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.
If you know what this waterfall is you are probably thinking, what the actual heck? I visited this waterfall in Dec 2018. I came to the top of the falls but there was no possible way down to the bottom. I could only see it from a side view which was not very good. Since that time I wondered how I could see it from the bottom. There must be a way. Somehow. I came up with an idea. A crazy idea. A mad idea. I would raft to the end of Lake Eleanor from Frog Creek. Yep, it is a mad idea all right. But I am the Madman, am I not?
Five and a half years elapse. It was finally time to put my idea into action. It would be an adventure. A mad adventure. I picked up my permit, drove to Lake Eleanor and hefted my heavy bag complete with inflatable raft onto my back.
As I hiked up towards Frog Creek the first thing that comes into view is Kibbie Falls. It looked absolutely massive. I have never seen it so big. Uh, this could be a problem. My plan had been to cross Frog Creek and camp on the other side so I would have a much shorter distance to raft to the end of the lake. When I came to the Frog Creek crossing, I realized that was not happening. It was uncrossable. Frankly, it made no sense. The creek should be much lower than when I was here last time and was able to cross, but instead it was a lot higher. Why? I talked to someone at the campsite who said there was torrential rain here the previous day. Could that be the reason? I don’t know but it doesn’t seem right. Anyway, I decided to camp at Frog Creek and raft from here in the evening. I found a really nice spot to setup camp, very secluded, away from the main camping area, and right near the mouth of the creek.
The weather forecast said there was zero percent chance of rain. If there is zero percent chance of rain then why is there a massive thunderhead across the lake heading straight in my direction? It did not look very pleasant. I got all my stuff ready to throw into the tent just in case and I waited. The clouds broke up before they reached me and it turned out to be nothing. There were still other menacing clouds around, however. There was also wind. Wind would make rafting to the end of the lake very difficult, especially coming back with a head wind, but the forecast said that the wind was to die down by 6PM. I decided to continue my plan with the rafting after I ate my dinner. It took about 45 minutes to get to lake end. It was very hard even though there was a tailwind going there. The lake was quite choppy. It was almost like paddling in class 1 rapids. Maybe. Coming back was no better. The wind did not die down so I had a headwind but it only took about 5 minutes longer on the return trip. It was difficult both ways.
Eleanor Creek Falls was absolutely incredible. Very high flow. A spectacular cascade, 110 ft. high. There was no good place to land the raft so I had a difficult time getting out. I could not get a good hold on the rocks along the shore but finally I managed to step out onto a submerged rock ledge and drag my raft out of the water. Then I had to climb up the huge boulders to find a viewpoint of the waterfall. It was an amazing spot. I was ecstatic that I finally made it to the bottom of Eleanor Creek Falls.
When I got back to camp everything was all wet from water splashing into the raft. My daypack was soaked though of course I had all my important stuff in dry bags. My clothes were soaked. Thankfully I had an extra shirt and extra jacket with me. I did not have extra pants or extra underwear. My hiking pants were still very wet in the morning so I wore my sleeping underwear until my pants dried and I went commando. Too much information, Madman! LOL. Next time I will know to bring extra pants/underwear and somehow keep my daypack dry. There will be a next time. I was quite nervous before this trip because it was a lot more than I have ever done in the raft before but I was quite happy with the result.
I did not sleep well so I got up later than originally planned. I have had a sore neck for some time and can only sleep on one side. It is quite uncomfortable in a sleeping bag. I took my time hiking back, stopping for a coffee break in the sun alongside the lakeshore, trying to photograph Kibbie Falls, and stopping at the dam waterfall to take some photos as well. I was home in time for the Canucks game. It was a crazy adventurous weekend in Yosemite National Park.
I had a big whompin hike planned for Saturday but I just wanted to sleep in. When I got up I thought if there was another hike closer to home that I could do and maybe take Journey as well. I thought about Jay Bird Canyon Falls. It has been 13 years since I was there. It should be flowing well but could I get there? There would be a lot of snow. I didn’t think they normally plow this road and thus I figured it was quite unlikely but decided to try it anyway. I had a backup plan to go to Bassi Falls if the road was all snowed in.
Good news. The road was plowed all the way down to the power house. It was no problem at all driving all the way down to the gate. If it was not plowed there is no way I would have made it. The gate is interesting. The road is officially closed because of storm damage from 2017 so you need to walk from the gate (about 1.5 miles). But the road damage is fixed! So why is the road still closed? It does not make sense. At least there is a big area to park by the gate and it is not a difficult walk from here. But also, it is not very exciting to hike along the paved road either. It is rather boring. Nonetheless, Journey was very happy. She is always very happy to go hiking with daddy. Even on a boring road walk.
When you get down to the waterfall there is a steep section to climb up to the falls. At the base of the falls it was incredibly misty. Jay Bird Canyon Falls was roaring. There was no way to take photos from there. The only option was to climb up the ridge opposite the waterfall. It was very steep and the rocks were incredibly slick. I was worried about Journey. Not for climbing up but for going back down. She made it up no problem. I pondered how we were going to get her back down afterwards. Would she balk? Would I have to somehow carry her down? Or would she do all right?
In the meantime I took some photos from the top of the ridge. Jay Bird Canyon Falls is 173 ft. high. It was spectacular. I think it may have been slightly stronger when I was here last in 2011 but it was pretty similar. Absolutely amazing.
We very carefully hiked back down to the creek level. Journey did awesome! She made it down those steep slick rocks without slipping once. I was so proud of her. We had our lunch at the bottom, then hiked back up the road to the car. It was a fabulous day in Eldorado National Forest.
When my wife asked me how my toe was earlier in the week I said it was very good and about 95% healed. I think it was the next day, all of a sudden I was having a very bad day. It was not 95%. It was more like 75%. Not good. I did not bang it or anything so why is it hurting so much again? And I had a very tough hike planned for the weekend.
Well by the time the weekend came around it was feeling better so the hike was back on as planned. Except the weather forecasters messed me up. It was not supposed to start raining until 10AM. All the forecasts I checked said it would start 10AM at the earliest, but it was already raining when I woke up in the morning. And it had already rained during the night. Oh come on people. You cannot even get the forecast right when it is just a few hours in advance??
This forecasting error turned out to be a bigger problem than I anticipated. The problem was that the rocks were extremely slippery and dangerous. I made it down to the river. My plan had been to attempt to walk down the river to the waterfall. I did not know if it would work or not, however, I didn’t even make it a quarter mile downstream. It was just too dangerous. I had to retreat back up the mountain. If it had not rained (as it was supposed to) then I am sure I could have made it a lot further. I will return again.
Back at the car it was still cloudy. I decided to go on an easy hike to North Fork Falls, which I have done many times before. For my toe’s sake I went the easy way (from the campground). This meant I had to cross the river at the waterfall. Not a problem except for those very slippery rocks. I made it over safely and to the waterfall overlook. It was a gloomy day in Tahoe National Forest.
