The Devil’s Staircase is one of those places you learn about while searching on the internet that gets stuck in your brain like a tumor. As with many other places like this, there’s very little or no information; partly because this is not a managed forest, in fact, I believe part of it is still private land. And part because there’s a movement to make this place a wilderness so there’s a big effort to keep it wild until something happens. Searching for information will lead to some pretty amazing pictures from a handful of people that have gotten there but nothing else. Even people who have been there before start with a disclaimer like mine above and continue to tell stories of being lost in the woods or never being able to find the waterfall. For about three years I searched and searched and started putting together all the information I was able to find. I talked to Mark and Brian about this more than a year ago and we all agreed it was a place we needed to visit. Back in July I started to dig all the information I had and was able to find a map with an approximate location of the waterfall. Doing some work I was able to sketch a potential route that seemed doable. With that info, Brian, Mark and I made the plan to head there and take our chances. Then, about a week prior to our adventure, a new discussion popped out that mentioned a different entry point than the one I had in mind. At first it didn’t make a lot of sense to me as it appeared it would put you much farther from the waterfall, but coming from someone that apparently had made it to the waterfall, it made sense to me to add that info to my map. So on Friday 7th, Brain, Mark and I drove south and stayed at a motel closer to our destination. That night we discussed the three options. The first to get ditched (or put as a last resort) was my original pick. The two other had access points on the same forest road so we picked the closest one to try out and, if that one didn’t work, we still had the chance to try the second one. On Saturday morning we woke up bright an early and took off. Within an hour of leaving the motel, we took a detour on a forest road and drove until we found what we were looking for, an abandoned jeep road into the woods. It looked both promising and exiting as we were already out there even though we were still on a road
The abandoned jeep road – our starting point
So we started our journey on a very foggy morning and a very dense forest. The first part was not difficult at all, in the end, we were following an old jeep road. Still there was a lot of brush, blackberry and ferns covering most of the road. It was clear that the road hadn’t been used in a while. For the first mile or so the scenery didn’t change much but still the trip was so far living to the expectations.
Mark on the old jeep road
After a bit over a mile we finally got to an opening at the end of the road. It was time to start bushwhacking and finding our way to Wasson Creek. Curiously enough, at the end of the road we found two small opening in the brush, each heading a different way, so we chose left as it seemed it would go in the right direction. Within two or three paces we were in thick and dense bushes. Traveling became a very intensive labor as some of those bushes did not want to move, at all. So the next best thing to do was to either crawl under or try to jump over. As we pushed we had to rely on sound to know where each one of us was even though we weren’t more than a couple of feet away. Above us the fog was thinning out but not enough to offer a view of anything other than more trees.
Can you see anybody in this picture?
Along the way we were marveled at the incredibly tall Rhododendrons standing several feet above us and all the vines creating a tight web of green that was almost impenetrable. Making progress was difficult and slow, going over, under, around and getting slapped by branches here and there. I recall a point where we had to go up over a tree and then another and another. While climbing up, we got to be above the underbrush with some view of the forest around us and a couple of feet of air under us. From there we saw tall branches covered in mosses that looked like weeping trees. And then, it was time to hang on to soothing as we climbed down back to the bushes
Weeping tree
It didn’t get any easier as we continued on, but that was something we were expecting. On several occasions we had to correct course as we found that we were veering off avoiding obstacles always turning in the same direction. We knew we were still following a ridgeline which was the intention, but there was no way of knowing if we were in the right place. We pressed on and suddenly we reached what looked like the top of a hill. Looking down the forest looked cleaner with taller trees and less underbrush. Instead of the vines and Rhododendrons we had seen so far, we had a mountainside covered in ferns. From there we finally saw water down below to our right. It was in the wrong place but by the map we knew Wasson Creek snaked around the forest so it was entirely possible to have the creek on the side. We continued on and got exited as we knew we had at least found the creek. Then, after more than a couple of hours we finally got down. Probably due to pure excitement we didn’t realize how hard coming down had been. Looking around we noticed that we were in a bend of the Creek and, per my map, the waterfall had to be down water from where we were, but that was uncertain. We made a choice and decided to hike downstream for a while, an hour or two, and then, depending on what we found rethink our options.
