It was Sunday afternoon. Super Bowl Sunday. I had no desire whatsoever to watch it. I wanted to hike. So did Journey. I heard it was a boring game anyway. Good choice, Madman.
We went to Canyon Creek Falls at Quintette. It has been 16 years since I was here. I knew the last part would be difficult but I thought Journey would be able to do it. The hike starts out easily enough on a dirt road for 2.5 miles. It crosses one of the branches of the creek that the waterfall is on. Bone dry. Ugh. I was not expecting this. What if the other branch is dry as well? That would really suck the bone. I would be very unhappy. Maybe I should have gone somewhere else. We continued on. Worst case scenario is that Journey gets a good hike.
We got down to the creek below the waterfall. The creek was not dry. Yay! It seemed fairly decent flow. About as good as I could expect after a month and a half of dry weather. Now the hard part. There are two paths, one on each side of the creek. My notes said to go on the south side. The north side path does not go all the way up to the waterfall. The route we took was extremely difficult. It was very brushy. It was very steep. I really wasn’t too sure about doing it and thought about going back. It is a short distance though so I kept going. Journey did not really want to do it but she is such a trooper. She followed me up the whole way, through the brush, over logs, up very steep terrain. I am so proud of her. She did so awesome. Finally we made it to the base of the waterfall and relaxed and ate a snack. I took photos.
Canyon Creek Falls is very gorgeous and is 83 ft. high. It was so refreshing standing at the bottom of the waterfall.
On the way back we took a MUCH EASIER path. I had to lift Journey over a huge log but that wasn’t really a problem. We crossed the creek and then it was very easy following the path back to the road. I should have gone that way in the first place though that log was a big obstacle for Journey. We hiked back up the mountain, getting back to the car just before sunset. It was a fantastic hike on Super Bore Sunday in Eldorado National Forest.
When going to new waterfalls it is difficult to know if I should take Journey or not. I have no idea if there is going to be too much brush or if it will be too cliffy for her or something else. Well, I had my eyes on a new waterfall in Oroville area and I thought she might be able to do it. The waterfall is basically beside a dirt road. It should be all right, I hoped. We did not get very far. The road was completely washed out. If I was by myself I think I could have gotten by it but there is no way Journey could do it. Well, that was a washout. (pun intended) We did end up hiking 8 miles so she was happy at least that we had a good hike.
Two days later. My birthday. I took the day off work and wanted to get a good hike in with Journey. We would be getting to a waterfall this time. 100 percent.
My initial plan was to go back to Oroville area but I wasn’t so keen on it. It would be a good hike for sure but the waterfall was just a little one and I have been to it before. For my birthday I wanted something better. But I could not think of another option. I woke up Monday morning and considered it. What if we go up into the snow? How about Rattlesnake Creek Falls? I looked at the satellite. There was not that much snow so it should be do-able and the creek should be flowing as well. This is going to be a much better hike for my birthday. And Journey gets to sleep in an extra hour. She’ll be happier. (she would be happy anyway)
We arrived at the trailhead at sunrise. The usual parking was all snowed in. There is no other legal place to park. I found one small spot that seemed to be legal enough. Off we went. It was 28 degrees.
They are doing construction work on the Fordyce Dam and they have the road entirely closed to the public. It is ok to go here in winter since they are not working but I had hoped to go backpacking up here with Journey in the spring. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to do that until 2029 according to the sign. That kinda sucks. Sigh.
Anyway, we stopped at the lower falls first for a quick shot. Then hiked up to the middle falls for a quick shot. Then continued to the upper falls (shown here). There was snow on the road the entire way but there have been people snowmobiling up here so it was very easy walking on the road in the tracks. There was not much snow either. Sadly. We need a lot more snow this winter. Please. The last part over to the waterfall is off the road and there were no tracks. There was more snow here and it was icy and hard but I was still post-holing a bit. Journey had no troubles with that. She is much lighter than I am.
We came to the viewpoint of upper Rattlesnake Creek Falls. It was very pretty covered in snow and ice. I am certain this picture is not going to be appreciated as much as I think it should be. I really loved the look of it. It was so gorgeous.
We took our photos and Journey had her snack, then we hiked back down to the car. We were home by 12:30PM. It was a fabulous and cold and snowy birthday hike in Tahoe 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.
