicle on the slow drive up the narrow road. Keep right at this junction to stay on the old road bed. You're now entering the Mark O. Hatfield Wild

Trail Stats

Photos

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