Reaching Wasson Creek
The creek was running fairly low so we started hopping over rocks from one side to the other making our way down water. We found odd that the river bed was mostly rocks that had been carved with holes of different sizes and shapes. It made the entire river bed looked more or less like a piece of cheese. Soon after we realized it was going to be nearly impossible to continue without getting our shoes wet so we stopped, took our shoes off and continued in flip-flops. Brian didn’t have a pair so he opted for the next best thing – using a pair of insoles inside his socks. Then we continued following the creek down and soon after we found the first feature. It was a short two or three layer waterfall. It looked very pretty and small. I remember us asking if that was it and me saying that it couldn’t be. I remembered the pictures I had seen and it looked much bigger. Still we were fascinated by the beauty around us.
The first waterfall
We continued on admiring the holes in the rocks, the vegetation and multiple turns in the river. We kind of knew we were on the right track even though we had passed, by far, the mark where we thought the waterfall was. As we traveled thru the Creek we had to take special care on several deep and muddy spots as not to lose our flip flops. And then I saw in the distance a line. It looked like the river dropped off completely and the trees beyond that point were clearly below a certain level. There was no sound, no indication of rushing water. Beyond the line, a big circle like an opening in the forest. It looked very promising so we decided to go that far and check it out. If it wasn’t, that was going to be our return point. Several minutes after, we got to the edge and from there, we couldn’t see anything. It looked like the top of a waterfall, but we couldn’t see a lot below us. But, just by memory, I knew we were standing on the top of the Devil’s Staircase.
The top of the Devil’s Staircase
Then, as we were able, we started climbing down the side of the fall and everything changed. Each step was a different fall that goes to the next one and the next. We lost count of how many steps and falls and holes we saw as we climbed down. With the water shallow as it was, we were even able to walk across the falls and explore up close all of them. There were several deep pools in front of almost every waterfall. Some looked like little Jacuzzis tucked in the rocks while other holes were just in the middle like they were carved with a gigantic drill.
The natural cold Jacuzzi
We played around at each step and even got in the big holes to test how deep they were. We found one to be waist deep while the other was shoulder deep. To this day we don’t know how those were formed. Finally we got down to the bottom of the waterfall and, as explained in one of the articles I read, we found the perfect camping spot right in front of the waterfall. The view was close to some of the pictures I had seen but not as much. Being late in the summer, water was running very low so not all the steps of the staircase were running. It was still an outstanding sight and just the idea of watching this fall with higher water is reason enough to want to go there again. By the end of the afternoon we set up camp and Brian and I went further downstream to explore a bit more. We found several other tiny waterfalls a big salamander and some very bright red crabs along the way that only added to the magic of this place
Just another tiny waterfall
The following day it was time to head out the way we came so after a nice breakfast and packing, we headed upstream. Looking at the creek from the opposite direction gave us even more views so we took plenty of time as we approached the point where we needed to start bushwhacking again. Once there, we figured we had a bit of time so we dropped our packs and continued upstream for a bit to see if there was something we had missed. As something Brian and I found when we went beyond the Staircase, on this site we also found steep rock canyon walls on either side of the creek. At that moment we realized that we had been lucky with the route we chose because the Creek was low. If the creek had been running higher, we wouldn’t have been able to walk on it to the waterfall. We also realized that my original route would have put us on top of a several feet rock wall with no easy access to the creek. It seems that the correct route to take is one that aims directly towards the waterfall and avoids the Creek until you get there.
One of the inhabitants of the Creek
Then it was time to leave the creek and start bushwhacking up. As the day before, it was hard works but now we knew where we were going. We just needed to keep pushing. Soon after we got back to the ridge, passed the weeping trees and got on the old jeep road. The final walk seemed long and hard but we were happy and felt realized that, in one try, we had found the waterfall that has eluded so many. The best is that now we know where it is and what the best route should be… so there might be another trip in the near future
You can check the pictures here
No comments:
Post a Comment