Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020 | 1B
OUTDOORS
Which Oregon waterfalls
are open this rainy season?
Abiqua Falls was not burned in the Beachie Creek Fire but access remains closed for now, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. PHOTO BY DAVID BARKER
About 125 acres did burn in the southwest
area of the park, and the impact can be seen
from the Catamount Trail, which is popular with
mountain bikers.
COVID-19 has brought limits on camping,
dining and has closed the Nature Play Area, so
check the website in advance. It’s also recom-
mended you bring a mask and put it up when
you pass other hikers on the trail.
Zach Urness
Salem Statesman Journal
USA TODAY NETWORK
Now more than ever, we need waterfall hikes.
Heading into a stressful winter for so many
people, the chance to escape to a green forest
and misty cascade booming with rainfall is a
natural anxiety release at its finest.
But naturally, there are complications be-
cause ... it's 2020.
The historic wildfire season burned and
closed many iconic waterfalls while the con-
tinued impact of COVID-19 and storm damage
has shuttered others.
Here's a guide to 26 of the best-known water-
falls in Northwest Oregon, with information on
whether they're open or closed, burned or un-
scathed.
The directions to most of these places can be
found with a quick Google search, but if you
want more specific directions, just email me at
zurness@statesmanjournal.com.
Waterfall hikes impacted by 2020
wildfires
Closed: Shellburg Falls
The little brother of Silver Falls did not fare as
well, unfortunately. The forest and trail to 100-
foot Shellburg Falls were severely burned by the
Beachie Creek Fire that erupted Labor Day eve-
ning.
There is no timetable for reopening the wa-
terfall, according to the Oregon Department of
Forestry, and it will likely be a long time before
access is restored.
Closed: Opal Creek waterfalls
Soda Creek Falls drops almost 150 total feet at
Cascadia State Park and is open.
ZACH URNESS/STATESMAN JOURNAL
The historic wildfire blowup that began Labor
Day night was the most devastating natural di-
saster in state history. In Northwest Oregon, the
bulk of the impact was centered on the Lion-
shead, Beachie Creek and Riverside fires, which
burned 536,023 acres from Mount Jefferson to
Estacada.
Open: Silver Falls State Park
Oregon’s largest state park was mostly
spared from the Beachie Creek Fire, and in the
waterfall area, you won’t notice any difference.
The Opal Creek area was severely impacted
by the Beachie Creek Fire’s blowup Labor Day
night. Much of the forest was severely burned
and that includes the forest around most of the
waterfalls. Pictures show high tree mortality
around Henline Falls, Three Pools and along the
Opal Creek Trail.
It’s going to be a long time before the area re-
See WATERFALLS, Page 3B
If the fishing tackle box is full, why don’t I have everything?
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
You can never have too much fishing
tackle, according to the old saw.
Which probably was concocted by in-
sidious purveyors of rods, reels, lures, etc.
But in a perverse sense, it’s true.
You can never have too much fishing
tackle because at some point the massive
amounts that you have accumulated
make it impossible to find what you’re
looking for.
As a typical example, say you need
something as mundane as a package of
No. 12 gold salmon-egg hooks.
After fishing around, pun intended,
through about a half-dozen tackle boxes
and assorted drawers in the man cave,
you give up.
And go out to buy some more No. 12
gold salmon-egg hooks.
While you’re at it in the tackle depart-
ment, there are a couple of other things
that you probably don’t need but end up
buying to keep from having to make an-
other trip.
I know what you’re thinking.
It’s in there somewhere. Drawer two of
five in Henry’s fishing tackle jumble
cave. HENRY MILLER/SPECIAL TO THE
STATESMAN JOURNAL
So what’s the big deal?
It’s just a package of trout hooks, after
all.
In reality, this is how you end up with
six bottles of corn-scented yellow Power-
Bait, which you never have used, and
probably never will.
You bought it because while at the
store on several previous occasions you
vaguely remember a random angler you
talked to at Detroit Lake about two years
ago who said that it was “the bomb” for
rainbow trout.
And given your average angler’s selec-
tive memory, you remember what he said,
but you forgot your previous purchases
that are piling up in the back of the sur-
plus tackle drawer.
I digress.
Anyway, you get home and go to put
your purchases away, and discover a cou-
ple of packages of No. 12 gold salmon-egg
hooks that were there all the time but that
you missed during the initial rummaging.
Because those are under the six
squeeze bottles of assorted anise, krill
and shrimp bait scents that you bought
during three previous trips to the store
because you couldn’t remember if you
had any left.
Then there is the corollary to the “you
can never have too much fishing tackle”
rule, which is that as the quantity esca-
lates, you’re going to need more places to
put it.
Case in point: Those four squeeze
tubes of fly float.
For the uninitiated, that waxy concoc-
tion is used to keep artificial dry flies bob-
bing on the surface of the water.
The four bottles are explained by the
two fishing vests, one more than any per-
son actually needs.
There are two because my original vest
was getting so ratty, tattered and stained
that I used a Christmas gift certificate to
buy the second one to replace it.
That was about three years ago.
I haven’t worn the new one since be-
cause of sentimental attachment to the
first vest.
So why four bottles of fly float for the
two vests?
I couldn’t remember if I had any left in
either of them.
Because you can never … oh, forget it.
All of which explains the endless ex-
pansion of the known, and unknown,
fishing tackle universe.
You can never have too much fishing
tackle because you have too much fishing
tackle to remember what you have or
where it is.
While at the same time you’re too at-
tached to the stuff that you do remember
that you can’t bear to replace it.
Mask up and stay safe.
FISHING THOUGHT FOR THE
WEEK: An optimist is an angler who can
sit on a rock in a sleet storm without a bite
for three hours and talk about how great it
is that there aren’t any mosquitoes.
Contact Henry via email at Henry
MillerSJ@gmail.com