Skoonichuk Falls

So this weekend I was free, but Keeley wasn't (a friend was in town and they decided to go do coding stuff and whatnot) so it was hike time to me. I didn't feel like going out and murdering my legs again, maybe wait till Memorial Day weekend for the next big one. So I invited a friend from work out who has never seen Eagle Creek for an mild hike to pass the time.

This was my 6th time on the Eagle Creek trail, so there isn't much to say that hasn't been said already in earlier posts. It's a great hike, it's busy as hell (The parking was already garbage by 9:30 am), and it's pretty easy. But, since I've done it 6 times (To varying distances) there wasn't much to say or take pictures of till one very important section.

The trail is clear at this point, but it did indeed suffer some damage this winter. Several trees had clearly gone over, I saw evidence of multiple small landslides, and the trail had clearly been re-routed over some slides a few times. The most meaningful change was that the Metlako Falls viewpoint (pictured below) no longer exists. It is gone. Bye bye. It fell into the creek at some point this winter and the trail to it is now gone. I guess Metlako falls is shy because no one can see it anymore.

This view of Metlako Falls is dead now, RIP.

Punchbowl falls is now overgrown at the top so what used to be a stellar view is now mostly obscured by trees. Shame too, because it's just going to drive the dumb tourists out onto dangerous further cliffs that are more dangerous to see it. I saw several side pathways that used to be tough to see now prominently used, so it's only a matter of time before some dumbass dies and ruins it for everyone.

 Me and Pete made it to High Bridge and stopped at the campsite just past it, at the little known and under appreciated Skoonichuk Falls. I'm not even going to try and guess how that is pronounced. It's a really big and interesting falls, but due to zero signage and relatively hidden angles you'd never see it unless you paid attention. As such, the only path to the bottom is a hard to spot, sketchy ditch trail that some people forced into existence. We scrambled to the bottom and were rewarded with a pretty sweet view all to ourselves.

The rest of the trip was uneventful.
7 Miles, like maybe 600 ft of total elevation gain.