This is Hell Hole Falls. It is a pretty cool little waterfall dropping into the reservoir. When the reservoir is full it is completely inundated, but of course now the reservoir is about empty. I estimate it is about 25 ft. high maybe a bit higher. I did not have my measuring sticks with me this time, to help save on carrying weight. As you can see, it is impossible to get up close to it, unless you want to swim. Not for me, it would have been mighty cold to do that.
Well I bought all this fancy equipment for backpacking, I figured it was time to try it out. The idea being that with backpacking I can get to more waterfalls then I could on just a day hike. I tried. I got to two waterfalls but I had three others in mind that I could not get to due too steep terrain and crazy thick brush. I was hoping to take my son with me this time but he was feeling a bit sick this weekend. I did not let that stop me, however, and this became my first ever solo backpack and it was pretty darn good.
I would backpack to the end of Hell Hole reservoir where there are two waterfalls and camp in the vicinity. Good plan. Easy smeasy. Right? Not quite. It is a long drive to the trailhead and it was rather interesting. This was my first time driving through the King fire that devastated this area last summer. The destruction is catastrophic. Wow. When I drove through the Rim fire earlier this spring there was lots of growth and wildflowers blooming abundantly everywhere. Not so here, not even close, but give it another year perhaps. I thought the Hell Hole area would be equally devastated but it did not seem to get hit hard. I was surprised but pleased about that.
The trail follows a jeep trail on the north side of the reservoir. This is not any jeep trail for the casual driver. It is only for the sick. Crazy steep descents, and huge boulders to manipulate. It is 6 miles to the end with a descent of 1000 ft. It was not going to be fun coming back up the next day. There were other cars at the trailhead which meant some of those “sick” people were out on the trail with their jeeps. I would not drive this trail even if I had one of those jeeps. I wondered if I would see them, and yes I caught up to them 3.5 miles in. A whole bunch of them. They were stopped right in the middle of the road at a particularly nasty steep section. I asked the first guy I saw if they were stuck. He said no, just hanging out. Really? Hanging out in the middle of the road? The next guys I talked to said their car was broke and they’ve been there since 3am. I was not sure what to believe now. I continued on my way leaving them behind in the dust of my boot tracks. They seemed nice but I did have to pick up one of their beer cans on my way back. You have a car and you can’t take your trash but instead have to let the weary backpacker with a heavy load pick it up? Argh. At least it was only one can. If I had to pick up two my back would have broke.
The jeep trail ends at 4 miles officially, but not exactly. It continues straight through the middle of the reservoir instead of alongside it. Well that’s ok I guess because the reservoir is so low due to the drought. I had been fairly certain (though I’m not sure why, now) that a hiking trail continued from here but I found no such thing. So instead I just walked through the reservoir. It was very easy. In the meantime the jeepers got their car fixed (or whatever) and passed me up along this section (quite noisily I might add), but I caught up to them again at the end of the reservoir. I found out they were going to camp at the first waterfall. Ok then, I’ll not be camping there, I was hoping for a quiet and peaceful night, not a noisy one – but the guys I talked to did seem quite nice and talkative and generous – even offering me a ride. They said they had seen mountain lion tracks in the sand when they were here a couple weeks ago and were freaked out about that, and indeed, there were lots of animal tracks in the soft sand. The deer prints were easy to recognize, but there were also bigger prints. Bear? Lion? Yes on both counts, I think. Now I was starting to freak out myself. Well anyway, I beat them to the first waterfall (I am superhuman and can walk faster than most vehicles). Hell Hole Falls is a nice 30 footer dropping into the reservoir (the empty reservoir). When the lake is full this waterfall is completely inundated. Today it was just gorgeous.
I continued on to Five Lakes Creek. Again I understood there should be a trail all the way to this falls but I could not find it. I decided to cross the creek and try on the other side. I had been expecting that all creek crossings including this one and the Rubicon River I would be able to rock hop. This crossing, however, was up to my waist and my pants got soaked. Very bad. I might need to wear them tonight if it gets cold. On the other side there was no trail either. I wandered through the forest this way and that way, and eventually found the falls. I could hear it well before I could see it. It was incredible. I was thinking this would be about 40 ft high but actually it is more like 70 ft high. Absolutely spectacular and the flow was quite strong. Amazing.
I had wanted to camp at the waterfall but there were no good spots plus there were mosquitoes so I decided to go back to the Rubicon River and camp there (but not near the jeepers). I found a nice spot, no mosquitoes, there were black flies but they were not too horrible. It was not very cold that night, the temperature was in the neighborhood of 45 degrees (thankfully – I thought it was going to be much colder), but nonetheless I still had trouble sleeping. Too wound up and over tired, I guess.
