0

Tumalo Falls, Oregon

by Bonnie Moreland
Nature, like man, sometimes weeps from gladness…
7/15/2018

Taken at second viewpoint after you start up the Tumalo trail. Taken after first light but before dawn.

With a sheer plunge of 89 feet, Tumalo Falls is both the tallest and most impressive waterfall along Tumalo Creek - as well as one of the most popular outdoor destinations in the vicinity of Bend. The area around the falls was burnt in a 1979 forest fire, though like the landscape surrounding Mount St. Helens after it's devastating 1980 eruption, the forest is quickly healing. A few snags still line the hillsides along the valley but the area is green again, covered with small fir trees and not at all detracting from the splendor of the falls. A nice set of viewpoints both at the top and near the base of the falls make viewing the falls possible for nearly everyone.