TOUCHDOWN!

The sun is out. It is time for backpacking! Let’s go to Big Sur!

    I wasn’t really sure about this hike as far as a backpacking trip goes. It is only a 2 mile hike. I could easily do it as a day hike. The problem is that it is so far from home. There is no way I could do it as a day hike. Either I would have to stay in a hotel somewhere, or stay in a campground somewhere, or backpack. I chose to backpack.
      I arrived at the Salmon Creek Falls trailhead at about 9:15am. I went up to the waterfall by the road first. I was quite surprised at how strongly Salmon Creek Falls was flowing. It has not rained in quite some time. The Great Blizzard was two weeks ago but even with that storm the central coast did not get that much rain. I figured Salmon Creek would be mellow. Instead it was roaring. It was a good sign.
        I continued up to camp and arrived about noon. This trail was a lot easier than I expected as well. I thought there would be a lot more elevation gain in the two miles up to camp. The campsite was not very exciting. There was very little sun. That might be good in the summer, but not so much in the winter. I had my lunch, set up camp, relaxed for a few hours (trying to find some sun to sit in), ate my dinner, then set out on a waterfall search.
          I thought it would be a pretty easy hike to the first waterfall. It was less than a mile from camp. It was off-trail of course but I thought it would take an hour at most, probably less. It took 2 hours. And it was certainly not easy. In fact, it was absolutely grueling. It was almost impossible. And the poison oak!
            From the trail you need to scramble down a very steep and hard slope to Salmon Creek, cross Salmon Creek, and then scramble up to the falls. Once down at Salmon Creek I could not find the creek confluence. It was not exactly where it is indicated on the USGS Topo map and the location was not obvious. I eventually found it. I thought it would be an easy creek walk up to the falls. Ha! It started out well enough but soon I came to a blockage (small waterfall) with no way to continue. There was a bit of a path (people have been to this one before), and it seemed to go up and around the blockage, however this route did not work either. I got cliffed out.
              By now I had spent a lot more time in this canyon than anticipated and it was starting to get late. I was ready to give up and I started to head back down. I decided to try one more thing, climbing straight up the mountain to the very top of the ridge. Maybe I could traverse the ridge and at least get a good view of the waterfall from the top. It was not easy. I came to a few difficult spots. I thought about turning back more than once. I did not really want to continue on, it was much too hard, but I decided to at least go on until I reached my turn-around time. The biggest problem along the traverse was the poison oak. It was atrocious and unavoidable. I was in it like gangbusters. I could now glimpse the top of the falls but there was no clear view. I had to descend down across a steep ravine and up the other side. The waterfall was right there but still no clear view. There was a steep descent down to the bottom. I did not want to do it (I would have to climb back up after), but now I was so close that I had to do it. I made it down to the base of the waterfall. The poison oak down at the bottom was out of this world. I have never seen so much. I could not get photos from up close because it was so misty so I had to find a spot further back, setting up my tripod and standing right in the middle of the oak. This was not going to be pretty later.
                Manning Falls is 100 ft. high exactly. Touchdown! I don’t know if it is named after Eli or Peyton. ha ha. Actually I think it is named after the person who discovered it. That’s kinda crappy. How many waterfalls have I discovered and none named after me. Well, Manning Falls is very pretty at low flows but at high flow like this it is spectacular. Absolutely magnificent. Was it worth the effort? I think so but maybe ask me again in a couple days when I see how bad my poison oak is.
                  It took an hour to hike back to the trail. There was still time so I went to Upper Salmon Creek Falls. This was easier but still quite hard to get down to.
                    When I got back to camp it was a little before sunset. I knew the poison oak would be bad so I made a new decision. I would pack up, hike back to the car in the dark, and drive home so I could wash up. I arrived back home at about 1am. So essentially this turned out to be just a day hike after all (carrying a heavy backpack) but I think it was a good decision. It was an incredible day in Silver Peak Wilderness.

