Our first choice was Mt. Eddy until a storm front moved onto the west coast. The forecast nosedived to a high of 45 with thunder and lightning, and maybe snow, predicted for the summit.

So then we looked north and found Rainie Falls with mild temps and light showers, and maybe a chance to see Salmon jumping up the slanted falls. That looked pretty good until the weekend, when the Moon Complex fire broke out and ran down to both sides of the Lower Rogue River, closing the road out to Rainie Falls.

So on Sunday, we chose the Union Creek Trail behind the resort, 8+ miles up and back with only 350' of gain. Some rain was predicted for later in the day, but with a morning start, we took our chances.

Twelve of us met in the Union Creek parking lot and walked up to the TH on the other side of Highway 62 from Becky's. The day was calm with little to no rain as we walked under the canopy of the lush forest.

The creek was full, with plenty of white water rapids cascading over stair-step falls.

The Trail was still open from past clearings as we made our way through thick vegetation and over roots in the trail.

There were several downed trees on the trail from the past Winter, which we made our way over, under, and around.

By 12:30, we got to our lunch spot, 4 miles up the trail, and the site of a horseshoe-shaped waterfall. By this time, the rain had picked up just a bit.

After lunch, most of us went another 1/4 mile up the trail to view a much bigger waterfall. At this point, the creek had grown to the size of a river and fall, with a drop of 6' spread all the way across.

As we started to gather for our group photo, the sky opened up to a constant rain, with the tripod stashed away, out came more rain gear, and the rush back down the trail.