ICE HOUSE
I am finding it more and more difficult to find new waterfalls. This past weekend saw my fourth strikeout in a row. There is a good reason for this: if it is a new waterfall that no one knows about or has been to, then by definition it will be almost impossible if not impossible to get to; otherwise, many people will have been there before!
This weekend the hike started out pretty good, but soon ended in a mass of steepness and brush. It was supposed to be an easy 2 hour hike to the waterfall, but after two hours had passed I was still at least a mile, a few hundred feet in elevation, and a tough river crossing away from the destination. I had to turn back. The nice thing is I was not too far away from Ice House Reservoir and South Silver Creek, and there was still enough time left in the day to get there.
As I drove to the end of Ice House Reservoir, I encountered an enormous mud puddle. I debated about proceeding through it with my SUV, but it looked just a tad too big for my beast to handle. I was planning to walk the rest of the way, but there was another guy there and he encouraged me enough to go for it. It is rather interesting that he decided to NOT proceed through the mud with his truck (which seemed more up to the task than my SUV), but he was certain that I could make it (or he just wanted some entertainment to see me get stuck). Well, I decided to take his advice to heart and I went for it. As it turned out, it was fairly easy to make it through the mud, and I continued to drive to the end of the road without any more major obstacles.
I ate my dinner sandwich, and then started up the trail to South Silver Creek Falls. It is only a half mile and a pretty easy hike, but I was extremely tired from the first hike, and I struggled. Nonetheless, I was determined to make it to a waterfall today. The creek was flowing quite well from snow melt, but for how much longer? Peak water flow is long gone, most snow has already melted, and I suspect that in 2 or 3 weeks, this creek and many others will be reduced to summer time flows. I was a little braver this time at South Silver Creek Falls, setting up my tripod on the very edge of the rock ledge, and so this time I got a clear camera angle and view of the magnificent waterfall, and one that I have not shot before. I suspect that I was braver this time because the rocks were all dry and the footing was firm. The last couple times I was here I think the rocks have been wet, which makes the precipice extremely dicey and slippery. You certainly would not want to fall from here.
Well it was getting late by now, and time to get back to the car, through that giant mud puddle, and drive back home. It was a very pleasant afternoon in the Northern Sierra.