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.
La Nina has arrived. A weak La Nina. The exact same conditions that we had in 2023. Remember that huge record breaking winter? You may be wondering (like I am) if we will have a 23 peat. A repeat of that 2023 winter. Or at least an above average winter. It would be pretty nice. But where is all the rain anyway? We just had our first winter storm this weekend but it was a small one. Well let’s remember 2023: We had nothing in October that year either. We had some rain in November but not a huge amount. It was not until December when the flood gates opened. So in other words let’s just wait a bit longer and see what happens. And pray for a good winter.
Waiting is not so easy though. I have a lot of ideas this winter for hikes with Journey but we need a lot of rain first. Where could I take her right now though? Lower Cherokee Creek Falls was my idea. That is a big creek and I thought it should be all right.
We arrived at the trailhead at sunrise. There was fog along the North Yuba River which was pretty interesting as we hiked along. It is a flat and easy walk until you get to Cherokee Creek. Perfect for Journey. She was off leash the entire hike. She would trot on ahead and then stop and wait for me to catch up. Repeat ad infinitum. She was perfect.
Once we got to Cherokee Creek I put her on leash for this section up to the waterfall. There are steep drop-offs, many logs to maneuver and jump over, and the trail is washed out in a couple places. I had to lift her up and over some very tricky and difficult spots. I knew it would be like this but it was perhaps more difficult than I remembered, especially one particular section where there was a landslide. It is great that she does not mind me lifting her up and over these difficult spots. Our previous dog Kaya would not let me do that. Kaya would have insisted on finding her own way around the landslide (and she would have). Anyway, Journey and I got past it and we made it to the waterfall!
Lower Cherokee Creek Falls is a lovely 23 ft. drop. It was not flowing great but it was not horrible either. After I took photos we had a nice snack (Journey did anyway). Then we hiked back past the landslide to the nice flat trail where she could be off leash again, and then back to the car and home. It was a wonderful morning in Tahoe National Forest.
We interrupt our regularly scheduled broadcast (my Kings Canyon trip) to bring you a special report of the Aurora Borealis.
October 10, 2024. The internet world was going nuts because of the anticipated aurora to happen this night. A twice in a lifetime event. The first was exactly five months earlier on May 10 and I messed that one up royally. I did not hear about the aurora until it was too late and I already had made plans for that weekend which I did not want to change. It wasn’t until afterwards that I realized I should have changed my plan. After seeing a few photos of waterfalls under the aurora I determined that is what I need to do. If that event ever happens again. I don’t really care about night photography or the aurora but photographing a waterfall with an aurora, well that is different. That is what the Madman needs to do.
I am not a night owl. I get up very early for work every day and because of this I go to bed very early. That is the way I like it. I do not like staying up late for concerts or parties or whatever. Night photography? Forget it. Even on this day, I did not really want to go out. I wanted to stay home, watch TV, and read. I still had to get up early for work on Friday. I forced myself to get in the car after work and drive up the hill.
My idea? Photograph Horsetail Falls under the Northern Lights. If it was May I would have had many more options, but in October Horsetail Falls is really the only waterfall in my area flowing decent and also facing the right direction (ie. North).
I arrived at the trailhead and hiked up to the falls. It is about a 45 minute hike. No one else had my idea of photographing the waterfall under the Aurora. I had wondered about that. Would I be the only one up there in the dark? It was just me and the wolves and bears. (as an aside I had just read about wolf sightings near Lake Tahoe, very close to where I was – would I see any tonight?). My vision for this night was to photograph a different section of the falls but that section was not flowing too well so instead I went down to the lower section. It was about a half hour before sunset. I set up my camera. I waited.
At 7PM it was dark but there was no Aurora yet. I was beginning to wonder if this was going to work at all. This would be a big colossal waste of time. The color was not going to show up. I prayed. About 5 minutes later I saw my first glimpse of the lights. I started to get ecstatic. I had never seen the Aurora Borealis before tonight. Thank you Lord. This was going to be perfect with the colors directly above the waterfall, just as I had envisioned. For the next 30 minutes I photographed the waterfall and Aurora. After 30 minutes, the color was not getting any stronger so I called it quits and packed up. I heard some of my photographer friends stayed out until midnight. Geez, I thought I was doing great staying out to 7:30PM. For me, the non night owl, it certainly was great. I hiked back to the car in the dark. Obviously, once again I was the last one off the mountain. No Mountain Jesus sighting today. (ha ha). No wolf sightings either. I drove home and was not too late getting into bed. It was an absolutely fantastic evening seeing the Northern Lights in Eldorado National Forest.
As part of my continuing quest to re-visit waterfalls I have already been to and taking Journey along for the ride, next up on my list: Sly Park Falls. I knew this waterfall was still flowing decent because of a recent photo I had seen. At least I thought it was still flowing. It is a man-made waterfall so they could turn off the tap anytime, even if it was flowing a week ago. Cross fingers and hope for the best, right?
I have been extremely happy with Journey on recent walks. Make no mistake about it: Journey is 1000% a mama’s girl. She lives and breathes for her mama. She will do anything for her mama. That is not to say she does not love her daddy. She loves going to the park with me. Nonetheless, in the beginning she did not really trust me completely and I could not trust her either if I let her off-leash. Slowly, however, she has turned the corner with me. She trusts me now fully. On recent hikes I have let her off leash more and more, and she will stay with me and she will listen to me. She has been absolutely awesome. This makes me very happy. I would hike with our previous dog Kaya off leash all the time and I want Journey to have the same freedom. We are getting there.
The hike to Sly Park Falls was a perfect one for her. It is all on trail, it is not difficult, and there was no one else around so early in the morning. We just saw one jogger on the entire hike. I had her off leash for about 80% of the hike and she was perfect. She stayed with me the entire time, except when she stopped for the occasional sniffing of the flowers and bushes (which Kaya always did as well), but she would always come back to me when I called her. I was so happy. And so was Journey.
Along the way we passed by a forestry workers site. There was a big machine that was running but I saw no people around. Did they just leave it running all night? I think perhaps they were getting ready to work for the day and there was a sign saying do no enter due to the forestry work going on. I suspected that we would not be able to return this same way. Fortunately I did have an alternate way back to the car otherwise it could have been an issue.
We arrived at the waterfall. It was still flowing very well. Thanks for not turning off the tap, people of the park. In order to get this particular viewpoint without all the tree branches in the way you need to cross the two streams. It was not hard but Journey did not particularly want to cross it, though she did it with no difficulty. We stayed at the waterfall for quite awhile. I took my photos and Journey waited for me patiently. Then she had a good snack before we headed back.
We took a different route. It was a lot steeper. In fact it was almost vertical. I had a very hard time finding purchase for my feet in the loose dirt as I climbed up the mountain. Journey had no such trouble. We got back to the car and drove home. Mama was still sleeping but Journey was happy to wake her up. Wake up mama, I’m home. Let’s play! Ha ha. It was a fantastic morning in Eldorado National Forest.
