And hike to Archer Falls - North entrance
Stevenson, Washington - 10/2/10
OK.... I never actually saw the falls...
but I at least got close enough to hear them this time...
UPDATE: January 22, 2011. Found it!!!!!
Push play and be patient... the video takes about 30 seconds to load and start running
Scroll to the bottom for a detailed trail report. Or click HERE
to read only about our success story.
For information about the Southern Access to Archer Mountain, click HERE
For more information about the Northern Access area East of Archer Mountain, click HERE
The Northern access road to the Archer Mountain Trailhead is well marked.
Traveling East on Washington route 14, turn left at milepost 31
and go up Franz Road. After about a mile, turn left on Duncan Creek Road.
Travel about 2 miles to the end of Duncan Creek Road. The road is paved all
the way. There is a sign indicating that you aren't supposed to park in the
turnaround... but I ran into a Skamania County Sheriff Deputy out in the woods
(imagine that....) who asked if that was my bike and said nothing about illegal
parking. So either he liked me (he said he has a Suzuki C50) or there's no problem
parking there. Anyway....
If you turn around, you can see Archer Mountain right behind you.
ABOVE: Just before you go over that little bridge, you come across this
muddy road to the left that is the correct way to get closer to
the mountain. I explored the other roads and they led nowhere.
BELOW: Go through the usually unlocked cattle gate and go up, up, up..
The view of the parking lot from about 1/4 mile up the trail
Archer Falls and the Archer Mountain summit are to the left of the power lines.
It's fairly steep going most of the way to the top.
There are several small falls right around where the remains of this upside
down pickup truck is... Archer Falls is about 1/2 a mile or so due South of this
location according to my GPS. But there is a steep ravine between here and there
and only a tiny, narrow, faint trail going straight down that I did not care to
venture into. This is most likely not the desired access trail for Archer Falls.
It's peaceful up here though. You can see Mount Hood peeking over the skyline
and Beacon Rock to the left.
This is as far up the power line service road as I went. I'm about 2 1/2
miles from the trailhead and well past any opportunity to head South towards
Archer Falls. Rested here, had a little lunch and then backtracked looking
for a better Southern access trail.
A little less than 2 miles from the trailhead I checked out this road
heading south and towards this power line tower. Line 2, Mile 8, Tower 3.
Nice view from up here.
Just past the power line tower is this boundary marker and a trail South!
The marker says you need "permission" to enter but provides no information
as to how to obtain this permission... or by what authority this statement
is being made.
If anyone has a (recent) GPS track of this mountain I'd sure love to have it!
Returned to Archer Mountain on January 22, 2011. Success!!!!!
6.6 miles round trip and took about 4 1/2 hours with MANY Hiker wipe-outs!
The trail is very slippery and there's lots of loose scree as you get
closer to the falls. This is definitely not a hike for amateurs, children or dogs.
Click HERE for detailed
information on how to find the South, Smith-Cripe Road trailhead.
This hike starts and the Southwestern end of Archer Mountain. You get to the
trailhead by traveling to the end of Smith Cripe Road. Click the various links
on this page for detailed information on how to reach the trailhead and get started.
I'll pick this up just past the High Valley Commune area going down the middle
trail marked 159. You can also go up the left trail, past "The Wall" and eventually
join the 159 trail. There are various entry points and not all are legally open.
We traveled East until we got to a rim trail that runs along Archer Creek. You'll
want to keep Archer Creek, which will be waaaay down below, to your right the
entire way. This is a fairly faint trail although there have been a few Hikers
along this way. However, as you continue on, the trail does get fairly faint to
non-existent in many places. This was basically a 3.3 mile bushwhack...
We start at the High Valley Commune with Archer Mountain off to the right.
Fletcher Flat is to your left.
You'll come up to a scree field fairly quickly. Going up the hill to the left
will (I think) take you to the top of Fletcher Flat.
That talus slope is a LOT steeper than it looks in this picture.
There's not much of a trail here, as you can see. I don't consider myself to be
much of a woodsman but I have to say that for the most part I did seem to find some
kind of a trail... although there were way more deer droppings that human footprints
most of the way.
This picture illustrates the difficulty of getting up this slope a little better.
Didn't take many pictures of the first couple of miles because unless you are
turned on by bushwhacking through non-existent trails, there really wasn't much
picture-worthy scenery. There isn't just one falls at Archer Mountain. There are
many. When you get to the end, there is a 180 degree panorama of wall-to-wall falls.
It's VERY cool! These small falls are the first we saw.
After a couple of miles of thick forest, you come out into a clearing to this
magnificent view!
Who knows if/when we'll ever get back here so we took a LOT of pictures!
Had a difficult time keeping the lens from fogging up. Here's Julie going
down here first scree field. She's a lot more sure footed than I am. I wiped
out several times.
There's a gazillion falls at the end of this canyon!
According to one "Archer Mountain Expert", the power line service road is just
over that tiny little hill of scree that would take a mountain goat over an hour
to climb. I did survey the North entrance extensively and did not find any
reasonable looking trails that might head down this way... even with my GPS.
We're pretty pleased with our success. Here's Julie with Archer Falls in the
background.
Here's a view of what we just came through to get here...
We gave some thought to hiking across the scree field for some pictures of us
behind the waterfall... but it would probably have taken an hour to travel that short
distance and back and we definitely did not want to be out here after dark. So...
perhaps next time.
Julie's pretty happy with herself. Me too....
Here's the obligatory picture of "The Wall" back at the High Valley Hippie Commune
Ride to Sisters, Oregon and McKenzie Pass
