Kennedy Creek Natural Area Preserve — Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009

Kennedy Falls is a remote gem of a waterfall, two-tiered and perhaps 50’-75’ high, located on Kennedy Creek in Thurston County. Kennedy Creek flows from Camp Thunderbird on Summit Lake down to innermost Totten Inlet where Highway 101 crosses its mouth just before climbing the hill to Kamilche. When I was in Boy Scouts, Kennedy Falls was one of the favored Scout hiking spots from Camp Thunderbird on Summit Lake. Kennedy Falls was the first formal “hike” I recall taking in what has become a long life of rambling. The route, as I recall it then, involved scaling a forested ridge above Summit Lake’s north shore, then descending on logging roads down to the falls. On that hot summer day long ago, we footsore scouts all jumped into the sizeable pool at the base of the falls for a swim. I was the unlucky one to cut my heel on some broken glass, which required first aid from Mr. Gruver. That first aid included a bracing cup of coffee, my first ever, from out of Mr. Gruver’s sturdy Thermos ® flask. That began a long life of coffee drinking, as well. Hiking and coffee: all good things. I had always wanted to return. Not just to relive those old memories, but also because I recalled the falls were beautiful and there was a canyon below the falls that our Scoutmaster would not let us explore on that sunny summer afternoon long ago. That canyon still beckoned all these years later. I was not disappointed. There is no marked path to these falls, but there are logging roads that go right to them. If the roads were ever open you could drive to them, I suppose. However, the falls are on private land and the road seems always to be gated, and is often posted, as it was this day: “No Entry—Fire Danger.” Nevertheless, in a long life one learns that a careful, intrepid and determined hiker can usually find one’s way and disturb nothing and no one. And so I did. The gated road gave the added advantage of assured solitude (and no litter). I entered from near the orange-painted gated forest road, which is the first gated road that one encounters about one-half to one mile past the second Summit Lake turnoff on westbound Highway 8. Highway 8 runs from Olympia to Aberdeen. There are a few discreet places to park an auto near the gate and I found one where my car could stand unseen and undisturbed. There is a well-established footpath around the gate. You are then immediately on a logging road that passes a gravel pit to the left and proceeds into a large clear cut. After about 500-1000’ there is a marked “Y” junction on this road. The road to the left is marked “2880.” Don’t take that road. Continue instead on the road to the right that is marked “2800.” Walk on this road until you cross the clear-cut and enter a nice second growth forest. The forest becomes taller and shadier as you proceed onwards and the road climbs a hill then starts a gentle descent (at the little summit there appear to be, interestingly enough, several small glacial depressions or “kettles” on either side of the road, worth exploring, too). The road descends to cross a small creek in a culvert underneath, and then climbs again to another clear-cut. You continue on the road across this clear-cut, and at far edge of the clear-cut, the road reenters the forest, and you should continue to follow it until shortly thereafter a new “Y” is encountered. A sign marked “2870” points to the left and the road climbs a hill. The hiker should turn right, instead, onto an unmarked road and follow it about 300-400’ to another sign, “2860,” that points to the right (the junction here is actually a triangle in the trees; you want the first right turn, but either will do). The hiker can now follow the “2860” road right to the falls. The road follows Kennedy Creek very closely now, but then narrows after some time to a single lane path for perhaps 2000’ or more. The way is now all through well-established second growth forest, with some old growth hemlocks and cedars still standing interspersed. At several points the hiker is near the edge of clear cuts on the sidehill that slopes down to the flatlands by Kennedy Creek. At one of these there is a large pond that has one of the largest and most lush collections of water lilies that I have ever seen. The pond also had a small flock of mallards in it the day I hiked it. A little further on, the hiker needs to cross over top of a small slide of alders, soil and sand that has covered the path. Not long past this point, Kennedy Creek again comes very close to the path and the path re-establishes itself as a road. The road joins another road coming in from the left and then comes to a turnaround on the left, with remnants of a camp on the right. The falls are right down below, falling in two cascades into a deep pool. The gorge into which the falls tumble is lined with excellent specimens of hexagonal basalt, some of them 10’ or more in height. You can reach the bottom of the falls by climbing carefully down on the left (west) side of the creek. The photograph is taken from the bottom. On this trip, I was also able, finally after all these years of wondering, to traverse down the canyon below the falls. This canyon is dramatic, about 50’ to 100’ deep, and worth the extra exploration. Large chunks of broken off and eroded hexagonal basalt are interspersed, and contrast nicely with, large rounded chunks of white granite. The granite rounds must be glacial erratics that have fallen into or been washed into the canyon. All manner of ferns and mosses and other riverbank greenery are everywhere. When I was there were some stunning displays of what appeared to be alpine yellow monkeyflower as well. There are numerous small cascades and rapids and as the creek makes a large bend to the right and eventually opens up into the Puget Sound lowlands. There are also small ponds where small trout are visible. Progress forward is eventually blocked by a large log jam at the end of a sunny open area where the creek spreads into a broad shallow riffle and where some Himalaya blackberry bushes lining the creek’s north side offered sweet refreshment. The return trip was uneventful as I retraced the roads and pathways described above. The drive back can include a stop at several unusual sites in McCleary, or at the Ranch House BBQ on Highway 8 eastbound, now back in business after last season’s flooding, it appears.