It was a cold night. I had all my clothes on but I was warm and I slept well. I had a leisurely breakfast, packed up, and climbed back up the mountain.
It was a 1300 ft. climb and I was tired when I got back up to the top of the ridge. My back was starting to hurt as well. What should I do now? The waterfalls I had initially planned to see were impossible to reach with the Gamboa trail obliterated. I thought about going down the Middle Fork Devils Canyon but that just seemed far too difficult. A 2000 ft. descent off trail and no idea if I could even make it down there. If I got stuck I would be in severe trouble. Did I say my back was hurting? I decided to go back down the Coast Ridge trail to Vicente Flat.
The water sources I passed on the day before were now completely dry. I was counting on filling up my water before I got down to Vicente. No dice on that. I should have enough, however.
The Vicente trail is a fairly popular one. It should be in good shape. Right? NOPE. Ventana Wilderness strikes again. The trail was very overgrown with a lot of tree blowdowns. There was one spot where I literally had to take off my pack and crawl on my belly under the brush, dragging my pack along with me. I was so tired of this crap. If there was anything more as bad as this I was going to turn around and go home. Thankfully there was not anything else like that and eventually I made it down to the Vicente Creek confluence. There was a nice camping spot here so I decided to stay here instead of going down to the official camp which was another half mile further. I was tired and it was getting late.
Somehow I managed to get a poison oak rash and I had not even gone up to the waterfall yet. I have no idea how. I had not seen any poison oak at all in the last couple days of hiking. There was a little bit on the trail down to Vicente but I was certain I had not touched it. Apparently I must have because when I woke up in the morning I had a bad rash. I knew there was a lot of oak going up to Vicente Falls and I was prepared for that but I was mad at myself that I already had a rash before I even started that hike.
There is no trail to Vicente Falls. It is about a half mile upstream and you just walk straight up the creek and along the side of the creek (in the poison oak). It is not too difficult and it is fun. Except for a couple parts where (yet again) there were some big tree blowdowns in the canyon from the Dolan Fire. This made the hike almost impassable but not quite. I was able to continue past them and made it up to the waterfall.
Vicente Falls is a magnificent and stunning 191 ft. cascade. It is definitely worth seeing and enduring the poison oak. Especially at high flows. I took my time and enjoyed the views although there was only one composition for taking photos. Everything else was covered in too much mist. That is all right. As I was enjoying the waterfall a squirrel came up close to me. We did not see each other and scared the crap out of each other when we did. He took off running down the hill and across the creek and up the other side to get away from me. Ha ha.
I returned to camp and ate my breakfast before packing up and going home. I only saw two other groups of backpackers all weekend, both going up the trail from Vicente camp this morning. One of them were a couple of girls with a dog. I love my Journey and I want to take her backpacking but I have to say that Ventana Wilderness is no place for dogs. It is just far too difficult. Too brushy. Too hot. Poison oak. Scarce water. This dog seemed to be doing all right but what about the ticks! There is no way this dog got home with less than 20 ticks on him, I guarantee it.
I got back to the car at about 1:30PM and drove home, stopping for well deserved pizza along the way. It was a wild weekend in Ventana Wilderness.
I always say I will never return to Ventana Wilderness. It is always too tough. Too many ticks. Too much poison oak. Too brushy. Too crazy. Then I always go back. What is wrong with me? This trip turned out no different than usual. Only three out of seven planned waterfalls seen.
With my work I need to submit my vacation requests at least one month in advance. That is very difficult for me. How can I possibly know what the weather will be like? It was not looking good at first with an extremely dry January but then it started raining on Feb. 1 and cleared up precisely on time for my backpacking adventure. Big Sur had about 11 inches of rain. It was going to be a glorious weekend. Thank you God for this perfect timing.
The first waterfall on my list before I even started the backpacking was Ghostly Falls. I had no idea what this waterfall was like. It seemed like a very easy hike on the map. NOTHING in Ventana Wilderness is easy. Even though short, it was quite difficult with a lot of tree blowdowns and it took a lot longer than I wanted. I needed to get going on my main hike for the day. I don’t think it was even worth it. Ghostly Falls is pretty but it is small, 21 feet high exactly. Alrighty then. One waterfall seen. Let’s go backpacking!
