I bought a new sleeping bag because the old one was not keeping me warm on cold nights any more. Actually I bought a quilt this time. This is unusual for me. I have always liked bags but I did the research and figured this time I would get the quilt. Off I went to Yosemite National Park to try it out. It would be 41 degrees at night. Not too cold but cold enough to give it a good test.
My plan: Chilnualna Falls for one night.
I arrived at the trailhead at 9:30AM. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot. There had to be at least 7 or 8 groups ahead of me but I saw no one on the trail for the entire hike. I did not even see anyone when I finally got to the top of Chilnualna Falls. Where did they all go? It was not until the very end did I finally see some people coming back down.
One person in particular needs to be talked about: He said to me, Oh are you just starting out your backpacking trip? Ah no, obviously, I started at the bottom. But you are going on a long trip, then? No, just one night. Ah, so it is a training trip, then? (Now I’m thinking, what is the deal with this guy!) Not a training trip, just seeing the waterfalls here. But your pack is so heavy! Ummm, actually 32 pounds is not very heavy at all when you have camera equipment but thanks for letting me know, Mr. Know It All. I may or may not have said that last phrase. Really people, have you heard the phrase Hike Your Own Hike? Not that it even matters but I did not take anything that I did not use or need on this trip. Oh wait. That is a lie. I had a couple charging cords with me but I left my battery pack at home (intentionally). So I guess I could have shed a couple ounces and left the cords at home. And I had one luxury item: my Kindle. All those things are not even a half pound. I think I did very well, actually.
But it would have helped if I was in shape. It is a 2200 ft. climb and I was very tired by the time I reached the top of Chilnualna Falls. I found a spot to camp near the upper falls. It was a great spot mostly hidden off the trail although you could still see my camp from the trail if you were looking. I did see a couple people go by but I don’t know if they saw me. I set up camp and made my dinner.
I have been to Chilnualna Falls before in 2009 (and at a better time of year). So why return, you may ask? Well, I had three goals for this trip. All were successful. The first was to see a new waterfall on the North Fork Chilnualna Creek. I did this on day one but the creek flow was pretty low. This one would be much better to see in the spring. The second goal was to get (some!) photos of the upper falls. I have been to it before, obviously (or maybe not so obviously), but somehow I lost all my photos of it. It is a mystery. After going to the first waterfall on the north fork I came back to the bottom of the upper falls. This gets very late sun so I had to wait until almost sunset before I could take photos. I was about 45 minutes ahead of time. It was very cold waiting in the shade at the base of the waterfall. Finally I could take my shots. You can only see the bottom section from here so I went back up to where I could see the entire length of Upper Chilnualna Falls. It is 145 ft. high with all the tiers included. It was sunset now. My hands were very cold. Thankfully it was a short walk back to camp. I hopped into bed. It was only 5PM. I did some reading for awhile. I tried to sleep.
For goal #3 you need to wait until my next post. It was a fantastic first day at Chilnualna Falls in Yosemite National Park.
A few weeks back my wife shared me a map of the current location of one of the wolf packs in northern California. The map seemed to show them very close to Lower Deer Creek Falls in Lassen National Forest. I said to her, this will be a great hike for Journey and myself to go see the wolves. She said, no way! I said, why not? I would love to see wolves in the wild.
Fast forward to Black Friday when our family was up north for Thanksgiving. On the way home I thought this hike would be a good one for myself on Journey. It is sort of on the way. Of course I knew the wolves would probably be 100 miles away by now. But hey, you never know. It is a good little hike and Journey has not done it before. The last time I did it was in 2012 with my previous dog Kaya.
It was another very cold morning, about 28 degrees. We stopped at the upper Deer Creek Falls first, took a quick photo and then drove down to the Lower Deer Creek Falls parking.
According to the national forest website this trail is currently closed due to the 2024 Park Fire. However, that fire never even touched this area so there is absolutely no reason the trail should be closed. I thought it would be worth taking a chance on it. I was right and it was perfectly fine. There were no signs at the trailhead indicating a closure and the trail itself was in perfect shape.
Lower Deer Creek Falls is only 10 feet high. It is a cute little thing but not exactly a magnificent waterfall; the trail, however, is a beautiful one following Deer Creek the whole way. It is really a great hike and not difficult. The trail continues past the waterfall and Journey made it very clear she wanted to keep going. Daddy, however, did not want to go any further. We took our photos and then went back. Sorry, Journey. Next time, perhaps, we will go a lot further.
Sadly, we did not see any wolves. The only wildlife we saw was a squirrel that made a fantastic leap of about 6 or 7 feet from one tree to another. All the while Journey watching it closely and hoping it would not make it. It was another beautiful and brisk morning in Lassen National Forest.
Thanksgiving Day. Journey and I were up at the crack of night and on the road by 5:15AM. One of the two of us were not happy about that. I will give you one guess. Well, she is always happy once we get on the trail.
