Clifty Canyon Loop - 1-29-11

Well folks, our journey started out with plans to start at the Bunyan Hill Bridge and follow 207 alongside Braziel Creek up to the Clifty Creek drainage, camp somewhere up top and then hit the Bunyan Hill trail the next day for a little over 7 mile loop.  Unfortunately, we ended up exploring a little too much in the Clifty Canyon and by the time we made it to the top, it was pretty much dark with what appeared to be no conducive place to camp.  Therfore, thanks to choices made, we ended up doing it all in a day, which put us bushwacking deadfall (Big thanks and shout out to the FS and their big ideas on pine tree farming, which introduced the natorious pine beetle which has obviously decimated much of the forest) in the dark to the Bunyan Hill trail and then battling pine sapplings all the way back out, lol. Yes, the threat of encountering a Saskwatch in the dark was quite imminent for Ms. Mandi, but as tired and fearful as she was, she did just fine!

Clifty Creek Loop - 7 miles more or less:)

Anyhow, our findings in the Clifty Canyon were well worth our efforts and though we didn't find one of the waterfalls, we did manage to find four at the top.  This place was absolutely breathtaking and though all four of the waterfalls were running, one can only imagine how cool and alive the place would have been during a very rainy season. So, to conclude and without further adue, here are a few of the many wonders of Clifty Canyon!

Myself and the first southernmost waterfall we found in the Clifty Canyon

Directly north across Clifty Creek from the above fall...

What I ascertained to be Clifty Canyons main waterfall (Since it was the largest).

Mandi on the way past the last of the 4 falls (Clifty Canyon) in that immediate area...en route to the top.

Though I am quite sure that we overlooked one other waterfall (Based on reviewing Uncle Wayne's photos), these four are likely viewable at the same time, given their close proximity.  Once again, this area is very worth-the-while!

After exiting the canyon, we made our way southwest (as denoted by the accompanying map) in the dark over to the Bunyan Hill trail in search of Saskwatch and en route to our hopefull escape from the dark and swaggering pine sapplings!

Mandi heading south and looking not so happy on the Bunyan Hill trail...

This journey was well worth our efforts and I highly recommend it to anyone.  I'm not sure how I would rate the difficulty, as there are some possible doozies to be had if one looses their footing in the canyon, but all in all, if your careful and take your time, there shouldn't be any problems. There are a couple of pretty decent campsites on the way to the top of the canyon, but once on top, there didn't appear to be anything other than a plethora of downfall to bushwack through, so we decided to take our chances on the trail, but that's definitley not saying that one can't find somehwere to sleep, just watch the fires as we would definetly not want to aid the forestry service in helping to carelessly abuse such a wonderful place.  

I hope everyone has enjoyed our journey and Uncle Wayne, could you please tell us how we managed to miss that other beautiful waterfall that you have in your album? Thanks!   

P.S.

Well folks, it looks like for whatever reason, the formatting is going to square off the photos when published, so my express appologies for that since I have no idea how to fix it.  Hope everyone enjoys our journey just the same!