The hike to Lower Jawbone Falls was a short one. I did not want to just go home afterwards. I had just driven 3 hours to get here for Pete’s sake. I needed to go on a second hike.
My first choice was to go to Middle Fork Tuolumne Falls and the others in that immediate vicinity. Those waterfalls would be raging and they were very close by and they probably would still be in good light. When I came to the road going down to them I found big huge signs saying “absolutely no access by absolutely anyone or anything at all – not even you, Madman”. (or something very similar to that) What the heck?? How long has this area been closed? Is it recent? If it is because of recent storm damage then I have no hope at all of ever returning to them. They are never going to fix the road. I wish I could have gone down there to see what was the big deal. Why are these fantastic waterfalls now closed?
My second choice was to go to Carlon Falls just inside Yosemite National Park. At least I knew that trail would be open. Unfortunately, I surmised I would not be able to get to it in time for photographing because it was getting so late in the morning now. Nonetheless, it would still be a good hike and worth doing. I had no other ideas.
It is an easy 1.5 mile hike to the waterfall. I only saw one other person on the entire hike (I expected to see a lot more). When I arrived I found the waterfall partially in the sun but I thought it was still worth taking a photo. That was a nice bonus for the day. Carlon Falls is 30 feet high and it was spectacular. I returned to the car and drove home. It was a good day in Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.
So I wanted to go to Yosemite this weekend but Hwy 120 is closed (into the valley). If I go the long way it would add a full hour to the drive from my house. I wasn’t too keen on that. Maybe if it wasn’t going to rain all day then I would have done it. I decided to go towards Cherry Lake instead. That did not work out too well either.
Cherry Lake Road was closed. I checked the National Forest website just a few days earlier and it said the road was open. Apparently I checked the wrong web page, so I guess that is my own fault. However, the page I checked clearly indicated the road was open. The site is really confusing and stupid in my opinion. So I drove 3 hours out to Cherry Lake road and then found out the road is closed and I could not do my hike. Damn. It was going to be an epic hike as well.
So what would I do now? I decided to try and hike down the ridge on the opposite side of the river and get a view of the falls from that side. I did not get too far. Unfortunately. It was incredibly brushy. Much too brushy. Jaws of death brushy. Oh and did I mention there was a lot of poison oak? I had so wanted to be all done with poison oak for this year. No such luck, Madman.
Well I did find a view of the waterfall even though it was not a great one. I took a photo. Lower Jawbone Falls is about 400 ft. high. It is quite an incredible cascade. My planned hike would have taken me right up close to it. It definitely would have been epic. Oh well, I will return. When the road is open.
I tried this hike last year but got cliffed out. I thought I was fully prepared to tackle it again this year. I had a better route. I had all the gear I needed. So I thought. But I was not prepared enough.
I was planning to start at Union Valley again, thinking the north road would still be snowed in, however I checked the satellite on Friday and that road looked clear. I was surprised because this road always has lingering snow and with the big snow pack this year, surely it would still be snowed in. This was good news. The hike would be a lot shorter and easier from the north side.
However, I did not anticipate all the brush. It was horrendous. Since the King Fire it has grown up tremendously. My planned route was impossible. My backup plan would take me to a high vantage point overlooking the waterfall. This was very brushy as well and it was a difficult battle to get through it. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. I was within two steps of it and did not see it. You do not expect to see a snake in the brush (and indeed, it is almost impossible to see something like that in the brush). Thankfully, it saw me first and started rattling up a storm and moved away from me. Whew. As I continued down the ridge and into a rocky area I came across another rattlesnake, which again, I did not see. And again, the snake saw me first and started rattling.
I came to the spot where I anticipated having a good clear view of the waterfall. I could not see the waterfall. I had to keep heading downwards in search of a view. I had to go a long way down, much more than I wanted to. And more than I should have. I was out of water. This was my big mistake. I had now descended 1000 ft. and my water bottle was less than half full. I finally did find a viewpoint, however. I could have gotten closer but it would have been too risky. I had dropped my backpack higher up the mountain and my water was too low. I did not know if I could have gotten all the way down to the creek (to get water). If I had water and my backpack, I would have gone further down, hoping to find a campsite at creek level. Next time I will be more prepared. As it was, I had already gone too far. You may think what I did was stupid and your opinion would be a valid one but at no point was my life in danger. I was just not expecting to have to descend so far down the mountain to get a view of the falls.
But I found my viewpoint. Now I had to wait 3 full hours for the sun. I found a semi-comfortable spot in the shade on the side of the mountain and waited. And waited. And waited. I could not nap. I could not eat (I did not want to get thirsty). I could not drink (I had to conserve my water for the hike out). Finally, I had waited long enough and I took some photos of the waterfall.
Silver Creek Falls is 48 ft. high. The creek is dam controlled and they were currently letting out a lot of water from Union Valley. It was flowing over 600 cfs. It was a monster waterfall.
It was time to hike back up the mountain. I was not looking forward to it. I rationed my water. I bonked. When I finally got back up to the road I was completely out of water, but it was a short hike from there to my camp and it was downhill. Even this part was hard because I was so tired. I stopped at a snow patch and got some water from the snow to quench my lips. When I got to camp I was completely spent. It took 30 full minutes before I could even move. I drank water (now plentifully available from the creek), and I puked it up along with some of my lunch. It took a while but I slowly recovered, drank some more, and ate some dinner.
