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7.5 Devils Slide Falls (and Angel Falls)
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Location: Bass Lake, Sierra National Forest, Madera County
Height: ~100 ft.
Access:  
Distance: 3.8 miles (RT)
Elevation: 400 ft. (+500 ft.)
Season: May-Sep
Difficulty: 
Lat/Long:37.34781, -119.56669
Directions:From the town of North Fork, turn onto Road 274, and drive 8.7 miles to Bass Lake. At the junction of Road 274 and Beashore Rd., continue on Road 274 for 1.3 miles to the bridge over North Fork Willow Creek. Find a place to park along the road.
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Bass Lake has a few waterfalls along its inlet stream, the North Fork Willow Creek, which are all pretty easy to reach, and all are very popular.
The furthest one from Bass Lake is Devils Slide Falls. This waterfall is a lovely 100 ft. long cascade, along the North Fork Willow Creek. It is a fairly easy 2 mile hike from Road 274, though it does gain 500 ft. in elevation, and thus is not as popular as the lower waterfalls on the creek.
To reach Devils Slide Falls, start hiking on the trail at the bridge over the creek on Road 274. If there is no parking here, you can also park at the beach parking area, if you drive through the Bass Lake village area (back at Beashore Rd.). The trail climbs up along the creek, and is steep in places, but not too difficult. You will pass the top of Angel Falls on the way. At about 1.9 miles, look for a steep side trail leading down to the creek, then work your way up to the falls.
Angel Falls is a much more popular waterfall and swimming hole, which also means more people, as well as more garbage. There are also water pipes at the top of the falls, extracting some water out of the creek, meaning less for the waterfall itself. I do not have a photo of this waterfall, unfortunately. It does require you to cross the creek at the top of the falls, then work your way down the cliffy section on the opposite side. You will need to get your feet wet to do this.
Bass Lake Falls is a small 10 ft. waterslide located where the creek dumps into Bass Lake. It is very popular with kids sliding down. I did not think it worthy to take a photo. It is just a very small cascade.
Frankly, and I am very sorry to have to say this, but I was very unimpressed with Bass Lake as a whole. In fact, it was rather disgusting. The lake itself was dirty, not something I would really like to go swimming in. The beach area was littered with garbage, and there was one area that reeked of sewage. It was a little pool right beside the beach and lake, and what was worse, there were people and children right by here, and swimming in the lake. Uggh, I could not believe it.
Zoom out on map to see all nearby waterfalls:
Other waterfalls nearby:
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