A recent trail report I read said the Cone Peak Trail was in decent shape. NOT! It was horribly overgrown. I was battling through incredibly thick brush. I could not continue for another 3 miles like this. I decided to give up and try the Coast Ridge trail instead. This one was supposed to be in worse shape so I did not have much hope for it. It was very difficult but I did manage to get through it and up to the top of the ridge. At this point I was incredibly tired and it was getting late. I thought it would be an easy walk down to Trail Camp from here. HA! Ventana Wilderness wins again. The Gamboa Trail was COMPLETELY OBLITERATED from the Dolan Fire of 2020. It was utterly IMPASSABLE. Now I am completely spent. I could not continue. There is no water or place to camp. I did not want to go back down the difficult Coast Ridge trail and I did not have the energy for it either. What can I do?
I decided to go down the Carrizo trail to Carrizo camp. It was about 3 miles out of my way but downhill and this trail was supposed to be in good shape so it should hopefully be an easy hike. It was not an easy hike and it took longer than I thought but at least the trail was not horrible.
There were quite a few ticks in the last mile before camp. Up to this point there had not been any ticks or poison oak. Ventana ticks are an advanced species. They cling to all sorts of branches on the trail, not just the whitish colored grasses that most ticks hang on. They also change color to blend in. There are white-grey colored ticks that cling to these white colored grasses in addition to the brown ones. You think I am joking but I am not. I did not see any green colored ticks on the green branches but I will not be surprised to see those in the future. My clothes were treated with permethrin which is supposed to keep the ticks off but I still got ticks on me. One was actually trying to bite through my pants. That were treated with permethrin. Welcome to Ventana Wilderness.
I was dead tired when I got to camp. It was late and the sun was setting. I was also cold. I got my tent set up and ate my dinner and got into the warmth of my sleeping pad as soon as I could. I slept well. On to day two.
It was 2008 the last time I went down this trail. I had a wild cougar encounter. Seventeen years later and it was time to go back and find my beloved. I did not find her. I was so sad. Ha ha!
Fifteen inches of rain in the foothills this past week. All the waterfalls were roaring. I had many choices but I decided on Knickerbocker Falls. I have been wanting to go back here and in particular try to get up close to the middle waterfall on this creek. It eluded me last time and I wanted to fix that.
I did not take Journey with me. I thought it was going to be too steep and cliffy but actually she could have made it pretty easily. Except the ticks are out now so that would not have been very good for her. I managed to pick up a couple of the buggers but Journey would have gotten it a lot worse. The route I took last time was too brushy now. I remembered it being quite easy before but I could not find my way through it. I was about to give up but I finally bashed my way through and came upon a much better route. It was open and it was a good path to follow, leading me down the mountain. This entire area is prime mountain lion territory but I did not see my cougar. I suppose I should be relieved about that. My new route took me down past the middle falls so I had to work my way back to it and I came upon a terrific viewpoint of the waterfall on the edge of a cliff.
The middle falls is 144 ft. high. You cannot quite see the bottom from the viewpoint but you can see most of it. It is a beauty. You can see the upper waterfall from here (sort of) but I could see no way to get up close to it. It was also not possible to get down any further to the creek because of the cliffs so I turned back and went down to the lower waterfall at the river. This time I went all the way down to the bottom of it for a better view.
At the bottom I was surprised to find a trail. It seemed to follow the river upstream. It is not on my map but it was well defined and I suspect it is an easier way to get to Knickerbocker Falls. I will have to try it next time (with Journey). It was a very beautiful morning in Auburn State Recreation Area.
Feather Falls has been closed since 2020 when the Bear Fire ravaged the entire area overnight. The devastation was immense. But let’s be honest: the Feather Falls Trail should’ve been opened a long time ago, at least a year or a year and a half ago. There is no excuse to leave this major trail closed for so long. The trail is 100% cleared. The bridges are 100% rebuilt. The parking lot is 100% rebuilt and re-paved. The viewing platform is 100% rebuilt. It has been this way for quite a long time now. Indeed, I am not convinced that the viewing platform was ever burned in the Bear Fire. It was rebuilt just prior to the fire and it looks about the same to me. A lot of people have hiked here in the last year before the trail was open and I don’t blame them. I might’ve come here myself if I had any burning desire to do so. The only thing I really wanted to do, however, was to bring Journey here and make a video, and I figured it was best to wait until the trail was re-opened before doing that.