We drove up Ice House Road all the way to the end. I have been here one time before and that was 15 years ago. It is a very easy 2 mile hike to the waterfall and it was 29 degrees when we started. There was a lot of ice on the road. And puddles! The puddles covered the entire road in places. The trick is to get by them without getting your feet wet. We were mildly successful but not completely successful. Journey was a bit less diligent about keeping dry but it must have been extremely cold for her feet. She did not seem to mind though.
When you get to the waterfall you need to scramble down the rocks to the bottom. Journey is an expert at this stuff now and had no problem.
When I was here in 2010 I somehow got the impression that the waterfall may have been on private property. There must have been a sign otherwise I don’t know why I would think that. It is probably the main reason I never came back here until now. There was no sign this time and in fact, I looked at the map beforehand and saw that the waterfall is absolutely on public land. This is good. It is a nice waterfall and easy to get to. I will certainly come back again sometime.
Gerle Creek Falls is 35 ft. high. I was surprised the creek was flowing so strong. It is a controlled creek but I figured that by this time of year they surely would have reduced the flow from Loon Lake. Interesting, but I was happy to see this. It is a pretty waterfall. We took our photos and continued on the trail past Wentworth Springs. All in all we hiked about 7.5 miles. It was a magnificent and very cold morning in Eldorado National Forest.
Get back to where you once belonged. Get back, Journey.
American Canyon Creek Falls is my go-to early season waterfall. My favorite little local waterfall. My precious. It is a new waterfall season. It is time to get back.
There were two cars parked in the extremely small parking area that fits a max of three cars. That is two more than I normally see here. I saw one of the two groups on the trail so that is one more than I normally see here. No worries. We had a great hike down to the waterfall.
This was the third time I have taken Journey here. Every year I think I can get Journey further down to the creek. She has improved so much in the past year with rock scrambling (which is very true). Every year I realize it is impossible to get any further down. It is too steep and treacherous. This year it was even more so because the rock was wet and slick. Even if she could get down to the creek there is nowhere for her sit and wait for me to take photos. Maybe I will remember all this for next year. So she waited for me again on a rock ledge while I went down and crossed the creek to see the waterfall. I gave her a snack while I did that but she ate that up in one minute so it did not keep her too occupied. She wanted to come down to see me. I kept telling her to stay stay stay. I took my photos very quickly and then went back up.
Interestingly, the rock that is wedged in the waterfall seems to have moved. I think it looks a lot nicer now and more photogenic than last year. Certainly not as nice as it was pre-rock wedge but much better.
Journey had a lot of energy today and wanted to run back up the mountain. She probably would have run all the way if I was running as well. Obviously I was not going to do that. It is a 1000 ft. elevation gain back to the car. It was a very lovely afternoon in Auburn State Recreation Area.
I had a day off work. We went to Lake Tahoe again. I have done this hike before but Journey had not. So we needed to do it, right? I am glad we did. It is a fun little trail and Journey loved it.
On the drive there, not one but TWO cars turned into my lane and almost ran into me. The second one was on the freeway and I had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision, which caused Journey to go flying into the back of my seat. This one really made me mad. Journey already hates car rides and she could have really been hurt. Put down your damn phones people. And look around when you switch lanes. How bloody difficult is that? Ok, sorry. End rant.
We arrived at sunrise. I could not park in the usual place because there were workers there getting ready to start their day cutting trees or something. Why are they working today? Isn’t it a holiday? I parked along the side of the road and we started our hike.
It is a short hike to the first waterfall, a small 20 footer but a pretty one. We continued to the big waterfall. I thought this would be the nicest one of the day and was planning most of my photos from here but it did not look very good at low flow, it is much better seen at high flows. I took a quick photo and we continued up to the third waterfall. I did not think we would make it to the upper falls in time before the sun was on it but we got there in the nick of time before the sun poked its head over the ridge. It was too hard for Journey to get all the way up to the bottom of it but we found a pretty good spot for me to take photos. Upper Upper Truckee River Falls. No, that is not a typo. This is the name of it and it is 35 ft. high. I think this was the nicest of the three waterfalls today (pictured here).
It is only about a mile to the upper falls. Neither of us were tired yet. It was definitely too early to go back. The trail continues on above the upper falls. I have not been up here before past the upper falls and I wanted to follow it as far as possible. The trail is not on any of my maps. How far does it go? It is a well defined trail though it does have some indistinct parts to it. It kept going and going. It went all the way to a small lake called Elbert Lake. This was a perfect spot to stop and sit down and eat a snack (which Journey did, of course). The mountain reflections in the lake were gorgeous. I don’t know if the trail stopped here or continued but we decided to go back down from here. It was a 5 mile hike in total. A pretty good distance for us today. It is an enjoyable little trail with zigs and zags and a bit of rock scrambling and log crawling and ups and downs in the pretty forest along the river. Zero people. Very peaceful. Journey had a lot of fun on this hike and so did I. It was a marvelous morning in Eldorado National Forest.
