It was dance show weekend for my daughter Nekoda. Since we had to go to the Bay Area it seemed like a perfect day to go early with Journey for a waterfall hike. Cataract Falls was our destination.
Cataract Falls is a very popular hike. We arrived at the trailhead at 7AM. There was already one car there in the very small parking area and two cars showed up right behind me. Already people on the trail and it is only 7AM! You will want to read to the end of the story.
We had the trail mostly to ourselves although I did see other people, of course. The weather forecast said it was going to be cloudy in the morning. There were absolutely zero clouds in the sky. Not even one. Doggone it. Those darn forecasters strike again. That meant I did not have a lot of time to get to the top so I did not stop at every waterfall along the way, just a few of them. Also, it is a little hard for Journey to get to some of the falls and I did not want to make things too difficult for her.
We rested at the top and Journey had breakfast. Instead of going back down the same way I decided to go back on the High Marsh Trail and Helen Markt Trail. This is a much longer hike but we had a lot of time and there were no people on this trail so Journey could be off leash the entire time. There would’ve been a lot of people going back on the Cataract trail. It was fairly tiring so when we finally got back down to the lake I thought we would have a good long rest there. Journey laid down for two minutes then she wanted to get going again. Crazy dog.
We got back to the main Cataract trail. Holy crikey! I could not believe my eyes. I must have cataracts! Major traffic jam! It is only about a mile back to the car from here but there were literally hundreds of people. Going up and going down. I knew there would be quite a few but this many? It was absolutely nuts. Journey was as surprised as I was to see so many people. It was a slow slog back to the car following the long line of people and not being able to pass any of them. It did not matter to us because we were done with our hike and had seen all the waterfalls but if you were hiking at this time, tell me how is this an enjoyable hike? It is far from enjoyable with this many people on the trail.
We got back to the car and drove to the park where we would meet up with my wife. Journey of course was overly ecstatic to see her and wanted to play fetch with her for the next hour. How are you not completely tired from our five hour hike, Journey? She is such an energizer bunny (as my wife always says). It was a wonderful and eye-popping morning in Marin County.
On Black Friday (after my morning hike) I had to drive my daughter back to her university in the Bay Area. I hate driving to the Bay Area because the traffic is always bad. I despise traffic. I would rather sit at a Starbucks for two hours (waiting for traffic to subside) than sit in traffic for two hours. It was pretty good on the way there and we made good time but I could see that it was horrid going back the other way. There is no way I was going to drive in that mess to go back home. I would take Journey on a hike instead and then drive back in the evening.
It had only been five days since the Bomb Cyclone but I was sure that all the waterfalls in the Bay Area would be back to just a trickle. The only one I thought might still be good is Cataract Falls which is the perhaps the biggest creek in the area. The problem is that Google Maps was saying the lower road was still closed. That meant I had to drive all the way around to the top of the waterfall and hike down from there. That is a lot of extra driving but I thought I had time for it. I did not realize, however, that they lock the gates on the upper road at sunset. That meant I did not have very much time after all. I figured I would just hike down as far as I could and then whip back up to the car before sunset.
There were only about 10 cars or so at the trailhead, however there were a ton of people on the trail. Where were they all parked? I passed well over 50 groups for sure. Journey had to be on leash for the entire hike. She still very much enjoyed it though.
I made it down to the big waterfall (shown here) and stopped. I would have to boot it back up the trail and did not have time to photograph any of the other cascades (except one other). That did not really bother me because the creek was not flowing very well anyway. I want to come back here when it is flowing much better. For sure I will do that when I can drive to the bottom and also first thing in the morning (when there aren’t very many people). I learned that much today. I also learned not to trust Google or Apple Maps. On the way back up I passed a ranger who told me the lower road was indeed open after all. That explains where all the people came from. Ugh. At least Journey had a good hike but she was quite tired afterwards. I got her a hamburger because she was such a good girl. The drive back home was not too horrible. It was a quick but lovely hike in Marin County.
As of Feb 1, our California stats do not look so good. Snow pack is at 60% of normal (north), 53% (central), and 35% (south). Rain is at 77% (north), 51% (central), 43% (south). It is up quite a bit from Jan 1, but clearly we are still far behind average. The Southern Sierra in particular is in dire straits. We need a huge February and March to catch up. Having said that, voila! We have two monster storms hitting us this weekend. The first one was not really so big, actually. We just had 2.5 inches of rain in the foothills. I had wanted to go back to Oroville but they only had 1.5 inches. But the Bay Area? 4 inches of rain. Hmmmm, should I go back to Marin County one more time?
I asked my daughter if she wanted to hike with me. Shockingly, she said yes. