Devil Creek Falls

We went on a Labor Day excursion with the cousins! Journal excerpt from Monday, September 7, 2020:

What a day! It was so nice yesterday that Jeff and I slept with our bedroom windows open last night. This morning, we woke up to smoke and high winds. The wind storm kept picking up speed, rolling the cursed wildfire smoke back into town. Soon the air was so gunky I knew running outdoors was not going to be an option. So I did my yoga, Jeff hooked his bike up to ride indoors in the basement, and we resigned ourselves to a blah day. 

Then Steph called and we started scheming. 

Our scheming led us to replace the traditional Labor Day family backyard barbecue in Grandview with a family outing to the clean mountain air. I suggested Devil Creek Falls, which my outdoor research had turned up last week. The All Trails info said it was a short 1/3 mile hike which ended at a waterfall. I didn't know if it would be any fun, but it was only an 86 minute drive from home, so we rolled the dice and went for it. 

We arrived around noon and hiked on in. Our gamble paid off! It was perfect. The hike wasn't too hard for any of the kids (ages 3-11), and we had the place to ourselves. One other family  was there for a little while, but they soon left and we enjoyed all of the roaming climbing that we could handle. 

The waterfall area was the COOLEST natural playground of boulders, crevices, and pools of water. The waterfall itself was a slim trickle this late in the dry season, but that made it better because the rocks were mostly dry and we could climb everywhere. It was just so secluded and fun, with enough variety for kids to explore for hours. 

Jeff stuck with Amber and explored all over the place with her, which she loved. I explored with various kids and climbed, scrambled, and scooted to my heart's content. We all loved it and stayed for over two hours. Back at the cars, we shared chocolate, potato chips, and carrots for a snack.

[end journal entry]

Jeff and Amber took off into the distance.

Amber and Rose, climbing while waiting at the trailhead.

They're off!

Amber led the way, followed by Jeff, Jay, Tate, and myself.

First we checked out the top of the falls.

It was a rush looking 50 feet down into the punchbowl basin area at the bottom of the falls.

Rose and Layne were so cautious on their first steep descent down to the creek, they slid in the dirt on their bums.

The ideal playground, right here.

The chase pack, making the steep descent.

Rose and Layne

Jay and Tate.

The waterfall was skinny, but it was still powerful due to the long drop. When we stood behind the waterfall, the mist and sprayback felt cool and refreshing.

Rose and Layne, through the waterfall. (I was standing behind the falls when I took this picture.)

Jay doesn't love heights or climbing, or risk-taking of any sort, so this wasn't exactly his ideal play place, but he did explore a little.

Rose. Enormous old trees were growing out of the rocks!

Rose and Layne climbed through this short cave-tunnel over and over.

Rose up top!

Tiny Leslie and Steph, down low.

It was a bit of a rush, climbing up and over the edge of the small gorge.

Jeff helped Amber through the cave-tunnel.

On the hike back to the car, I took over Amber duty while Jeff helped his mom traverse trail obstacles.

Amber didn't like how slow I was, but I was wearing slippery wet sandals so I couldn't run as fast as she could. She kept dashing ahead and then waiting impatiently for me to catch up. I was surprised that she waited, honestly! Haha

The four big kids. I like this age. They are fun to adventure with.

Snacking on brownies at the small parking area.

Things got intense on the drive home. The winds had picked up and were blowing so much thick smoke into our valley. Yakima had an AQI of 850 when we passed through at 3:30pm. That's off-the-charts HAZARDOUS levels. "Normal hazardous" air quality begins at 300. We wore our N-99 masks in the car because it ached to breathe. 

The windstorm continued all afternoon and into the evening, ripping trees up by the roots and downing branches. The roof of our bedroom was pelted with pinecones. The walnut tree out back hailed down green walnuts. Apparently the Bi-Mart in town had part of its roof peel off. A car on the freeway nearly had its back bumper blown off--it was flapping in the wind when we passed by. 

This wasn't like the tornadoes I grew up with in Tennessee, and it wasn't like the hurricanes we dealt with in Virginia. It was a dry smoky choking steady hot wind. No swirling winds or dropping barometers. No deluges of flooding rains. No thunder or lightning. Just that merciless thick WIND.

Smoke, rolling up highway 410.

Hazardous air through the Yakima area. Bleh.