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                      JAY BIRD

                      I had a big whompin hike planned for Saturday but I just wanted to sleep in. When I got up I thought if there was another hike closer to home that I could do and maybe take Journey as well. I thought about Jay Bird Canyon Falls. It has been 13 years since I was there. It should be flowing well but could I get there? There would be a lot of snow. I didn’t think they normally plow this road and thus I figured it was quite unlikely but decided to try it anyway. I had a backup plan to go to Bassi Falls if the road was all snowed in.

                        Good news. The road was plowed all the way down to the power house. It was no problem at all driving all the way down to the gate. If it was not plowed there is no way I would have made it. The gate is interesting. The road is officially closed because of storm damage from 2017 so you need to walk from the gate (about 1.5 miles). But the road damage is fixed! So why is the road still closed? It does not make sense. At least there is a big area to park by the gate and it is not a difficult walk from here. But also, it is not very exciting to hike along the paved road either. It is rather boring. Nonetheless, Journey was very happy. She is always very happy to go hiking with daddy. Even on a boring road walk.
                          When you get down to the waterfall there is a steep section to climb up to the falls. At the base of the falls it was incredibly misty. Jay Bird Canyon Falls was roaring. There was no way to take photos from there. The only option was to climb up the ridge opposite the waterfall. It was very steep and the rocks were incredibly slick. I was worried about Journey. Not for climbing up but for going back down. She made it up no problem. I pondered how we were going to get her back down afterwards. Would she balk? Would I have to somehow carry her down? Or would she do all right?
                            In the meantime I took some photos from the top of the ridge. Jay Bird Canyon Falls is 173 ft. high. It was spectacular. I think it may have been slightly stronger when I was here last in 2011 but it was pretty similar. Absolutely amazing.
                              We very carefully hiked back down to the creek level. Journey did awesome! She made it down those steep slick rocks without slipping once. I was so proud of her. We had our lunch at the bottom, then hiked back up the road to the car. It was a fabulous day in Eldorado National Forest.

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                                THE BIRDS

                                Here’s another Folsom waterfall. It looked a lot bigger from the road and definitely seemed to be more than 20 ft. high, but when I got down to it I realized it was only 15 ft. high at most. I won’t be including this on my website but I did take a photo of it, so here you go.

                                  After this I took Journey on a hike by the lake. The last time I hiked this trail was 15 years ago when I came across a scene straight out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds: 20 vultures all lined up on fence posts along the trail, such a strange and incredible experience. It was a cold sunny day and they were all warming themselves on the fence. Well it was a cold sunny day again today, perfect conditions for a sequel. Would I see them again, I wondered? Lo and behold, I did see the vultures today warming themselves on the posts. It was not quite the same experience as before and not as many this time (9 or 10), but it was very cool. Unfortunately a dog on the other side of the fence came down to see us and scared the birds away but I was able to take some photos. Journey was much more interested in the dog than the birds. It was a beautiful morning at Folsom Lake.

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                                      FOLSOM HAS A WATERFALL?

                                      As of Mar 1, the snow pack in California is 92% of normal (north), 77% (central) and 76% (south). Rain is at 91% (north), 75% (central) and 76% (south). In the southern Sierra we are still quite a bit below average as of Mar 1. Certainly we have gained much ground since Jan 1 when the snow pack was 30% but March is going to be the make or break month. With the Great Blizzard happening this first weekend in March, I suspect we will end up slightly above average for the year. This makes me quite happy. DISCLAIMER: I wrote this post before the Great Blizzard. This past weekend has indeed put us over the top for snow pack this year. We are now above average overall but there is still a full month to go, so the final stats could still change for better or worse (if we don’t get any more snow this year).