January 1, 2025. The forest order stating the trail closure to Feather Falls is expired. There is no new forest order posted. I checked multiple times, including the day I came here. The thing that bothers me, and I don’t understand, is why the forest service website does not state that the trail is re-opened. Nonetheless, the forest order is expired, so by the default that means the trail is now open again. It was finally time to bring Journey to see magnificent Feather Falls.
The problem with Feather Falls, which has always been a problem, is that it is in the sun most of the day. So that means (for photography) I need to get up at 4AM, drive out to the trailhead, and start hiking in the dark. This is not good for me but it is especially not good for Journey as she is definitely not a morning dog. That was not going to work for us. The only other option is to wait for a cloudy day. Two of my three weather apps said it was going to be cloudy in the afternoon at around 3 to 4PM. The third one said it was going to be sunny. I thought it would be worth trying it and hopefully 66.67% of the forecasters were not wrong.
We arrived at the re-paved parking lot at 12:30 PM. It was very sunny. We were the only ones there but clearly a lot of people have hiked this trail in recent days or months. The trail is very different. Before the fire the trail was mostly through the forest. Now the forest is completely gone. It is 100% exposed to the elements. This hike is going to be absolutely brutal in the summer. Also, you can now essentially see the entire loop trail as you hike along. That means you will be able to see all the people hiking behind you or ahead of you on the trail. But as I said, there was no one else here when we came.
Journey really struggled on the hike to the waterfall for some reason. After 2 1/2 miles she acted like she wanted to go back. She was tired. I think it was because it was very warm out. Imagine what it would be like if it was summer, though. You should definitely not bring your dog here in the summer. Or your kids. Or even yourself. 9 miles of hiking completely exposed to the sun when it is over 90 degrees? I will not be surprised to hear of someone dying from heat exposure. It was warm for us but not so hot and we were over halfway to the waterfall. I urged her to continue on.
We arrived at the viewing platform at 2:30PM. It was completely sunny. Journey had a snack and then she laid down on the deck to snooze for about 45 minutes. I sat down to enjoy the waterfall and waited for the clouds to arrive. I was not too hopeful because there was nothing around at all, nonetheless, at about 3:15PM the clouds made an appearance and I was able to take some good photos. It would have been even better if I waited longer but then we would have been hiking in the dark. I got my shot and I was happy. We left at 3:30PM and headed back.
The shorter loop going back is much more difficult but after her long rest Journey had her second wind and she did great on the hike back. Much better than me in fact. I was quite struggling on the uphill. Journey was way ahead of me the entire time but she always waits for me to catch up. I love that about her. We got back to the car at 5PM and drove home but stopped for a hamburger, which she mightily deserved. We had a terrific hike to spectacular 410 ft. high Feather Falls.
They say La Niña has finally arrived. Is it too little too late? We have had zero rain in January so far (excluding the first weekend) and it is not looking good in the immediate future. Bloody stupid polar vortex. Perhaps La Niña will have a positive effect in February or March. We shall see.
I was quite disappointed in this waterfall. I really thought there would be a lot more flow. I know it is a small creek but we had a lot of rain in late December and I thought for sure it would still be decent.
It was 3:30 PM when we arrived at the trail head. Journey was excited. It was a really good hike for her and she had fun. Down at the river I saw that some people were camping there. We saw no people, just the tents. I did not think about it at the time but later I thought it was odd that there were no people. It was late afternoon and near dusk, it should be active with people getting dinner and ready for bed. Now I am thinking that maybe the tents and campsite were just abandoned. Hmmm…
Anyway, I thought this was going to be an easy hike for Journey and my prior notes did not indicate otherwise. However, when we got down to the river I realized it was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. It was not just an easy stroll along the river. There was a lot of rock scrambling, with slippery rocks and steep drop offs. There were a couple places I had to lift her up the rocks. I wondered if she was even going to be able to make it to the waterfall but she did incredibly awesome. I was very proud of her. We made it to the falls and she waited patiently while I took photos.
It took a lot longer to hike here than I expected and it was already close to sunset. No time to see the middle or upper falls and it was dark by the time we got back to the car. We had a fun and enjoyable hike at South Yuba River State Park.
