I usually take a week off work in the Fall and do one big backpacking trip. This year, I took a week because we were planning to go to Canada to see my mom one last time. Unfortunately she passed before we could leave. We will go up there later for the memorial but I did not cancel my vacation. I could still do a big backpacking trip but the weather was not very co-operative this year so I decided to do a couple small trips instead. The first one I did with Journey to Canyon Creek Falls. The second I would do by myself and go back to Mt. Shasta.
I knew there was no water up there so I would carry all the water I would need. I had 5.5 liters. I did not weigh my pack but I think it was around 45 pounds. It was agonizingly heavy. If water was not an issue Journey could have done this hike but if she came with me this time I would have to carry all her stuff and water for her as well and I would be over 60 pounds for certain. Definitely best that she stay home this time. 5.5 liters was not quite enough. I drank more than I thought going up to the waterfall viewpoint because it was quite difficult so I did not have enough for coffee in the morning. Well, I thought I could survive without coffee. It would be a close thing.
I camped at a huge wide open flat area with a view of Mt. Shasta. It was a very nice sandy spot which of course I had all to myself. There were a lot of wasps buzzing around. A huge amount of them. They did not really bother me much but the buzzing was constant all afternoon. Quite a few flies also. I set up camp, ate my dinner, and relaxed. In the evening, I went up to the waterfall viewpoint.
It was easy until the end at which point there was a 450 ft. climb off trail. It was a steep slog. There seemed to be a path and I think this is a climber’s route but one that is not very commonly used. I made it up to my planned viewpoint of Mud Creek Canyon Falls. It was disappointing. Very disappointing. I studied this spot on Google Earth for many hours and determined that from here I would be able to see the entire waterfall. As long as I could get close enough to the cliff edge. That was the only thing I was worried about. The cliff edge was indeed unstable and I was very careful but getting a view from the edge was not an issue. There were trees blocking the view down at the waterfall and also a ridge that was not showing on Google Earth. GE you are a bad liar. I could see probably 3/4 of the waterfall but not the bottom of it. It was not supposed to be like this. I guess my photo is not really all that horrible but in my mind I was expecting (and wanting) a lot more. I retreated back to camp.
I slept quite well but my tent zipper broke. I have already had it fixed once before so I think it is time for a new tent. Too bad I cannot afford one. It is a good thing the wasps went away at night otherwise I would have had them all in my tent which would not have been very fun. I got up for a nice sunrise view of Mt. Shasta, packed up, ate my breakfast (sans coffee) and hiked back down. It was an interesting and quick trip into the Mt. Shasta Wilderness.
This was Journey’s first official backpacking trip and she was awesome! Of course you remember we had a trip at Mt Shasta recently which was supposed to be her first backpacking trip but we ended up sleeping in the car. This time we were sleeping in the tent. Come Hell or high water.
I have known about this waterfall for awhile and had been thinking about going here but it is about 100 miles past Nowhere, California. It is also in the sun most of the day so doing it as a day hike would be very difficult. It would make more sense to camp near the waterfall. I thought (or hoped) Journey would be able to do it as well. I had zero beta on this waterfall hike so I did not know how difficult it would be. There is a trail marked on my old topo map but it is not on the newer one. Does that mean the trail is now completely overgrown and impassable? Would Journey even be able to get down to the falls or would it be too steep for her? I had seen one photo quite a long time ago but I don’t know what happened to it. Well, everything is worth trying once. Right?
The last 10 miles to the trailhead is one of the roughest roads I have ever driven. It was horrendous. Very rocky, very sharp. My poor tires. Even worse than Bowman Lake Rd? The drive stressed Journey out (she doesn’t like car rides to begin with) and it stressed me out as well. On the return I thought I would try a different road thinking it would be much shorter and better but it was worse! I had to turn around and go back the same way. 10 miles of hell. We finally made it to the trailhead 30 minutes late and were relieved to get out of the car and begin our hike.
The hike is 1.5 miles up hill followed by a massive descent of 2 miles with 1700 ft. elevation loss. It was incredibly steep. It was going to be a brutal climb out the next day. Down at the creek is an old mining town from the 1800’s called Poker Flat. All that is left is an old cabin that is literally in shambles. A sign says the town was “a miserable hole”. I can believe it. We continued on to the waterfall. I was very happy to find a good, well defined trail. There was a sign that said “OHV trail” but there is no way you could drive your OHV on this. It is a narrow singletrack with steep dropoffs. Strange. However, it is very easy to hike. We came to the creek near the top of the waterfall and found a place to camp. It was small and not very exciting but I did not want to continue any further in search of a better campsite. This one would do well enough. Journey flopped out on the dirt for a nap while I set up camp and made dinner. She poked up her head when she saw me eating pizza and decided she had better come over to see what was up. Ha ha.
After dinner we went down to the waterfall. It was a very steep descent with brush at the bottom and required crossing the creek as well to get to a viewpoint. Journey did very well with all of that. Canyon Creek Falls is 45 ft. high and had a very decent flow for late September. It was gorgeous. If you look at Google Earth it seems the waterfall is at most 20 ft. high. I was incredibly happy to find such a beautiful waterfall and much bigger than expected.
