Middle Cataract Falls

Middle Cataract Falls is the first of the larger waterfalls along Cataract Creek one would encounter when traveling up the Cataract Creek valley - at least if there were any easy ways to see the falls. The creek here bends around a ridge protruding into Cataract Creek's canyon and slides 61-feet in a booming cascading horsetail type fall, flanked by hundred foot tall cliffs. A modest log jam at the top of the falls currently directs the creek in a fairly uniform path, but should said logs shift the falls have been known to split into two distinct segments in the past, both taking on more of a veiling nature. Cataract Creek appears to harbor as many as a dozen significant waterfalls along its length. Considering these numbers, it would be natural to assume some confusion regarding which features bore named recognition at one point or another. This particular waterfall seems to have been one such instance. According to Greg Plumb's Waterfall Lover's Guide books - which incorrectly refer to this entry as Cataract Falls (which is actually further upstream) - the National Park Service actually maintained a marked spur trail to a viewpoint of this waterfall at one point, but the trail was destroyed and abandoned after extensive blowdowns in 1988. We saw absolutely no evidence of any trail when we surveyed the falls in July 2014. Further stirring the pot, signs for this spur trail apparently called it out as leading to Cataract Falls. Whether this waterfall was originally meant to be labeled as such, or the Park Service was wrong in their signage (it wouldn't be the first time) is unclear.Over the years we've seen as many as three separate waterfalls specifically labeled as Cataract Falls. This one most recently in Greg Plumb's Waterfall Lover's Guide books, and apparently also as such by the National Park Service as well. The actual Cataract Falls lies about an eighth of a mile further upstream and cannot be seen from this area. Given the close proximity of the two falls the confusion is somewhat understandable, but hopefully this will put an end to it.