Even More Water Falls

Our last view of Mt Thielsen

It looks like we may never leave Diamond Lake, OR...the weather is terrific, the hikes are amazing and we have hot showers.  The only thing missing is?...well nothing really.   The knees are feeling better so we decided to take in a few more water falls in the Diamond Lake area.  Remember our "Thundering Waters Brochure"? 

Clearwater Falls

A few miles away was Clearwater Falls.  It was certainly close to the parking lot so there was no need to worry about the hike.  All we needed to do was pull out the cameras and decide how many shots we needed.  The falls had many different components that made it interesting to shoot.   Lots of smaller ripples dropping down the 30 foot slope created a lot of opportunities to blur out the water.

Whitehorse Falls

We jumped back in the car for the short ride to the second fall of the day, Whitehorse Falls.  It was also right in the middle of a campground.  A somewhat smaller waterfall there really wasn't much to it.  Pretty, but we've seen much nicer ones.  Off we headed for the third and last waterfall....Watson Falls.

Watson Falls

This one was almost 1/2 mile hike up the mountain slope moving along a small stream.  The Falls could be seen from a small foot bridge crossing the stream.  Easily the most impressive one of the day.  It fell over 270 feet down the lava cliff side...the tallest one in southwest Oregon.  The trail took us up the hillside about midway to the top.  It was a bit chilly as the spray fell around us.  Cooper didn't mind that he couldn't swim in the pool below...not much pool to swim in anyway.

Blur of Watson Falls

No pool for Cooper

More drama

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Diamond Lake Recreation Area...it's going to be hard to top.  Maybe we'll get lucky on our next campground in the National Forest, but we're not counting on it.  We'll be happy if there's running water!

Final sunset at Diamond Lake

Off to the coastal road heading down to the Golden Gate Bridge...if we can stand the traffic.