Upper Pin Creek Falls

Upper Pin Creek Falls was a pleasant surprise to discover. I had eyeballed the canyon on the Topographic maps several months before I visited, but could never get any verification that there was a significant waterfall there. I suspected something large, and while the falls turned out to be smaller than I thought it would be, the canyon still impressed me. Pin Creek sluices down a very narrow gorge carved in what looked like basalt, then when the canyon starts to widen, the creek plunges over a 43 foot fall, turns about 45 degrees to the left and hurtles another 67 feet to a long talus slope below. The falls are viewed from well over 200 feet above the canyon floor and the views downstream are impressive. What surprised me further is the road accessing the falls is both paved and in remarkable shape, even though it literally goes nowhere (it ends in a clearcut about 2 miles above the falls) and the Forest Service has posted a sign at its beginning stating it isn't maintained.