THE SOURCE
I am very pleased to present the ninth and final waterfall on the great North Fork of the American River. My favorite river in the world. It has been awhile in coming. Technically, it is the first waterfall on the river, but it is the last one found and documented. This was the number one destination on my list for this spring, when I first discovered this waterfall last summer, and once the snow started melting (what little we had), it was time to make the trip. Actually I was probably a couple weeks too early, I do not think this has reached peak flow yet this year.
The hike starts out at 6200 ft. elevation where of course this is no snow at all, and quickly and steadily climbs up to 8000 ft. elevation. A tough climb indeed, but it is steady gain, nothing horribly steep, and I made very good time. Nonetheless, it was sure nice coming back down the mountain later. Around 7800 ft. I hit the snow, and a lot of it. I expected perhaps 1 ft. of snow at the most and was thinking it would be quite easy to walk on. Instead, I found 3 ft. of snow. This made the walking quite difficult, and I sunk in plenty of times. I tried to follow on the coyote tracks which did not sink in, but apparently I am heavier than coyotes. I should have had my snowshoes, but I didn’t even consider it because I did not think I would need them (plus, I really would not have wanted to carry them up the mountain anyway). Up at 8000 ft. is where the North Fork of the American begins at a small, ordinary, and ice covered mountain lake. The river was just a trickle up here. It is funny how this little trickling stream can become a raging river a few miles down hill. I was fascinated in seeing the river at its true source. From the lake, the trail descends (though there was no trail seen under 3 ft. of snow), and the river slowly but surely picks up steam until I get to the river crossing at the top of the waterfall. It was simple enough to rock hop across the river, and the rocks looked completely dry. Until I stepped on one that is, and found out too late that it was not dry, but instead it was wet and very slippery. And indeed I slipped, smashing my shin on the rock. Oh the pain. I stood there for a good five seconds trying to recover, then realized my boot was still in the river and getting my foot quite wet, so I picked it up and hobbled across to the other side, and continued the recovery for another five minutes. No real damage other than a very bruised shin. It could have been worse.
On the other side, I made my way (much more carefully) down to the falls. There was a lot of brush to negotiate on this side, and it was a bit steep, but I got to the bottom where I found this little beauty. This waterfall has a total height of 107 ft., but it is in three separate tiers that can only be viewed one at a time. The nicest is the bottom tier shown here, which is 40 ft. high. It does not look 40 ft. high, but I measured it a couple times. So it must be true. That’s what I say, anyway. It would be nice to see this waterfall at full blast, and I am sure I will be back sometime in the future to the source of my favorite river. It was a magnificent day in the Sierra.