I slept like a baby. It was probably the best sleep I have ever had in my tent, I am guessing because I was so darn tired. I reluctantly rolled out of bed at 6AM. I decided to go on another hike and try to get down to Davis Creek Falls. I could see it the previous day but it was too far away. I really wanted to make it down to this falls but it was just too incredibly brushy. I could not even get anywhere close to it. I retreated. On the bright side, I saw my first bear of the year. It did not even run away or seem bothered when it saw me, so I was able to get it on camera. It must have been used to seeing people but this is a very infrequently visited area. From my camp it was an easy hike back to the car and I was finished by 11AM. It was a very difficult but fantastic trip in Eldorado National Forest.
It was a cold night. I had all my layers on but I slept fairly well.
Today’s hike would be about 11 miles. All on trail. Except …
The last 2 or 2.5 miles was absolutely ridiculous. The poison oak was atrocious. All over the trail. I brought a small saw with me to cut it back. I’m sure glad I brought this. It was about a half pound but worth its weight in gold. Nonetheless, even though I thought I avoided touching the stuff mostly, I still received a horrible rash for my efforts. It only takes a couple touches and you are done for. The ticks were atrocious. I probably plucked a hundred of the beasts off me. Only one small bite but man I hate those things. The trail was atrocious. Very overgrown and very difficult. There is one death defying rock slide you have to negotiate by climbing up the cliff (through poison oak of course). I honestly expected the trail to be much better and easier than it was.
These last couple miles to camp took a long time to hike. (two and a half hours). Last Chance camp is very small with only one tiny spot for a tent. It is surrounded by poison oak and to get to the creek you have to go through the oak. I was not impressed with it but there was no better place to camp and I was very tired.
In the evening I went up to the waterfall. This section was no better. Only a quarter mile away but it took a long time because it was so overgrown and difficult. Along the way I somehow lost my tripod. Argh! I retraced my steps EXACTLY and I could not find it. What the heck happened to it? The photo is hand held. It is not too bad but I was not happy about the tripod to say the least.
Last Chance Falls is 97 ft. high. It is a beautiful and magnificent drop, but I don’t think it was worth the effort to get here. Oak, ticks, overgrown trail, horrible rash, disappointing campsite, losing tripod, etc. Supposedly there is a trail to the bottom of the falls but I could not find it. It looked very steep and treacherous to get down to the bottom and I did not want to attempt it. The view from the trail would have to do.
The next day I walked all the way back to the car. It was 18 miles. A very long day but after the first climb out of the canyon it was mostly all downhill. When I got back to the campground I saw a lot of people and cars. Was the road now open? The road was NOT open. Yet people were just driving around the obvious and well signed closure. Rules don’t apply to some people, I guess. To be sure, there was no really good reason the road should have been closed – the workers had mostly fixed the washed out section (but that is no excuse for ignoring the rules). I got back to my car at about 4:30pm and made the long drive home. My back was not doing well at all but it was happy that I got to sleep in my own comfortable bed. It was a wild and vexing 3 days in Ventana Wilderness.
Ventana Wilderness hikers are a different breed of human. They are immune to poison oak. Horrendous amounts of ticks and crazy bush whacking do not bother them. You have to respect that. Any of these three things and I would turn back. I am not worthy. But I keep going back to Ventana. There are many waterfalls there I still have not seen. I encountered all three of these nasties this time and I did not turn back. I probably should have, though.
I initially planned to do this trip a couple weeks back but I postponed it due to weather. That was smart because the rivers would have been twice as high two weeks ago. As it was they were barely crossable. The problem, however, was that I put my back out the weekend before my trip. I don’t know how. It has been fine for six months and then all of a sudden it goes out. By the time my trip was to start the back was still not healed but I was not going to delay my trip again. It was probably not a smart decision. Ventana or bust.
My planned hike was going to be a very difficult one. Most of it would be off trail with tons of elevation gain and loss, and plenty of difficult bush whacking. Also the road was closed about 4 miles before the trailhead due to a wash out. I parked beside the road and walked the 4 miles in to the trailhead, then continued on my planned route. The first part was on trail but I quickly realized this would not work. My back was starting to really hurt and I still had 2000 ft. of elevation to climb. All this before I even reached the off trail section. I knew I would not be able to make it so I decided to turn back. There was an easier hike I could go on instead which would be (mostly) all on trail. I think this was a smart choice although I really had hoped to do the harder hike this year. It was not to be.
This waterfall was found by a certain Ventana Wilderness expert and the location he gave was a mile or so down river from the trail (ie. off trail). HOWEVER … as I hiked down the trail to the river I passed by a waterfall. It looked exactly like the photo I had seen of this so called off trail waterfall. I was 95% sure it was the same waterfall. I took a photo (shown here). The location was not anywhere even close to the marked spot. Nonetheless, I decided to go down river anyway and check out the other location. At first it was not too bad. I had to cross the river 3 or 4 times. The water was up to my knees or thighs but it was easily crossable. I was about a quarter mile away when all of a sudden the route became extremely difficult. I should have turned around (because of my back), but I tried to press on anyway. Soon afterwards I came to a spot where I definitely could not continue. There is no way anyone could have gotten by this section. Could they? I retreated and found a spot to camp by the river. There was a turtle bathing on the rocks in the sun. I also saw plenty of lizards and newts. My back was not happy from that excursion. I set up camp, ate my dinner, and went to bed.
I will rename this waterfall Lost Valley Falls. It is 20 ft. high exactly. It is on an unnamed creek. The next day I would continue my trek, supposedly an easy hike on an easy trail to another beautiful waterfall. Yeah right, this is Ventana Wilderness. Nothing is easy. Stay tuned …
