Oregon trip – day 4 – Sahalie and Koosah Falls in Willamette National Forest

One of the other hikes I found online before I came out here was a hike in the Willamette National Forest that is a loop trail for the Sahalie and Koosah Falls.  I found a few other promising hikes for the Willamete National Forest, but time constraints meant I had to pick one that seemed very promising.  I’ve always liked waterfalls, so I opted for this loop trail the one day I drove out to the National Forest (it’s about 90 minutes from Eugene).

As before, Toren and I dropped Debi off at her work, then headed out to hike.  Toren was once again very accommodating, sleeping the entire way to the hike and back.  We drove right to the Sahalie Falls parking area, geared up, and hit the trail.

As far as hikes go, this one was perfect.  There was no serious elevation gain pretty much the entire time.  The elevation drop and gain was gradual, the trail was well-maintained, and the scenery was beautiful.  Oh, and the falls – gorgeous:

Koosah Falls from the west side of the loop
Sahalie Falls from the east side of the loop
Koosah Falls from the east side of the loop

I did stop a bit more regularly this time around to check on Toren.  With his new long-sleeve turtleneck, he was plenty warm.  Though, he wasn’t up to smiling for pictures:

Toren at Koosah Falls on the west side; he’s eating cheerios, but it looks like he’s thinking, “Big deal.  It’s just water.”
the two of us at Koosah Falls from the west side of the loop
the two of us at Sahalie Falls

I used my nifty GPS app to track this trip as well:

After the hike, we made the trip back to Eugene and picked up Debi.  We came back to the hotel and went swimming, then went to dinner with the people with whom Debi is working on this project.  It was a very enjoyable evening, especially once Toren fell asleep (until then, he was all over the deck and backyard of the couple who hosted us).

Some additional footage added after I posted this. Here is footage of Koosah Falls from the east side of the trail:

And Koosah Falls from the west side of the trail:

Here is Sahalie Falls from the top of the waterfall:

And Sahalie Falls from below the waterfall:

And, finally, Toren playing in the gravel at the bottom end of the waterfall loop:

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