Up to Five-Fingered Falls
From the Bluebird Hills in the Dewdrop Range I spotted a frozen waterfall on the Red Plateau Escarpment east of Castle Butte. I returned the next day to explore the route up to the falls. I parked on the edge of the road and hiked the 1km off-trail route to the base of the falls.
The gently sloping foot of the Escarpment is grassland and open forest. I wound around fallen trees and through glades to the narrow drainage gully.
The route up the gully was a bit rough, but I worked my way up to to the base of the cliffs. Five frozen falls drained into the eroded streambed.
After exploring the falls and then climbing to the top, I traversed across a steep sidehill to explore the area to the west.
The ridge provided good views east and down to the Dewdrop Range.
I stopped to photograph a few wind-shaped trees on the ridge.
To the south was the reverse view from the previous day, across the grassland plateau to the Bluebird Hills.
The exploratory route was 4.3 km, but progress was slow. It is a route worth doing in late winter when the falls are frozen, but later when the footing is manageable. In 2 weeks of exploring I found 5 separate frozen falls. There are more to discover, but they will wait for the next year.