I first heard about Moulton Falls in the OregonSCUBA discussion group a few weeks ago. Olga and I had about 2300 psi left in our tanks after a recent trip to Canada, so we decided to give it a try. We did not expect much, thinking that a good dive site cannot possibly be less than a five hour drive from Portland. Our hopes sunk even lower as we drove along Lucia Falls Road and caught the first glimpse of the East Fork of Lewis River. It was only a few inches deep!

When we arrived at the Moulton Falls County Park, we promptly proceeded to scout the dive site. The falls are just a few steps from the parking lot with a rock pool about a hundred feet downstream. There was some foam on the pool surface and the water moved fairly briskly, but there was a back eddy near the entry point. The water appeared clear, but deep enough that we could not see the bottom. This was more like it! We looked at each other and said: "Looks good, let's go".

We returned to the parking lot to set up our gear. There was just one other car there, so we had the place to ourselves. We put our gear on and headed for the water. The walk was short and access relatively easy, with just a few rocks to scramble over. After a quick pre-dive buddy check we slipped into the water. It did not feel terribly warm, but was not freezing either. The river current did not present a problem, so we submerged.

The pool walls were vertical, slightly overhanging in places, with rocks, rubble, sand, and organic debris on the bottom. There was an interesting rock formation in the middle of the pool. The current at depth was insignificant. The visibility was good, maybe 50 feet. I laid myself down flat at the deepest point and my computer's depth reading was 29 feet. The thermometer settled at 55 degrees.

The pool is relatively small, I would not recommend diving it with a larger group. The single buddy team was optimal. There were a few beer cans and a crushed pop bottle on the bottom. Next time we'll bring a bag and pick them up.

I looked up and spotted a 30 inch salmon swimming by. He disappeared before I managed to point him out to Olga. I was afraid he was just passing through but a moment later he appeared again. He lives here! After a while, the other denizens of this underwater community got used to us and started showing up. A couple of good sized trout swam right up to us, small schools of juveniles were hovering nearby and a few more little ones were hiding in a grotto carved into the central rock formation. We were glad we brought our small lights. We peeked into many holes and crevices, discovering a crayfish in one, a freshwater sculpin in another, and small snails busily feeding on algae under the rocks. There were quite a few crawdads rummaging in the debris on the bottom. I tickled one on his claw and he took off like a rocket. Close observation of the bottom also yielded several sculpins of all sizes. We were surprised at the amount and variety of life in such a small place. We regretted not being able to identify the species, this being our first river dive and one of rare few freshwater dives. Time to buy a freshwater critter book!

The flat rocks on the bottom were ideally suited for don-doff exercises, so we took turns wriggling out of our harnesses and putting them back on. We concluded the dive with an air sharing drill. We managed to eke out a 61 minute dive out of our half-empty tanks!

We surfaced grinning. What a nice dive! It was way more interesting than we had expected. Our thanks to OregonSCUBA for suggesting such a wonderful site.