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.
I decided to return to Antelope Creek to attempt to get up to the main waterfall. I only got to the small lower falls the previous week and was a bit disappointed. Now I knew what I had to do. Back into the poison oak. Back into the horrible brush. This time I was determined for redemption.
I only managed to start 30 minutes earlier than before. I wanted to have more time than that but it should be ok since I now knew where I was going. It took a full hour to just get up to the lower falls. So much brush. So much oak. And today, so many bugs! It has been much warmer than it should be this week. It is supposed to be winter, for Pete’s sake. Also, there were many ladybugs along the trail. It was hard not to step on them as they were all along and over the trail.
At the lower falls I climbed up above it and then crossed the creek and continued up the mountain. The old trail also continued. What is this old trail anyway? I do not think it is a trail just to go to the waterfall. I can’t imagine anyone at all has been on this trail in many years. Maybe decades. Perhaps it is an old miner’s trail. It is the only thing that makes sense to me. On this side of the creek it seemed the trail was more difficult and there was more poison oak. Perhaps it was just my imagination. I was battling through the brush and it was now a lot steeper going up the mountain. After another 30 minutes I finally reached my destination. Waterfall!
This is the true Antelope Creek Falls. 39 ft. high. It is slightly smaller than I thought and for some reason I thought it would be more spectacular. (only because it was so hard to get to – I am aware that is illogical, ha ha). Anyway it is still a fantastic waterfall, although a bit hard to photograph. I had to climb down a steep section to get to the bottom of the falls and then cross into the middle of the creek to get a good angle. It was definitely worth the effort but oh my was it a doozie to reach. I returned to the car at 5PM and ate my dinner sandwich before driving home. It was a killer tough day at Antelope Creek.
