Chush Falls is a Stunning Central Oregon Waterfall

We have heard about Chush Falls, located off the Three Creeks Lake road outside of Sisters, Oregon, for many years, but had never hiked it until last Saturday. Since it was the middle of December, but snowfall had been somewhat light, we believed we would be fine hiking in the 2 plus miles into the waterfall. We got a late start so that it would be warmer, but experienced a lot of ice on the trail the first mile. Although we had trekking poles, ice spikes for our shoes would have been very helpful and that first mile was walked fairly slowly. 

The first mile of the hike is through the burned trees of the 2017 Milli fire. But despite the burned trees, there has been a lot of regrowth with manzanita and young trees and the views of North and Middle Sister were beautiful. However, one issue which we found throughout the trail was the multiple fallen trees which had to be navigated in order to continue with the hike.

After crossing a couple of small creeks, getting lost due to a large fallen tree blocking the path, we climbed roughly 800 feet in elevation until we reached the overlook for Chush Falls. Trees blocked most of the view from the overlook, so we climbed down the steep hillside, dodging tree limbs and walking around boulders to reach Whychus Creek and walked up the stream until we reached the base of Chush Falls. It was truly a winter wonderland with ice and snow creating a stunning sight.