The No Falls Falls Hike to Benham Falls

Benham Falls

Date: July 1, 2020

Place: Benham Falls, Bend, Oregon

Coordinates: 43.931024, -121.412631

Length: 2.6 miles

Level: easy

Still on my effort to catch up with my 2020 hikes under the shadow of the pandemic, I'm revisiting the trip of my family to Bend that summer, to the day after we hiked around Paulina Lake. On that day the chikas wanted it a bit easier. There's a lot to see around Bend and I marked a few places that I thought would be nice to check out. We had a nice morning at the High Desert Museum, which was surprisingly open to the public. After the museum we went to hike the Benham Falls trail by the Deschutes River south of Bend. 

Our hike as captured by my GPS

The Deschutes River is the lifeline east of the Cascades in middle Oregon. It is also a major source of recreation for locals and for many visitors in the area of Bend. The trailhead where we started was also a launch spot for boats and we could get all the way down to the water and appreciate with our hands how cold is was. The river was very calm there, almost mirror like. It was hard to imagine that a relatively short distance upstream there was a serious whitewater section of the river.

Deschutes River

In the woods near the river bloomed wild roses. Naturally I had to get over and sniff the flowers. I also pulled my young chika with me to marvel at her namesake.

Wild Rose

Pappa Quail and the elder chika were looking for other things. Soon after taking our first steps on the trail they had found a warbler in the trees and gave it due attention.

Yellow Warbler

A wide foot bridge spanned the river and we crossed it to the west side, pausing in the middle to look around. Much wood debris, carried downstream by the water was piled along the eastern bank and below the bridge. It didn't look like anything a beaver had done but I looked for signs of them anyway.

Deschutes River, view upstream

Apparently enough soil was deposited between the piled logs that supported large forget-me-not plants. They were all in full bloom, like little light blue clouds. More inland I spotted a few angelica blossoms, towering over the forget-me-not.

Below the bridge was a large patch of yellowflag iris, an invasive species and a highly toxic one too. It is pretty though. I guess that's why it was brought to Unites States in the first place. 

Yellwflag Iris, Iris pseudacorus

After the bridge crossing we followed the wide and comfortable trail north on the west side of the river. There were many other people on that trail that day, and it was challenging to take a photo with no humans in the frame. I noticed that only a small fraction of the people wore masks. The general atmosphere was that of nonchalance. 

Benham Falls Trail

Small penstemon shrubs bloomed along the trail, pale from the dust raised by the hikers and the bike riders. 

Penstemon

Another common wildflower that bloomed along the trail was the Saint John's wart, an invasive species that was brought to America because of its medical uses and quickly took hold in the wild. 

Saint John's Wart

Both sides of the trail were forested but we could see the river through gaps between the trees. Every now and then we had the opportunity to step all the way to the river bank for a clearer view. We made good progress towards the falls but the river kept calm, not hinting at all of the cascades upstream. 

Deschutes River

Then the trail distanced from the river and into the forest. I found another precious moment when no other people were visible and snapped a few shots of the trail and the forest flanking it. 

Benham Falls Trail

The drought was a problem in Oregon too. Just a short distance from the river, the ground was very dry and dusty. There were much fewer wildflowers blooming there than I would have expected for early summer. I did see a few brave wildflowers along the way.

Penstemon

The wildflowers on the trail side were very dusty. I wondered if the coat of dust wasn't diminishing their photosynthesis efficiency. I think it probably did.

Phacelia

Despite the dust, the wildflowers that did grow and bloomed along the trail looked pretty and I was glad to see them on the hike.

Lupine

My family birders were also having a good time looking for birds. The spotted them even when upside down.

Brown Creeper

The trail neared the river again, and this time it was clear we were getting close to the waterfalls. The Deschutes wasn't calm anymore and the water charged downstream in wild cascading whirlpools.

Deschutes River

We followed the signs to the waterfall viewing area and stood there, gazing at the whitewater a bit perplexed. Where was the waterfall? All we saw was a series of crazy cascades along a strip of whitewater river rushing down a short gorge.

Benham Falls

It was only later upon reading the information sign posts that we learned that the Benham 'Falls' are actually that series of cascades down the gorge. Not that we were disappointed, that part of the river was very beautiful, and the sound of the whitewater was a s loud as any waterfall.

We hanged by the Benham Falls for some time and I took the chance to photograph a few birds myself, even though I had only my wide view lens on the camera.

American Robin

Needless to say, I only took photos of birds that got close enough to me.

Steller's Jay

On the information post sign it said that rafters like this part of the river, and I could see why. We didn't see any rafters on our hike that day, however. Perhaps it was on hold because of the pandemic.

Deschutes River

The first part of our way back was on a different arm of a little loop. I got to see there wildflowers that I didn't see on our way up to the falls.

Crimson Columbine, Aquilegia formosa 

Here too there were not very many wildflowers, and those flowers that I did see were smaller than average, and many of them dusty. Still, I was happy to see them along the trail.

Campion

We walked quickly on our way back, hardly pausing for anything. When we got back to the wide and calm part f the river we did pause to look for waterfowl. There were a couple of mallards on by the distant riverbank. Pappa Quail and the elder chika didn't even bother to raise their cameras.

Deschutes River

In no time we were back at the footbridge, crossing it back to the east side. There wasn't much more distance left to hike and the chikas started voicing their wish to eat.

Deschutes River

When we reached the parking area we took out our food and had a picnic. I noticed a narrow footpath extending from the parking lot into the woods and suggested we should take a short walk there to explore a bit.

I also paid closer attention now to the slope above the river. The slope was made of a large pile of old basalt rocks. The sign post said that this was part of an ancient lava flow. In fact, that bend in the Deschutes River was formed by that lava flow. It was old enough for a forest to have grown all over the rocks.

The foot path led us to another area of the river where it was wide and separated in a number of shallow, and very calm pools. Cattails and little 'islands' of other vegetation were growing in the water, forming hedges that separated the pools. There were in the water some old man made wood structures that could possibly have been the remains of an former boat dock.

Pappa Quail has very sharp eyes and he spotted a small brown bird perched on an old log far behind the cattails. I could barely even see it but he identified it right away.

Brown-headed Cowbird

The narrow foot path looped back through the forest and I got so see a coralroot orchid blooming under one of the large firs there. Seeing orchids always make me happy.

Coralroot Orchid

The elder chika also found something on our way back - a cute little song sparrow. I don't recall now, more than two years from that hike if the little bird was singing. They do sing beautifully.

Song Sparrow

When we eventually left the Benham Falls parking area there was still plenty of day time left. My family birders decided that they didn't see enough birds on that hike so I told them to Hatfield Ponds - a birding spot northeast of Bend that was on the map of the local Audubon Society website, and we headed in that direction.