Where we went and why
We had a two part hike today. First we went to Lava Butte and walked around the crater. Then we went down the road a bit to the Benham Falls Trailhead.
How to get there
From Bend, take HWY 97 south until you see the sign for Lava Butte and Benham Falls Trailhead. Follow the signs until you get to the trailhead.
The Hike
The hike was pretty flat and easy. The trail started off a bit narrow, but once we crossed over the river, the trail was pretty wide. It was more like a road than a trail. There were a few narrow little offshoots from the trail that got you down closer to the water, but for the most part, we stayed on the nice wide path. The river was pretty serene in the beginning, but as we got closer to the "falls" it got a bit louder and rougher. The trailhead said that the falls were a 1/2 mile from the trailhead, but according to MapMyHike, it was about a mile. According to the grand total, we went just over 2 miles. Right before we turned around, it showed that we had done 1.18. However, it did tick up by .2 while we were standing still. I'm not sure if that was because it was catching up to us or if something is off with the thing. I'm losing my love for MapMyHike though. I'm going to get another app and try it out next weekend. It's one that can be used while offline. No more worrying about having Internet access at the end of a hike.
The trail was a little busy and I expect it just gets busier as the summer goes by. There wasn't much parking available, so I would suggest getting there early if you want to go. You can take this trail 8-1/2 miles to Meadow Camp. Along the way you'll see Dillon Falls, Big Eddy and a few other things. Benham Falls and Dillon Falls sound like they are waterfalls, but they are really just a big stretch of rapids. I'm not really sure how they got the name Falls, but whatever. They are still cool to look at, but don't expect something like you'd see along the gorge.
The Video
If you like the pictures, feel free to check out my Benham Falls YouTube Video.
Overall Thoughts
I liked the hike and I'm glad we went on it. There were vault toilets at the trailhead. For those of you who don't know what a vault toilet is.....it's basically an outhouse, but you sit on what looks more like a toilet than a slab of wood with a hole in it. Etiquette in these is to put the seat down when you are done to help keep the smell down.
MapMyHike Screen Shot
The trailhead said it's a half mile to the falls, but MapMyHike didn't agree. We were out there for just under an hour, so I agree with MapMyHike that it wasn't a half mile out there. It's so hard to plan hikes when the books and the trailheads are so far off with their distances. The main trail is pretty flat. The dips that you see are from walking down to get close to the river.
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