We went back to camp and went straight into the tent and to bed. Journey slept well for the first half of the night but then was moving about and tossing and turning the rest of the night. I don’t know if she was cold (it wasn’t really cold, though) or she just could not sleep any more. I was the opposite, tossing and turning for the first half of the night. We got up in the morning and I made her a special breakfast and then we hiked out. Her pack was half the weight from the last time at Mt Shasta and she did much better with this. She was only carrying her water and not her food. Nonetheless, I knew she would really struggle going up the big hill so I carried her pack on this section. She did very well on the climb up the mountain and was ahead of me the entire way. It was a killer climb. We made it to the top in 1 hour and 45 minutes, including a 10 or 15 minute break. Not too bad, actually. Then the long drive back home. It was an awesome trip with Journey in Plumas National Forest but I can say with absolute certainty that I will never be back to that “miserable hole”.
An old photo from 2020 but a new and very interesting story. I had a plan to return to Mud Creek Canyon Falls at Mt. Shasta and see it closeup. I had a good route mapped out and I figured Journey would be able to do it as well. Indeed I thought this would make a good one night backpacking trip. It would be Journey’s first ever backpacking trip. The plan was set.
We arrived at the trailhead late morning. It was only a 4.5 mile hike to our camp but with 1100 ft. elevation gain. Not too bad. I knew Journey could do this … except … I bought her a little backpack so she could carry her food and water. She was really dragging on the climb up the mountain with the extra weight. I thought she did really well despite going a lot slower than usual.
We stopped for lunch at the first water source: Squaw Valley Creek. There was no water! The creek was completely dry. I was not expecting this at all. We continued to the second water source where we would be camping. This was dry as well! This was officially a disaster. I was sure that these two creeks flowed year-round. It is not a drought year. Why are they dry? Well we would not be able to camp here now and we certainly would not be able to continue up to the waterfall. Journey was almost out of water. I was counting on there being water in these two creeks. We would have to retreat. She did not have enough to get back so I had to give her some of my water and we were bone dry by the end but there was plenty of water in the car. She was also extremely tired. I realized now that her pack was too heavy. I should have had it half the weight. It was a big mistake on my part and a lesson learned. She is a real trooper though and did so well keeping up to me on the hike. Nonetheless on the way back down I took the pack and carried it for her. This really helped but she was still very tired.
Once down I decided that instead of going home we would find someplace to sleep in the car and do a different hike in the morning. We drove to McCloud for dinner and I got Journey her own hamburger. This perked her up. Then we went to the local park where we relaxed for a couple hours. It is a nice big park and there was no one there. Journey did a bit of exploring on her own and snoozed a bit as well. Then we drove out to the place where we would hike in the morning. It was the first time for Journey sleeping in the car and I think she got more sleep than I did. We woke up very early and started hiking in the dark. I should have let Journey sleep some more but I thought that since I was awake we may as well get up and get going.
This hike was very interesting and mysterious …
The area has been officially closed for years. People still go here anyway. And why the heck not? So the bridge and dam are out. That is no reason to keep it closed. So there was a fire here some years ago. That is no reason to keep it closed. There is an alternate way to go here that is not closed. I am sure that is what we must have done. It was an easy route. A perfect hike for Journey after the difficult one the previous day.
There was no waterfall. I have not been here before but I know I was in the right place. The waterfall was gone. Destroyed. It was a huge mystery. I suspect it must have happened during the glacial flood event of 2021 (which also took out the bridge). It was a huge bummer and I was quite disappointed. It just goes to show that nothing lasts forever so if you have something on your bucket list then do it now. Don’t wait.
I wanted to continue on to the Lower Falls (photo shown here) but it required crossing the creek and Journey refused to cross it even though it was not too bad at all. I think maybe because it was muddy and she could not see where she would be stepping. She is funny about crossing creeks. She is awesome on rocky steep stuff but she needs to do better on creek crossings. Well I did not want to force her so we turned back. I saw a bear. I don’t think Journey saw it. It was only for a couple seconds and then it clambered down the steep bank to the creek and out of my view. We got back to the car and I made Journey her breakfast. Then we made the long drive home to see mama and of course she was ecstatic to see her and tell her all about the awesome trip she had with daddy. It was a very mysterious and fun trip to Mt. Shasta.
This is Tom’s Waterfall. I don’t know who Tom is but he has a place and this waterfall is near his place so it must be his waterfall. I’m kidding. This waterfall is actually named Horsetail Falls but there a million Horsetail Falls in the world so this one should have a different name. That is what my wife said, anyway.
