Fall River (La Pine)

BETA
1/2 mile

Stream: Like the Metolius, the 10 mile long (give or take a couple miles depending on whether you measure the meanders or are more a how-the-crow-flies sort of cartographer) Fall River pops up out of the ground at its full volume.  A couple miles upstream of it's confluence with the Deschutes River it spills over a small cascade.  The rest of the river is flat, aside from a little turbulence near the fish hatchery.   To run this novel 10' cascade, seal launch off the downstream side of W Deschutes River Rd into the river where the Fall River flows underneath, through some culverts. 

Bop down to the flat water and float 1/4 mile to the falls.  Make sure to look down through the clear as crystal water, we saw a lot of fish when we were there (fly-fishing only).  

Those who enjoy technical challenge might dig trying to dial in the perfect execution of the various nuanced line options.  Others may find floating down the middle and resurfacing in the pool below satisfactory.  It's easy to walk back up for laps on the left.  When you have had your fill follow the trail the short distance back up to the parking area.

The most unique attribute of paddling this novelty section of the Fall River, is the trail is at river level and within feet of the river in spots.  This makes for a good outing for non-boating friends and boaters to hang out casually on the river without it being a whole adventure, so long as you were already in the area.  The shore near the falls would make for a good picnic spot too.


  
Flows:  The run is spring fed and fluctuates very little.    We had about 100 cfs December 23, 2018 which seems to be as low as it ever gets.  Fall River near La Pine gauge.

A years worth of fluctuation

Access:  This paddle/hike is less than 30 minutes from Bend. Traveling south on Hwy 97, and about 10-15 minutes south of Bend, be on the lookout for a right turn onto Vandevert Rd.  A mile later turn left onto S Century Drive.  5 miles later turn left onto W Deschutes River Rd/W River Rd.  In just under a mile there will be a parking area on the left just before crossing over the Fall River.  Refer to the following map from there.

 Click on the map to enlarge it

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Story
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I first stumbled upon the Fall River quite by accident.  While on a field trip in college, we camped along the Deschutes River at the La Pine State Park Campground.  I had woken up early in the morning and went for a jog.  I went along aimlessly for some time.  At some point I started seeing small trail signs for "Fall River Falls", I didn't know how far it was but figured I'd head in that direction for a bit.  After about 3 miles I came to the drop.  It was pretty, and did seem runnable, but didn't really warrant investing time and effort to coordinate a return trip with the aim of boating it.

 I hadn't spent a lot of time wandering around Central Oregon by myself before and got a little disoriented on my return, I was not used to navigating along such flat land with lack of geographic features to orient with, so many identical looking trees, and lack of undergrowth. I even ended up knocking on a door to inquire within the house to see if they could confirm I was still on the right track.  Having been gone for what felt like a couple hours I worried I would be holding up the trip, but upon arriving back found out I had left much earlier in the morning than I had thought and breakfast was just getting made.  The trip went on and 3 days on the Deschutes filling my brain with the business of rocks washed away any noodlings of curiosity I had regarding the Fall River.

Fast forward 6 years and Priscilla and I were visiting Sun River over the Christmas Holiday with her family.  We had our kayaks with us since we planned to boat on the way home.  Saturday evening her father brought up the idea of hiking to Fall River Falls.  I remembered my jog from years before and that I had thought that while not worth devoting a whole trip to, the cascade did seem like it was probably runnable.  I looked it up on the map, and did some photo searching online.  I saw the logistics would be remarkably un-complicated for Priscilla and I to float down to the falls while the rest of Priscilla's family walked down.  Then we could all hike back together.

It ended up being pretty cool, her family got to see her boating without having to do anything out of the ordinary.  We had fun surmising which type of fish we were seeing as we walked/floated mere feet from each other.  It was really a perfect little afternoon outing from Sun River.

   -jacob