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.
It has been much too hot to hike this summer. There will be those loudly exclaiming it is all caused by global warming even though last year was a below average summer and next year probably will be as well. It is true that this July may end up being the hottest July on record but let’s not forget we have had many very hot summers in the distant past as well. The second reason I have not hiked this summer is because I have been injured and in much pain. I already mentioned hurting my neck in early May. It is still not healed. Since then I had a lot of pain in my arm, which I think was related. Then I had pain in my leg, which I think was not related. It was so painful I could not even stand up or walk. My sister said I am getting old. That is her professional diagnosis. She is a physical therapist. It is only this past week that I have started to feel better. My leg pain is completely gone. What the heck was wrong with it anyway? My neck is still not healed but it is much better. It is finally time to get hiking again!
I have been wanting to take Journey to Horsetail Falls for quite some time. It is the perfect summer hike. It is not very difficult. The waterfall flows strong in the summer. There are very few mosquitoes. I have never had any issues with them on this hike. Maybe a few around dusk but that is all. This time: zero mosquitoes. Not even one. At the last minute, I managed to talk Nekoda into coming along as well. I had to bribe her, saying I would buy her pizza afterwards. That works for me.
My weather app said it would be 78 degrees for the maximum temperature this day but when we arrived at the trailhead it was 88 degrees. That is too hot to hike, especially for Journey. The most we ever take her on a hike or walk is 85 degrees. Any more than that and it is too hot for her paws on the pavement (or in this case, on the granite rock). Nonetheless, we started the hike anyway. It would only be cooling down as we climbed up the mountain. The trail starts out with quite a bit of a climb and Journey was not too excited about it. It was hot. I think she wanted to turn around and go back to the car. Eventually the trail flattens out. She drank water and rested and then she was good for the rest of the hike. There are plenty of spots along the trail where she could dip her paws in the cool running creek.
We arrived at the waterfall. The nice thing about having Nekoda with me is I could have her watch Journey while I went around taking photos. I did not have to worry about Journey slipping and falling into the rushing waterfall. This is the 13th time I have come to Horsetail Falls (not counting the times I went further up the mountain). I always like to try to find different compositions of the waterfall whenever I come here. There are so many different options. As I look back at all my photos I see that this composition is not one I have captured before. I like it.
As we started our hike back down the mountain a man was coming up to the falls. He waved his arms in the air and yelled out “HAALLLOOOOOO”. If a certain episode of Seinfeld is coming into your mind right now, you are not far off. He had no shirt on, a long beard, and long hair braided in a ponytail. I said to Nekoda, “That must be Wild Willy”. We continued down the mountain. Journey was very happy now that she had rested, ate a big snack, and knew she was on her way back to the car. We decided to take a detour and stop at Lower Horsetail Falls. When we got there, lo and behold, Wild Willy was already there (talking to a friend). I said to Nekoda, “Did you see him pass us? I did not see him pass us. How could he be here already? It is not possible”. Nekoda said, “He is MOUNTAIN JESUS. He is a miracle man”. Yes. That is it! “HAALLLOOOOOO” he said again to us, waving his arms in the air.
Normally the Waterfall Madman is always the last one off the mountain at Horsetail Falls. Not today. Mountain Jesus was the last one off the mountain. It was a “miraculous” day in the Desolation Wilderness.
On the night when everyone else was getting aurora borealis pictures I went waterfallin’. I suppose I should have gone north but I did not have time for that, plus by the time I learned about the aurora I had already planned this epic trip. It was supposed to be epic anyway. It did not turn out that way.
I was going to go backpacking, however there was a fallen tree partially blocking the road on the way to the trailhead. I did not feel comfortable driving past it. I turned around and retreated back to the Donnell Vista point. Now what?
Well first things first. I went down and took photos of the waterfalls dropping into the reservoir. Fouquet Falls was flowing so I finally got a photo of that one (it was mysteriously dry last time I was here). I did not want to drive all the way back home so my new plan was to sleep in the car and do a morning hike. I have slept at the vista point before and it did not go well but there was nowhere else. All the other side roads in the area were snowed in. The vista point was the only place I could think to park. I hoped no one would come by in the night but it was not to be. It was grand central station in the middle of the night. I could not sleep. When a dog started barking, I said enough is enough. I am outta here. At that point, I remembered another road I could try: Clark Fork Road. There would not be anyone down there. Why didn’t I think of this three hours ago!!!??? I drove down to the river and there was no one there. Finally, peace and quiet! I slept well the rest of the night. I’m just mad at myself for not thinking of it earlier. I lost a good three hours of sleep.
In the morning, I decided to try Niagara Creek Falls viewpoint again. I did this hike 13 years ago and found a view of the falls but not a very good one. This time I was determined to go further. I made it a little more than last time but not by much. I was soon blocked by cliffs and very heavy brush. It was impossible to go any further. I think this view is just slightly better than the previous one. Niagara Creek Falls is an incredible waterfall. Someday I will get a better view of it. Promise.