In the morning, I had wanted to explore further up river and find some more waterfalls before heading back home. That meant crossing the Rubicon. No rock hopping allowed and it sure “looked” mighty cold. I hummed and hawed, and finally decided to go for it. It was not as cold as I imagined in my head and I got across. Now .. supposedly there is a trail on the other side going up the river. It is a very old trail, however, not maintained in decades, I found traces of it here and there, but eventually it petered out into a mass of thick manzanita brush. There was no continuing possible, and I gave up. It was disappointing, but the going was just too extremely difficult and I still had a very tough hike to make back up the mountain.
I saw no trace of the jeepers on my hike back. I’m not sure where they went to, their cars were still parked at the trailhead. The jeep road must continue up river, but where? I need to figure that out for next time, it would probably be much easier than negotiating that old, mostly non-existent trail. It started to rain lightly on the hike back, threatening for more, but not materializing. It felt nice and cool on my perspiring face. As I got closer to the car, and as I was going along talking to myself and to God about the rain, I said to God: “ok Lord, bring it on”. Immediately, within seconds of saying that, He brought it. It started hailing in buckets, and soon changed into a pouring, pelting rain, which continued for the rest of the hike to the car. On hindsight, I guess I should not have said that, but I was only 10 minutes from the car, and although I was drenched, the rain sure felt good, and fun. It would not have been fun if I had to camp that night, but I did not, so hey, it was fun. One more plus thing: on the drive back home, I saw my first bear of the season along side the road. Yay, I love seeing bears! It would have been nicer if I had seen one in the wilderness while I was hiking, but I’ll take this one. A nice little cap to my awesome first solo backpacking adventure.
I had no intention whatsoever of going to the South Yuba River Falls again. However, my planned hike failed miserably and this was my only consolation prize.
I started my hike at 5:37 AM in the dark, seven minutes late. It was 37°. I was trying out some new light clothing I just purchased, in preparation for my upcoming annual Yosemite pilgrimage. This would be a good test. It was a long sleeve merino wool shirt and the REI Revel cloud down jacket. They are both light as a feather and I thought for certain it was too cold to wear this, surely I would need something else as well. And yet, as I prepared to start my hike I did not feel too cold at all. Once I got going I was warm, actually even too warm. The new clothes are top notch and passed the test with flying colors, however the wool did give me the itch. I am not a wool person. I wonder if I put a cotton T-shirt underneath, if that will be better? I suspect that the cotton would totally negate the effect of the wool. Anyway I might try it.
So on to my hike. It was dark. I saw and heard no strange or evil animals, such as Sasquatches or flying pterodactyls. However, after a couple miles of hiking I came to a swamp. The road became a swamp. There was no (dry) way around this and there was an unmarked stream crossing my path and I had to wade across it, and it was deep, up to my waist deep. And cold. Geepers, it was cold! Shortly after crossing the stream, I found that the road was turning away from where I expected it to go. According to my topo map, the road should’ve continued up to where the waterfalls were. It should have been an easy hike, but instead the road turned back towards the river. I searched around the forest this way and that for another road, an overgrown road, anything. It was not to be, I had to turn back, there is no way I could’ve continued another 2 miles through the swampy area with no trail to follow. It was time to go home.
But wait! It was still early and I was only about a mile from South Yuba River Falls. I did want to go back there anyway to attempt to get closer to that waterfall. Remember, the last time I was here there was a full on blizzard, I was dead tired from snowshoeing all the way to the falls, and I did not have the energy nor was it safe to get down closer to it. There was no blizzard today. I had no idea when the South Yuba River Falls would be in the sun, but I knew it would be in the sun early. Would I make it in time?
I scooted my buns down to the river and when I came to the campground shortly before the falls, I found a truckload of campers there. They were all still asleep, except for one man and his dog. I could not understand how they got through the swamp area with the vehicles that they had. It was utterly impossible without getting stuck. The water on the road would’ve been 2 feet deep, there is no way they could’ve done it. I would have asked the man about it, since my curiosity was peaked, but I figured they must have gone on a different road. However, on my way back I searched for such road and I found no other way to get around the swamp. I did find a way myself to go around the swamp, but I was on no road. So how did they get there? Mysteries.
As for the waterfall, I arrived in the nick of time and made it down to the riverside. I had about 15 minutes to photograph it before the sun came over the hills. It was a marvelous consolation prize and a great morning to hike.
