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Does this beautiful water look triumphally refreshing? It does. But forget about swimming in it.
Naked Falls just got a lot less open to the public.
The swimming hole in Washington's Washougal River has long been popular with Portlanders looking to cool off in the summer. But lately, visitors trying to swim there have been confronted with some saddening signs—and a whole hell of a lot of parking enforcement.
Though people in the public have gotten used to accessing Naked Falls, it's not public land.
Timber giant Weyerhaeuser owns much of the area, and loggers have recently been active on the site. People parking near Naked Falls may be subject to parking tickets up to $200.
According to Ryan Schreiner, recreation manager at Washington Department of Natural Resources, this did not come as a surprise. The department has put in new public bathrooms and parking at nearby Dougan Falls to accommodate people accustomed to sloshing around at the newly rip-rap-rock-blockaded Naked Falls.
"Dougan Falls, which belongs to us, is open to the public," says Schreiner. "The only requirement is that they have a Discover Pass hanging from their window which is a $30 annual purchase, or $10 dollars for the day. However, it can be very busy in the summer."
Shreiner also says that beyond Dougan Falls it's very difficult for laypeople to figure out when they've entered logging lands.
"Once you leave that Dougan Falls area," he says, "You enter a checkerboard of property that's ours and property that's theirs. There's almost no way to know what property you're on."
UPDATE: 2:23 PM: Weyerhaeuser's Anthony Chavez says that ever since their company purchased the land from another lumber company in 2013, Naked Falls have never been open to the public.
"In 2013 we put up signs," he says. "Those signs were torn down. We replaced those with larger signs to make it more apparent that it's currently private property."
Chavez says local law enforcement is also interested in stopping people from going to Naked Falls.
"I have talked to local law enforcement," Chavez says. "They're worried about folks getting hurt—they want to make sure word is getting out. They're patrolling the area and have the ability to enforce that area."
Anyway, Dougan Falls also looks nice:
Willamette Week