Windy Falls adventure

3/24/19

Brandi, Christy, Michelle, Justin, jack and I

I had a great adventure with old and new friends. A hiker named Michelle Saw this waterfall on Facebook and asked where it was. That person didn’t respond but Jack offered to take her. Brandi saw it and joined. Christy and I jumped in. We met at the trailhead and met Jack, his friend Justin and Michelle. It was immediately clear this was a fun group!

We carpooled to the trail and started. The first part of the trail was a nice walk down to the Horsepasture River.

It was a short hike to the river. Probably less than a mile. It ended at a nice blue green swimming hole. If you haven’t seen any of the Horsepasture River it is amazing. Very powerful in places and always beautiful. Most of it is hidden in rugged unmarked areas that require a high level of wilderness hiking experience.

The trail went to the left down the river. The first rock place we came to was a slick area over the river. Michelle tied a rope so we could use it to get down. This was the top of Bear Rock Falls.

We climbed down with the rope then climbed over the Rock to be at the bottom of Bear Rock Falls.

At the base of this falls we hung out on the rocks a bit. It was beautiful.

Then we were back on the trail. We went through the Hillbilly Highway.

Then through a slanted rock crevice. We had fun with that.

Then a short bushwhack to another scenic spot on the river. It was raging!

The next part was an odd climb up. It was hard! Long legs a plus.

From here a short walk down to the top and side of Windy falls. This was our playground for the next hour or so. The views were amazing. This rock area went for along way. Jack knew every inch of this. They were braver than me. I should of followed them down to the end. Better safe than sorry I guess. As you go down the steep rock face you reach the crack of doom. This is a 2 ft wide crevice. It was wider in places and the rushing Thompson River was along the far side of the rock. The next picture is Jack in the Crack of doom.

Christy enjoyed the Edge!

Jack had lots of places To view the falls like the Golfball and the Spiderweb. I didn’t dare go down there. I was fine after the crack of doom. Here is Brandi crossing it. The next one shows how steep it is.

These below are Jacks pics from down at the end of the rocks. this first one! Not me! The roar and wind off the raging river!

Brandi and I decided to head back to our back packs and have a snack. Crossing back over the crack was a little intimidating because it was so steep. Justin was napping 😆. Brandi crossed it and laid there also cracking up.

Then here came Christy and they spidered up!

Just as we were about to get going Brandis pack went rolling down. Poor jack we have really worked him! He went down to get it. 😁

The next obstacle on our challenge was the thin ledge. Jack put a rope up for us to use to go down. It might not have been necessary but it was very wet.

Michelle cheated and slid down the log and for that she wasn’t part of our wet butt club!

Now here we are alongside the falls. There is only two ways to get down to the base of Windy Falls. One is to repel down between the rocks or to go through a small opening called the keyhole. Jack hung a rope down to the base. He went down through the keyhole to show us and to assist us in getting down. Justin went first. He did not fit in the keyhole. He had to repel down between two rocks. Not sure I could have done that.

Brandi went next. She went down like a pro. So did Christy and Michelle.

Once you get past here there are a series of rocks to climb down. Someone put some planks of wood here to help with the climb. We also had the rope. This was fun. Hmmm going up? I’ll worry about that later!

We ended at the bottom of the huge rock we were standing on pictured below except on the other side of it.

We were at the side of the falls. To get in front of the falls you could get in the water and swim around or there was a barely noticeable crevice under this rock. It was awesome. It’s like a cave filled with driftwood.

But… when you come out of that it’s time to get wet. There are rocks to hop on but it’s not the easiest route. The water is real high and Jack said it was deeper than it looked. He showed us where to step. Michelle made it two rocks and got piggybacked over, again she escaped getting wet! Brandi took off her shoes and socks and got piggy backed. Christy did the same. I walked into the water and got wet to my thighs.

From here we are at the base of Windy Falls. It was awesome. It’s a very powerful falls, very windy, lots of spray and cold! There was a rainbow near the right side of it.

Jack climbed out on a wet rock in front of the falls. He took this picture of a circular rainbow around him. Way cool!

He got soaked! That rock looked slick. None of us tried that.

It was a nice warm day but down at Windy Falls it is windy, wet and chilly. We stood behind a large boulder to keep dry and warm and take it all in. This is Brandi, Christy and me. The Blond, the black and the red.

We hung down here for a long time. It was so beautiful.

This is Justin below. It’s his 469th waterfall in the Kevin Adams 500 challenge and almost finished!

Well now it’s time to go back. We had to cross back over the rocks where I got wet again.

Under the rock we go. It had a lot of driftwood under there. This is how wet I got. Hiking in wet shoes doesn’t really bother me thank goodness.

Now it’s time to go up the keyhole. It was a lot harder going up then down. Thankfully jack was there to help push us through. Like giving birth he said! 🤣🤣🤣

I couldn’t have made it up without him pushing me up I’d be stuck! We had to climb up the large rocks and then maneuver up through the keyhole sideways. The keyhole was my issue. My hair was pinned against the rock and my elbows we all scratched up. Poor jack I think he pushed me out the other side by himself. I just couldn’t seam to manage it. The others seemed to do fine.

Justin had to climb up the hard way. It looked pretty difficult. We hung here on the rock for a while. It’s such a great place.

We went back up the trail. This time we actually followed the trail and skipped going back up Bear Rock Falls. This was an uphill climb but didn’t take long at all. We had spent so much time and excitement exploring on the way down up was over in a minute. In no time we were back at the swimming hole climbing up that nice easy trail where we started. Only it wasn’t nice an easy anymore. 😂 I think I used up everything I had on that fun trip down!😇

Well we arrived back at the trailhead and carpooled back to the parking lot. We all had an amazing time and said our goodbyes. Brandi, Christy and I all had a 3 hour ride home. Justin and Jack were going to another waterfall! Just said he was going to finish his 500 within 2 weeks.

Jack worked hard guiding us to this falls. Can’t thank him enough! What a fun group!