I was not planning to go here. I wanted to hike in the Lee Vining area. One word: thunderstorms. I checked the forecast before we left home. There were supposed to be thunderstorms in the afternoon but it looked to be clearing by 4pm. That should be perfect for my planned hike. We drove to Grant Lake in the morning and found a nice little beach with a bit of shade and played fetch with Journey. All morning long. She completely wore herself out but I was not worried about our afternoon hike. All she needs is a short rest and she is ready and roaring to go again. At lunch we went to Whoa Nellie Deli (a required stop at Lee Vining). Sadly it is no longer called Whoa Nellie. Maybe we should rename it to Whoa Journey. I checked for the updated forecast. Not good. Now it looked that it would be thunderstorming all afternoon and not stopping until well into the evening. I would not be able to go on my hike now. We would just have to drive back home. I don’t mind hiking in the rain but thunderstorms are a different beast. Plus I had Journey with me. She definitely would not want to hike in the pouring rain.
Down by Mammoth Lakes, however, it seemed that the rain would be stopping before 4PM. I could do the hike to Horsetail Falls down by Tom’s Place instead. I have not been to this one before and I was sure the waterfall would be flowing decent as the creek is a good sized one. We drove down to the trailhead and it was raining so we sat in the car and waited. Finally at about 3:30PM the rain let up. It was still drizzling or lightly raining but it seemed to be stopping so I figured we should start the hike. Tara waited in the car while Journey and I hiked up to the falls.
I had to keep Journey on the leash up to the waterfall. She did not want to hike today. It may have been partially because she was tired from playing fetch or because it was still raining, but mostly I think it was because she wanted mom to come with us. She did not want to leave her behind. It is strange because we did this exact thing at Lake Tahoe a couple weeks ago and she was great on that hike. She was perfectly fine hiking with me once I put her on the leash and once we got up close to the falls I took it off and she was great for the remainder of the hike. On the return hike down the mountain she was anxious to get back to mom quickly and was running way far ahead of me. But whenever I called for her to stop and wait for me to catch up, she would. Whoa Journey! She is such a good dog.
Horsetail Falls (this Horsetail Falls) is 75 ft. high. I have never seen any photos of it before which is odd because it is right along a very popular trail and you can easily see it from the trail. I was disappointed with the flow. As I said I was sure it would be flowing decent. Even when I looked at the map when I got back home it looks like a good size drainage. I don’t understand why it was so low. Anyway I do not regret coming here. I would not have been able to do any hike in Lee Vining that day and I had not been here before so it was worth coming here. I am sure I will be back some day. It was a fantastic day in the Eastern Sierra.
It is a summer tradition in our family to go once a year to Lake Tahoe for the day. We spend the morning swimming in the lake and the afternoon cruising the shops of South Lake Tahoe. We have not done that in a few years, however, for various reasons. This year we got back to it for perhaps the last time, as the kids are now adults, but who knows the future.
We always go to Fallen Leaf Lake because it is less crowded, there is shade, and it is free. It is not free any longer! It is $12 to park in the day use area now. This really perturbed me. All it means is that more people will park along the road and block the road to regular traffic and then walk in to the lake. This is what I would have done under normal circumstances but Tara was not able to make that walk this year and they would not let me drop her off (which bugged me even more). So I shelled out the $12 for day use parking.
We found a good spot in the shade and Journey promptly got to playing fetch for the entire morning pretty much non-stop. Tara would throw her balls into the water and she would go in to fetch them but NOT if they were thrown too far. She would not go in over her head. We wanted her to learn to swim but she wouldn’t do it (which is exactly like our previous dog, Kaya).
In the afternoon we went into South Lake and walked around the shops a bit but it was hot so we found a local park to relax in the shade until dinner time. After dinner and ice cream, Nekoda and I took Journey on a short hike to Van Sickle Falls.
I have known about this waterfall for awhile but never been to it before. It is hard to justify driving all the way to Lake Tahoe just to see a piddly 19 ft. high waterfall. This weekend, however, the timing finally made sense to go see it. The falls would be in the sun until just before sunset so we had to time it just right and that meant starting the hike at 7PM. It was a pleasant hike up the mountain, a lot of it under the Heavenly ski resort gondola. The bad thing is that you can hear the noise from all the casinos for mostly the entire hike. It is loud and constant and annoying. I don’t want to hear that schtick when I am on a hike. It would be much better to do this hike in the morning and then you probably wouldn’t have all that noise but it is what it is. Journey did not mind it and she had a very enjoyable and fun time.
Van Sickle Falls is 19 ft. high and no more. It is a pretty one though, an easy hike, and certainly worth coming here if you are in the area. We arrived at 8PM and I took photos while Journey ate her dinner. Then we hiked back down the hill in the dark.
One funny thing happened. Nekoda was in the lead with Journey in the middle and me behind. Nekoda almost stepped on a snake. All I saw and heard was her scream, throw her arms up in the air, and stumble backwards. Then “snake, snake!”. It was just a harmless rubber boa snake. It is the first time I have seen a snake when Journey was with me so it would have been a good safety lesson for her, but Nekoda was freaked out, I was laughing hysterically, the snake slithered away quickly, and Journey never even saw it. The rest of the hike in the dark was uneventful. We got back to the car, Journey was happy to see mom, and then we drove home. It was a wonderful family day in Lake Tahoe.
