Tumalo Falls to Happy Valley

Lillie and Steph had done their homework on the Bend area before arriving and Tumalo Falls was on their short list of things to see. (Apparently, for this generation, Tik Tok is the source of all information.) Tumalo was at the very top of my list too, offering potentially the most bang for the buck close to Bend. I wanted to wait until Monday to see it, rather than to try to brave the zoo of visitors on the weekend.

The Girls Do Tumalo Falls

Little did the two of them know it, but the walk from the parking lot up to Happy Valley would be the longest hike they had ever done. At 8 miles in total with an easy uphill grade, 1500 feet of elevation over four miles, it is a pretty easy walk for those of us who do it all the time. But for the girls, it would push their limits and require a nap after we returned home in the late afternoon.

The day started beautifully sunny and we arrived just after 9am, choosing to park along the dirt road rather than in the more congested parking lot. Although there were still spots to be had in the parking lot, getting out is a lot easier if you park along the road and skip the lot. As we climbed the hill, we started to see dark gray clouds in the west and by the time we reached Happy Valley, the skies were clouded over, rain threatening. We walked back down the mountain through very intermittent sprinkles with the sounds of thunder resounding off the hills behind us.

Ann and I did this hike a year ago almost to the day and we had a totally different experience than the girls and I had this hike. Ann's lower back was killing her, so she opted to stay home and drive the sofa while the three of us hiked. By different, I mean that there was an entirely different set of flowers in bloom from a year ago, no doubt thanks to the very high amount of snowfall we got this winter.

We also learned from the last trek that the best way to do this hike is not to loop back to the parking lot, but to go out and back, to and from Happy Valley on the North Fork Trail. The loops involve a lot of mountain bikes and that's not fun for either hikers or bikers.

The following photos are in the order that I took them from bottom to top. Rain showers, two dead camera batteries, and a desire to get to the car precluded taking pictures on the way back down.

Queen's Cup (Bride's Bonnet), Clintonia uniflora

A Jacob's Ladder, Probably Polemonium californicum
Only in Bloom at 5000 Feet, Not Even in Bud Above That

Starry False Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum stellatum
Already Bloomed Out Below 5000 Feet

First View of Tumalo Falls

Just above the parking lot and up to the falls overlook, several patches of both lupines and penstemons were just coming into bloom. I am afraid that with 31 potential species of each at this location, there is very little chance of me identifying exactly which these were, with my scant knowledge of West Coast species.

A Very Showy Lupine, Lupinus sp.

Tall, Sparse Blooming Penstemon, Penstemon sp.

Mat-Forming Cardwell's Penstemon, Penstemon cardwellii

Penstemons Blooming on Cliffs at Top of Falls

Tumalo Falls from the Overlook

Run Out from the Falls, 110 Feet Below

Looking Upstream at Top of the Falls

Once we viewed the falls, we headed west up the North Fork Trail in the direction of Happy Valley, leaving the vast majority of the tourists behind. For me, the best parts of this hike are above the falls, places that very few tourists ever visit. Even if they do climb further, it seems that most of them turn around at the next set of double falls.

Snowbrush, Ceanothus velutinus
Already Bloomed out Below 4500 Feet

Sticky Currant, Ribes viscosissimum

While the ubiquitous Wax Currants of the lower areas (2500-4000 feet) are done blooming (we ate ripe berries at Smith Rock this past week, unusually early), the Sticky Currants of the upper hills are just getting started blooming. Not in bloom yet are the low-growing Dogwoods known as Bunchberries. Although I know that they grow in Oregon, this is the first time that I have ever spotted any outside Alaska. The typical dogwood blooms surrounded by four white bracts will give way to a bunch of red berries come early fall.

Western Bunchberry, Cornus unalaschkensis

Double Falls

Above Double Falls

Triple Falls

Cascades Desert Parsley, Lomatium martindalei
Locally Common on Sunny Slopes

Stream Violet, Viola glabella

Yet Another Fall

Switching Sides of the Creek, Halfway to Happy Valley

At the halfway point, the trail crosses from the south side of the creek to the north side, ultimately traversing the hill face to pick up another tributary up to Happy Valley. As you go up, the waterfalls and smaller cascades just do not stop. You could spend hours investigating all of them.

A Larkspur, Delphinium sp.

One of My Favorite Views

Black Swamp Gooseberry, Ribes lacustre
Gorgeous Foliage

Creek Falling Off a Ledge

Final Big Fall Before Veering NW to Happy Valley

Little Snow Above 6000 Feet

Entering Happy Valley

Once the bulk of the climb is done, the North Fork Trail tees into the Swampy Lakes Trail and the landscape flattens and broadens as does Tumalo Creek. Likewise, the trees become sparser, giving way to (at this time of year) wet upland meadows full of early spring wildflowers. On this day, the primary flowers were Shooting Stars and Cinquefoils. We have five species of Shooting Stars that all look very similar. Based on small differences, I may have seen up to three species in the meadow but I cannot tell them apart with any certainty.

 

Northern Bog Violets, Viola nephrophylla, with a Lone
Mountain Buttercup, Ranunculus populago

Half an Acre of Mountain Cinquefoils

Boggy Area Full of Shooting Stars

Shooting Star, Primula sp.

High Mountain Cinquefoil, Potentilla flabellifolia

We meandered through the valley up to the intersection of the Swampy Lakes Trail with the Metolius-Windigo Trail at a brand new bridge across the creek, our turnaround point. The girls took a minute or two to find pretty pebbles in the creek while I looked at the catkins just emerging on the creek-side willows.

New Bridge in Happy Valley

Willow Catkins

Different Species of Willow

This is prime hatch time for mosquitos and they had been pestering us from about a mile up the trail all the way into Happy Valley where they were the thickest. The buzzing little biters were vicious enough that we really did not want to stop along the trail for fear of being eaten alive. When I brushed against a budding willow along the creek in Happy Valley, a veritable cloud of hundreds of mosquitos rose off the branches. See the photo below, a close-up of the photo above, showing what we were dealing with. Unfortunately, mosquitos will be a problem into late July.

Mosquitos Were Terrible

Alpine False Dandelion, Nothocalais alpestris

Plantain-leaf Buttercup, Ranunculus alismifolius
at Base of Shooting Star

At Edge of Snow Field, White Marsh Marigold, Caltha leptosepala
One of the Earliest of Spring Flowers

Group of White Marsh Marigold Blooms

Our Local Anemone
Columbia Windflower, Anemonastrum deltoidea

A Tiny (hemlock needles for scale) Giant Puffball, Calvatia gigantea

As we were about halfway back down the hill, moving quickly hoping to avoid the thunderstorm booming off the hill behind us, we all heard a noisy, buzzy little bird on a log next to the trail. It proved to be a little brown blur, clearly a wren, a Pacific Wren (which we used to call the Winter Wren before the powers that name birds decided that the birds in the East and West are different species). We were briefly entertained until the thunder and mosquitos urged us down the hill.

Quite Animated Pacific Wren

Back at the car, I could see both girls wilting into the rear seats, the walk having pushed their boundaries a lot. It was time to take them into town and feed them lunch after braving mosquitos to see one of the most scenic creeks in our area.