The Falls
Sahalie and Koosah falls are two breathtaking waterfalls along the Mckenzie River in central Oregon. These are some of the most easily accessible waterfalls in the state. The McKenzie highway, a very pretty two lane road that follows the McKenzie river through the miles of pine trees, has a pull off parking lot which allows visitors to walk just a few hundred feet to the the first waterfall. This accessibility does lead to crowds though, so if you prefer more isolated hikes this might not be the waterfall for you. The whole trail is a short loop of just 2.6 miles and offers fantastic views of both Sahalie and Koosah.
Here's a view of Sahalie falls as a preview:
The Hike
As I mentioned, the hike is pretty short, so I focused mostly on capturing the river and the water falls. The hike begins with forked path, which leads to Sahalie falls on the right and Koosah falls on the left. I decided to check out Sahalie first and began on a very short path to the top of the waterfall.
Here you can walk right up to edge of the falls, and in the summer, when the water is lower you can walk on rocks and get across to that patch of grass on the right.
If you look to the right you can see a beautiful smaller waterfall that proceeds the real deal.
I spent along time in this area at the top of the water fall. There is a more structured look out with a stone and wood wall directly above the waterfall where you really get a feeling for power and size of the cascading water. That area gets pretty misty though so I choose to keep my camera in its bag.
Then, I took the quick walk down to the base of Sahalie and got a few pictures of its full glory. It was pretty sunny that day which made for some really nice rainbows.
If you look closely or zoom in you can see the fence of the look out near the top right corner of the photo.
I left Sahalie falls after about 20 minutes and backtracked towards the parking lot. Once I got back to the fork I headed for Koosah.
I felt this photogenic sign really helps reveal how much moisture is in the air in this area. Even though it didn't rain all day this sign is noticeably damp and hundreds of feet from the base of the falls.
The trail follows the contours of the Mckenzie river and winds through the dense, moss-covered forest.
Frequently, the trail and the banks of the river are a couple feet away from each other. This makes stopping to admire the river extremely easy.
While this hike isn't particularly difficult, it is extremely pleasant to take a casual stroll through the woods along such a beautiful river.
After about 10 minutes, I arrived at Koosah falls. This waterfall converges to a single point for the most part before tumbling off the rocks above and thus makes for a more typical looking waterfall. Unfortunately, its rather difficult to get a clear view of these falls from any single point on the path. It was tempting to hike down to the river from the trail but it was fairly steep and rocky.
At this point in the hike the sun had gone down a bit and I wanted another view of Sahalie with different lighting so I walked back. When I arrived at the base of the falls there was a man standing on some rocks, who unwittingly became a featured silhouette for this shot.
I decided to wander around a little more and this time went past the summit of Sahalie and followed the loop up river. This section of the trail began relatively flat and quickly traversed.
Although, further along the trail gets pretty narrow, and with the icy snow on the ground, somewhat treacherous.
If you were to slip at this point you'd fall down into this gorgeous section of the river.
Eventually, I made it to the bridge that connects the other half of the loop. If you continue walking here you can see both falls from the other side of the river.
I took advantage of this vantage point to take one more picture of the river.
After taking a few more pictures, I backtracked for the third and final time and went back to my car. This was an extremely pleasant way to spend an afternoon and I highly recommend this hike. Although it is short, there are so many different wonderful places to sit and enjoy the river, so bring a lunch and make a day of it!
Thanks for reading!