                                        It would have been nice to get into the snow this weekend but it didn’t seem very intelligent to do so, and the roads were closed anyway. I thought about going to Oroville again but I did not feel like getting up and doing that. Instead, I took Journey for a good long walk in the morning before it was to start raining again. After that I decided to go on a drive by Folsom Lake in search of a new waterfall. You may be thinking, well that is stupid. Folsom Lake does not have any waterfalls. That makes logical sense but it is not quite correct. I actually had this one on my radar for many years but never bothered to go check it out. It did not seem worth it. Much rain would be needed. Folsom does not usually get a lot of rain. Well, after this weekend there has been a lot of rain, right?
                                          I found the waterfall. It was not difficult to get down to it. Parking was a bit of a problem but I found a spot. The waterfall is 76 ft. high in total, with two separate tiers. This lower tier is 32 ft. high. The upper tier is 44 ft. Both are nice but I thought the lower one was slightly prettier so I’m showing it here first. As for the creek flow, I was disappointed. It was not good. After all the rain I thought it would be much better. I would definitely come back if I knew the creek was higher. It is a pretty one, though. The only bad thing is that it seems to be a place where people dump all their old tires. There were a whole bunch of them, including some right beside the upper waterfall. Definitely a bit perturbing. I also found a better waterfall nearby on a different creek but it could be tough to get to it. That will be an adventure for another day.

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                                            INTO THE BLACK HOLE

                                            I had to be in the Bay Area on Saturday afternoon for my daughter’s dance show. I had two choices for hiking: (1) I could leave early with Journey and hike in the Bay Area in the morning, then wait around all day until her dance show started. (boring), or (2) I could hike near home in the morning with Journey, leave her at home, and drive to the Bay Area in the afternoon. Option 2 seemed like the best idea at the time. I should have known better, especially as I drove to and back from Auburn and everyone seemed to be driving extraordinarily slowly. Very slowly. Well below the speed limit slowly. This was a bad omen for my drive to the Bay Area. I allowed 3 hours for the drive (twice as long as it normally takes), and I barely made it in time for her show. I had just a couple minutes to spare. Traffic was ridiculously bad. Oh I hate that drive. At least I made it.

                                              Anyway, back to the hike. I hiked this trail 14 years ago with my dog Kaya. We saw a couple bears that day. I did not see any this time with Journey, although I did see fresh bear poop. Also, last time I parked at the ASRA headquarters (free parking). Well now they have removed all the public parking there so I had to park at the Robie Point trailhead (also free parking). This would be a longer hike now and I wasn’t sure if I had enough time to make it so Journey and I ran down the trail as much as we could (only on the non-muddy sections). We passed one girl whose bum was rather brown from slipping in the mud. (I hope that is what it was from anyway – just kidding). We made it to the waterfall with plenty of time to spare.
                                                Black Hole of Calcutta Falls is 40 ft. high. It is a very gorgeous drop right alongside the trail. Journey was being very silly and was rubbing up against me and my tripod as I took photos. She was in a very funny mood. I love it but she also wouldn’t co-operate for me to take photos of her. So silly.
                                                  After this we continued hiking down to Tamaroo Bar along the river. There were a lot of people out on the trail: runners, hikers, dogs. It was a bit overwhelming, frankly. I prefer hiking when no one else is around. It is more peaceful. But Journey had a fabulous day. If you go down to Tamaroo Bar you will notice a bunch of big barrels strung out on a line above the trail. They seemed to extend halfway down the mountain. You will wonder what the heck they are there for. Well, the truth is they were put there by cavemen 100,000 years ago for their drinking water which they needed to store because it was a desert back then. Ha, well I am kidding obviously but my point is you should not believe everything you read or hear on the internet. Do your own research and verification. People will believe anything, it seems to me sometimes. Why would anyone believe birds evolved from huge dinosaurs when there is absolutely zero proof? (just a small example). In actual truth, the barrels are leftover from the old Auburn dam that failed in 1986. That was before my time here in California. We had a beautiful morning hike in Auburn State Recreation Area.

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