Memaloose Falls

The road NF 45 is closed on the other side of the bridge over Clackamas river. So, we left the car at the weight station 400 m down the road 224 and started hiking from there. I guess the road was closed after the fire several years ago and now is not properly maintained. There are couple of slides along the way. When descending to the fails you clearly can see the burned forest. When we walked along the road NF 45 two cars passed us. From this I draw the conclusion that rangers give permits or tours to people. The hike along the road is easy and you can see the Clackamass river in couple of tree openings. There were many wild flowers in July.
The challenge was to find the spot where the trail starts. As the forest is closed, the trail is not maintained and is not marked. We missed where the trail branches from the road and went through the forest when saw a tree with color ribbons the are usually used to mark a trail. The navigator showed that the trail is somewhere to the right from us. On our return I tried to find landmarks where the trail starts. Watch for the long slide (about 30 meters long) fenced by the orange road posts. Right after this slide on the right side of the road the trail starts. The approximate GPS coordinates are: 45.190875, -122.221881

The trail is very narrow (1 foot) sometimes covered with blackberry bushes. The descent into the canyon is steep (up to 45 degrees) but there are ropes to help you climb down and up. You can not see the waterfalls from the right shoulder though you clearly hear the noise and can make a guess where it is. We tried to approach it from the top. But now I understand we had to go down past the falls for about 0.5 kilometer, cross the creek by the bridge and come closer from the bottom by the left shoulder. The trail after the tunnel was disappearing covered with grass and bushes. So, we returned back and went down to the upper cascades of the falls to take refreshing bath.