Overcoming Acrophobia: Upper McCord Traditional Cache
Overcoming Acrophobia: Upper McCord
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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2.2 mile RT hike to rarely-visited Upper McCord Creek Falls. About 450 foot elevation gain. For a slightly longer hike and another beautiful waterfall, combine this cache hike with our Elowah Falls cache (GCJHAJ) for a 3-mile RT with 750 foot total elevation gain.
Trailhead parking for both caches is at John B. Yeon State Park (no fees or passes required). Access from exit 35 coming from Portland, exit 37 from the east.
Terrain is a wide gravel/dirt path for the first .4 mile. At the 2nd trail junction (see photo #1 below), hang a right toward Upper McCord Falls. Here the trail becomes narrow and “single-file.” It is rocky, and there are a few obstacles to step over. Trail maintenance is limited from November to April, so be prepared for pretty much any natural occurrence during this time. At the time of cache placement, the trail was covered with wet leaves, and there was a small tree and rockslide over part of the trail.
From the trail junction described above, you’ll gently switchback up the next .7 miles to great views of The Gorge, Beacon Rock (photo #2) and Hamilton Mountain across the Columbia, then the top of Elowah Falls (photo #5), just before you reach Upper McCord Creek Falls. The narrow section of trail with the best views is blasted out of the cliffside, and there’s a 400-foot drop on the other side, with just a small metal rail (a few sections are missing) between you and the edge (see photos 3-5 for examples). We tended to hug the cliff wall and not look around much. People with no fear of heights will delight in the walk; this section of trail intimidated us, but we persevered! The views are worth it!
We are believers in the beauty and fun of the hike, and don’t want anyone to be unable to find the cache. We had about 30 foot EPE when we placed the cache; here are some explicit directions if you do not fare so well:
Continue on the trail past McCord falls to where there’s a LARGE tree across the trail (see photo #7). The cache is on the left side of the trail immediately on the other side of this tree and slightly under it. There is a letterbox about 15 feet away from the cache, but you are looking for a 35 cal. ammo can. Two new spoiler photos posted 7/3/2016.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre fbzr ebpxf