If the new falls on the North Fork American River was my number one destination to get to this spring, then this one was my number two: the Middle Fork American River. I suppose you didn’t know there was any waterfall on the Middle Fork American River, who did? But yes, not one waterfall but two waterfalls!
I actually tried to get to this one a couple weeks ago when I went to Picayune Valley Falls, but I failed and failed miserably. I bonked big time. It is only a mile up the canyon but a gain of 1000 feet in elevation, and terrible terrible brush. It is absolute madness to try to get up there. I was at first trying to get to Picayune Valley Falls (which is 4 1/2 miles), in time to get good lighting conditions, but I had a late start, so I was hoofing it the whole four and a half miles as fast as I could, and by the time I got there I was not a little bit tired. After that I tried to go up the Middle Fork Canyon, and I only got halfway, mostly because I went up the wrong side of the river which was just far too brushy and far too tiring. Even after taking a rest and lunch, I could not take another step upwards. But no matter, I can always try again another day. And so I did. And this time I would not bonk.
But that does not mean it was not ridiculous. I tried the other side of the river this time, and it started out much better, but as I ascended the 1000 feet it became more and more brushy. And when I say brushy, I mean crazy brush. Eventually I had to cross the river again back to the bad side. That’s how bad it was. It is perhaps a good thing we have a drought right now because otherwise this river would be raging and I could forget about crossing it. I do not mean that of course, the drought is just plain awful. It took me a full one and a half hours to hike the 1 mile up the canyon, but finally I got to the waterfall. It is a dandy one too, a lovely cascade 49 feet high. The sun was just starting to hit the falls when I got there, but I took some quick pictures before it was too late. I had no time to explore any further, because I had to get back to Auburn in time for my nephew’s birthday party. And as it was, I was late to that but it was worth it, I finally got to the Middle Fork American Falls. There is a smaller lower Falls on the river as well, and I took pictures of that and will post it soon. It was a great day in the Sierra, full of madness.
I am very pleased to present the ninth and final waterfall on the great North Fork of the American River. My favorite river in the world. It has been awhile in coming. Technically, it is the first waterfall on the river, but it is the last one found and documented. This was the number one destination on my list for this spring, when I first discovered this waterfall last summer, and once the snow started melting (what little we had), it was time to make the trip. Actually I was probably a couple weeks too early, I do not think this has reached peak flow yet this year.
The hike starts out at 6200 ft. elevation where of course this is no snow at all, and quickly and steadily climbs up to 8000 ft. elevation. A tough climb indeed, but it is steady gain, nothing horribly steep, and I made very good time. Nonetheless, it was sure nice coming back down the mountain later. Around 7800 ft. I hit the snow, and a lot of it. I expected perhaps 1 ft. of snow at the most and was thinking it would be quite easy to walk on. Instead, I found 3 ft. of snow. This made the walking quite difficult, and I sunk in plenty of times. I tried to follow on the coyote tracks which did not sink in, but apparently I am heavier than coyotes. I should have had my snowshoes, but I didn’t even consider it because I did not think I would need them (plus, I really would not have wanted to carry them up the mountain anyway). Up at 8000 ft. is where the North Fork of the American begins at a small, ordinary, and ice covered mountain lake. The river was just a trickle up here. It is funny how this little trickling stream can become a raging river a few miles down hill. I was fascinated in seeing the river at its true source. From the lake, the trail descends (though there was no trail seen under 3 ft. of snow), and the river slowly but surely picks up steam until I get to the river crossing at the top of the waterfall. It was simple enough to rock hop across the river, and the rocks looked completely dry. Until I stepped on one that is, and found out too late that it was not dry, but instead it was wet and very slippery. And indeed I slipped, smashing my shin on the rock. Oh the pain. I stood there for a good five seconds trying to recover, then realized my boot was still in the river and getting my foot quite wet, so I picked it up and hobbled across to the other side, and continued the recovery for another five minutes. No real damage other than a very bruised shin. It could have been worse.
On the other side, I made my way (much more carefully) down to the falls. There was a lot of brush to negotiate on this side, and it was a bit steep, but I got to the bottom where I found this little beauty. This waterfall has a total height of 107 ft., but it is in three separate tiers that can only be viewed one at a time. The nicest is the bottom tier shown here, which is 40 ft. high. It does not look 40 ft. high, but I measured it a couple times. So it must be true. That’s what I say, anyway. It would be nice to see this waterfall at full blast, and I am sure I will be back sometime in the future to the source of my favorite river. It was a magnificent day in the Sierra.