Hompegg Falls

Waterfall in Washington state, U.S.

Hompegg Falls

Location| Columbia County, Washington
Coordinates| 46°09′54″N 117°48′39″W﻿ / ﻿46.16492°N 117.81093°W﻿ / 46.16492; -117.81093﻿ (Hompegg Falls)
Watercourse| Unnamed[1]

Hompegg Falls is a waterfall that flows from a creek just as it empties in the north fork of Touchet River, located in the U.S. state of Washington. The waterfall is in the heart of the Umatilla National Forest, just 2 miles south of the Huckleberry Mountain Reservoir Dam and Lewis Creek and 8 miles north of Ski Bluewood. The name of the waterfall is from the initials of seven individuals who discovered the waterfall while hiking the forest in the 1930s.[2]

Access to Hompegg Falls is 15 miles south of the city of Dayton through Hompegg Falls Drive off N Touchet Rd, at a point where an unnamed creek flows into the North Folk Touchet River.

## Fauna

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The lowland fir, western larch and Douglas fir forests at the higher ridges of the canyon as well as the serviceberry bush and buckbush area in the low slopes that surround Hompegg Falls are abundant in Siskiyou chipmunk, golden-mantled ground squirrel, Columbian ground squirrel, flickertails, Snowshoe rabbits, Gapper's red-backed voles, northern water shrews, and Dobson's shrews.[3] Townsend's Warbler, Dippers, rock wrens, and winter wrens, and other birds have also been documented in Hompegg Falls and its vicinity.[4]

## Floods

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Frequent floods may have obliterated most of the cliffs where Hompegg Falls is located. For example, during a flood in February 1996,[5] the flowing waters were recorded to have a width/depth ratio of 38.2 at Hompegg Falls. Tributary streams and the North Fork Touchet above Hompegg Falls appear to have withstood the flood better than reaches downstream.[6]

## See also

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* List of waterfalls in Washington

## References

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1. ^ "Hompegg Falls". Retrieved 2021-02-07.
2. ^ United States Board on Geographic Names (1970). Decisions on Geographic Names in the United States, Issue 7001, Part 7404. Department of the Interior. p. 16.
3. ^ Dice, L. R. (1919). The mammals of southeastern Washington. Journal of Mammalogy, 1(1), 10-22. Accessed 28 June 2021
4. ^ Dice, L. R. (1918). The Birds of Walla Walla and Columbia Counties, Southeastern Washington (Continued). The Auk, 35(2), 148-161. Accessed 28 June 2021.
5. ^ ""The Flood of '96" recalled by Whitman geology professors". Whitman College. 20 Jan 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
6. ^ Kuttel Jr, M. (2001). Salmonid Habitat Limiting Factors Water Resource Inventory Area 32–Walla Walla Watershed Prepared for Washington State Conservation Commission (2001). Lacey, WA. Accessed 28 June 2021.

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