My Own Private Waterfall

I remember, provisioned with some decent 1970s reefer and convenience store munchies, making the hike to Abiqua Falls. The picturesque little cataract was only 30 minutes from our home in Silverton. Once you’d seen it, subsequent visits were only a return, but something was special each time, as if God had provided this waterfall off Oregon’s beaten waterfall track just for us hippies, and the backcountry families who picnicked there.

Who knew that Abiqua Falls was on private property, at that time owned by the Catholic Church. When we were traipsing around and getting high, we were unknowingly cavorting—and sometimes swimming naked—in what might be referred to as a sacred place.

In 2000 the 40-acre plot was given by the Benedictines to the nonprofit Abbey Foundation of Oregon. For 25 years the fully-independent 509 (a)(3) foundation has stewarded the pristine site the same way the Catholics did for 100 years, explicitly allowing recreational use by the public. Now, as reported in the Portland Oregonian: “With the sale, that could change.”

I should know about this: I’m Catholic, have been to the Abbey many times, have driven past it countless times while passing through Mt. Angel. I’ve looked up on a score of Oktoberfest evenings in the small town, toward the lights emanating from the seminary, wondering what the priests might be up to at this hour. I’ve visited the taxidermy display in on the lower floor, where taciturn moose reflect and menacing timber wolves snarl as if at the moment of their deaths

Fifty-five years after this splendid swimming hole was for my friends and me an excellent day hike, I learn that each tree, each fern, each yard along the run of the creek was privately-owned, and tax-exempt as religious property to boot. That’s one hell of a nice waterfall.

Like most issues that come up in Oregon, there’s controversy. The foundation has tried to unload the property for nearly a decade, with no takers. Talks to bestow the parcel to conservation groups have apparently fallen through. There’s no sale price; the waterfall and surrounding acres will be auctioned off, with the foundation asking for “potential buyers to name their price.”

Here's Travis Williams, president of the Willamette River Preservation Trust—one of the entities involved in negotiations for a possible deal on the site—as quoted in an Oregonian article: “This is a place of reverence. It’s an amazing geological feature. It would make a lot of sense for a land trust or a government entity to own it.”

I agree with Williams. I don’t think that someone like Elon Musk or Bill Gates should own Abiqua Falls, True, an expansive composite deck, stone fire pit, and a place to sit with guests and enjoy Oregon coffee and Yakima Valley Chardonnay across from the 92-foot drop would be sublime. But imagine security guards patrolling the area, ensuring no modern-day hippies get a skinny-dip. Search dogs descending on a family whose forebears have lived along Abiqua Creek since the monks first founded the abbey in 1872.  It doesn’t seem right. Somebody needs to step up and buy this waterfall, someone or some organization that will keep it open to the public.