Upper Whitewater Falls Base Hike Route Map

The approximate route of my hike to the base of Upper Whitewater Falls as depicted a la Google Earth...

Foothills Trail Trailhead - Highway 281

The trailhead I'd be using on this hike is located just south of the Whitewater Falls Recreation Area access road.

Foothills Trail

The path began its descent right away, twisting its way through the forest...

Foothills Trail

A nice little bridge makes crossing this ravine easier...

Foothills Trail

Before long I passed the access trail to the Whitewater Falls parking area...

Rosebay Rhododendron

Rhododendron maximum

Foothills Trail

Things get a bit steeper about a half mile in...

Foothills Trail

Cutting through the greenery...

Foothills Trail

Winding along the steep upper slopes of the river gorge...

Foothills-Whitewater Falls Trail Junction

A bit over 3/4 of a mile in I reached the spur path up to the Whitewater Falls Overlook. I decided I'd make the quick trip up to have a look at the falls from above before heading down to the river...

Whitewater Falls Trail

Tunneling beneath the rhododendron...

Whitewater Falls Trail

Stairs...lots of them...

Whitewater Falls Trail

Before too long I reached the overlook...

Whitewater Falls

Whitewater Falls...411-feet of awesomeness...it never disappoints...

Whitewater Falls

Zooming in on the bottom drop. If everything would go as planned I'd soon be standing atop one of those rocks down there...

Whitewater Falls Trail

Well, time to get down to the river...

Foothills Trail

Back on the Foothills Trail I resumed my descent into the gorge...

Foothills Trail

Looking into the treetops...

Foothills Trail

The trail gets quite steep below the spur trail to the observation deck. A series of quick switchbacks helped out a bit...

Foothills Trail

Cutting along the side of the ridge...

Foothills Trail

Things began to flatten out a bit and the sound of water was getting louder...

Foothills Trail

Before long the river appeared just ahead...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River Crossing

The path pulls alongside the Whitewater River among a tangle of huge boulders...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River Crossing

Looking down on the footbridge which takes the trail across the river...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River

Looking upstream at the crossing of the Whitewater River...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River Crossing

Just getting up to the bridge requires a scramble...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River Crossing

The Foothills Trail as it crosses the Whitewater...

Foothills Trail - Whitewater River Crossing

Looking downstream from the bridge across the Whitewater...

Whitewater Falls Base Bushwhack

Just across the bridge I picked up a faint trail heading upstream along the river. It soon degenerated into a true bushwhack, however...

Whitewater Falls Base Bushwhack

Before long I decided to forgo fighting through the briers and make my bit for the base of the falls by rock-hopping up the river itself...

Whitewater Falls Base Bushwhack

Looking downstream after scrambling atop a particularly large boulder...

Whitewater Falls Base Bushwhack

The river splits into numerous cascades as it finds its way around and under the maze of boulders covering the riverbed...

Whitewater Falls

Suddenly, as I topped out on another boulder, the falls appeared...

Whitewater Falls

Wow...no words can adequately describe what this was like...just wow...

Whitewater Falls

Getting a little closer now...

Whitewater Falls

Even with the relatively low flow the power of the falls was amazing...

Whitewater Falls Base Bushwhack

My goal achieved, it was now time to climb my way back out of the gorge. Quite the afternoon...