Leon Turnbull Photography

Here’s another view of Linda Falls in Angwin.

After Devil’s Punchbowl, we took a break for free champagne at Mumm’s Winery, where George is a member (the frequent flyer club of the winery?). George is rather funny. He and his wife buy about 4 bottles of wine a year, but the only reason they are a member of this winery is that they have an Ansel Adams art gallery here. We walked through the art gallery first, which was very nice. But it was rather funny because we were definitely the 3 scrubbiest looking people in the entire place. Then we sat down and drank a glass of the free champagne, another reason George likes being a member here: the complimentary drinks. Our waiter was also rather personable, asking about what we had been doing that morning. He surprisingly knew exactly where Linda Falls and Devil’s Punchbowl were, and had been there himself too.

Okay, so then it was off to Silver Creek Falls in Foote Botanical Preserve, another piece of land owned by Napa County Land Trust. It was the afternoon, and the sun was out, so pictures weren’t going to be very great. But I still wanted to see this waterfall, because it would probably be my one and only chance to do so. I wasn’t overly impressed with the falls.

The hike down to the falls was easy and pleasant. Many wildflowers were out. It is a beautiful area. The trail ends at the top of the waterfall, about a 100 ft. drop off a cliff. The reason I wasn’t impressed though was because the creek was just barely trickling. I had expected quite a lot more water flow in the creek, more like Linda Falls. But this is a much smaller drainage, and it had not rained here in about 10 days. This is a waterfall that must be seen immediately after a heavy rain. Another (small) problem is that you cannot actually see this waterfall. At all. The surrounding cliffs on both sides are incredibly steep with many trees and foliage blocking any view of the falls. We tried scrambling around to get a view of it, any view of it, but were quite unsuccessful. The only photo I was able to get of the falls was a very long distance view with my 400mm lens from the other side of the canyon.So instead of posting that awful photo, I’ll just post another one of Linda Falls. Much better.