FIRST AND LAST

Our FIRST rain storm of the new waterfall season was a whopper. Where else would I go for my first waterfall hike of the new season except to my favorite river, the North Fork American River. We got 2.5 inches of rain on Friday, and the river was up on Saturday morning, but not as high as I thought it might go. Nonetheless, it was high enough. High enough for a rainy day hike and to find a new waterfall in the process.

It is a long hike down to the falls, yet only 4.5 miles. Starting my hike at 7AM, I hoped to get down to it in 2 hours. That seems reasonable, does it not? But at 10AM, I was still quite a distance from the waterfall, and I almost turned back. The terrain was getting steep and brushy, I was hiking through the woods with no more trail to follow, I was soaking wet from hiking through the brush, and there was a big storm coming in the afternoon. I wanted to be back at the car before that started. However, I continued on; it could not be much further, could it? I finally got down to the falls around 10:30AM.

Technically it is a not a “new” waterfall. Kayakers have gone over this falls before, but access for “normal” people is pretty much out of the question. Other than kayakers, I do not know of anyone who has been here (although I’m sure some have). I won’t say how I got here, it was all perfectly “legal” of course. I will say that you do need to cross the river. Of course, that is impossible when the river is high. On Saturday morning, however, the river was at 180 cfs. That is far downstream, up at the waterfall it is probably 1/3 of that amount. So basically, I thought, it might be crossable or it might not. I was able to cross the river without much difficulty. The river was flowing well, but there were some mellow sections. No problem. It was darn cold, though. It was wet and showery all morning, and I was drenched by the time I got to the falls. Was it worth getting so wet? Was it worth the effort and needing to take an extra long time to get down to it, and then having to hike back in the rain? Heck yes! What a magnificent 40 ft. plunge dropping into a narrow spectacular gorge. This was the LAST waterfall on the North Fork that I had yet to see, and after more than one try previously, I finally made it. Bagged! I have seen all eight waterfalls now on this amazing river. See my website if you want to know how to get to this one.

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