Journey and I went up to visit our old haunt, Horsetail Falls. We went there last year together. Heck, I go there every year.
With the government shutdown, I should not have to pay for parking. Who is going to come check your car? A furloughed ranger? I don’t think so. Yet when I arrived at the trailhead every other car in the parking lot had paid for parking. What the hey? Do they not know there is a shutdown? Now I wondered if I should pay. Should I pay or should I go? If I go there will be trouble. If I pay it will be double. Honestly I did not feel like paying for parking today. If there is going to be a stupid government shutdown then I should get some benefit out of it. That is my logic. I did not pay. (and I did not get a ticket).
If you have done this hike you know there is a little bit of scrambling on steep, slick, granite rock. Journey did very awesome on this. I thought she was going to slip and slide a couple times, but no. She is an expert at the rock scrambling now.
By the time we arrived at the waterfall we were the last ones on the mountain. We went to a couple different spots for photos. I had an idea for something a bit different that I wanted but it did not pan out so here is your Horsetail Falls shot for the year. It actually is a bit different from my previous photos. Journey ate her snack and we hiked down, arriving back at the car at sunset. It was a lovely evening in Eldorado National Forest.
My new tent arrived earlier than I expected. Before the weekend. This would be a perfect opportunity to give it a test run since I was not playing drums on Sunday. I wanted to take Journey along as well. New journeys with a new tent. The Eastern Sierra would be a great idea to see Fall Colors, however it was going to be 23 degrees at night. I could handle that but not Journey. That would be way too cold for her. Well I could go by myself or find a different place. Nearer to Lake Tahoe it was only going to be 37 degrees. Granite Chief Wilderness. This seemed perfect. Let’s go!
It is a very long drive to the trailhead. On a very windy road. Journey loves that. Not! Finally we got there at 11AM and were happy to get on the trail. It was a beautiful day. The first storm of the year just finished with about 2 inches of rain. Would all the creeks be up now? Not really but hopefully the waterfall would still be decent. It seems we are going to have a weak La Nina this winter which is a good sign, however we also have the Big Blob back which was very prevalent in the drought years. Are we going back into another extended drought or will we have a good winter? Pray for rain.
The hike to the waterfall is fairly easy, about 5 miles with minimal elevation gain. The first part is through an old growth forest. Huge trees. Redwood. Spruce. Douglas Fir. Absolutely incredibly beautiful through here. After crossing the Middle Fork American River (which was easily rock hoppable) the terrain changes in Picayune Valley. There are a lot of Aspen trees. Sadly they were all still green. I really wanted to see some Fall Color on this trip but I guess the elevation is too low and they have not changed yet. The trail was also a bit overgrown in places. It was not difficult but I was sad about that as well.
We arrived at the waterfall about 1:30PM and set up camp. It is very rocky and there was just one small spot to put the tent. I bought the Durston X Mid2. It takes some getting used to for setting up and taking down but so far I really like it. The camping area is quite large (and rocky, as I said) so Journey had a lot of room to explore while I was setting up the tent or doing other things.
Since it was an easy hike and still early I thought we would continue up the trail for awhile. I wanted to tire Journey out some more before bed. We hiked about 30 minutes up and 30 minutes back. I am not sure if that really tired her out more or not. Ah well. It was overcast when we got back to camp so we went straight to the waterfall to take photos. It was a bit difficult getting Journey up to the falls. There were some tricky spots including walking along a cliff edge, crossing the creek, and lifting her up over a big rock ledge. She did great though and we made it. Going back I found a much easier way for her.
Picayune Valley Falls is 41 ft. high. I thought it would be flowing a bit better, at least twice as much, but oh well. What can you do. It was still all right.
We got back to camp, made dinner, and went to bed. I had two coats for Journey but even so, she woke up at 4AM and was shivering. This was surprising to me. I took my sleeping bag liner (which was keeping me very cozy) and put it on over her. After this she stopped shivering and I think she was warm enough for the rest of the night.
We woke up, made breakfast, and hiked out, getting back to the car at 10:30AM. Then the very long drive home. It was a marvelous trip with Journey into the Granite Chief Wilderness.
