Lower Quartz Creek Falls

Take Interstate 5 to the town of Woodland, and exit onto Highway 503 heading east. Follow 503 east to Cougar, and continue to Forrest Service Road # 90, just passed the Pine Creek Ranger Station. Follow FR 90 for 17 miles to the Quartz Creek Trail. Hike a moderate 2 miles to the bridgeless crossing of Straight Creek. Carefully wade down the right bank of Straight Creek (the rocks are very slick) to the rocks above the falls. There are campsites on the opposite side of Straight Creek.Quartz Creek apparently possesses several small waterfalls but since the Quartz Creek Trail stays well above the creek most of the time, very few of them can be seen. This is the final waterfall along the creek, found at the exact point where Straight and Quartz Creeks merge. Straight Creek flows across pitted orange bedrock and slides into Quartz Creek as Quartz Creek bends sharply around a tall rock buttress, then the collective water slides 24 feet in a narrow flume, slamming into the wall on the side of the large pool below the falls. There is no access to the bottom of the falls, and even reaching the top of the falls can be a little precarious, so I'd suggest leaving this one be and focusing on the better falls in the area.This one is known as Straight Creek Falls among the kayaking community due to its placement at the confluence, but Straight Creek Falls is actually upstream on Straight Creek itself, so a disambiguation is necessary.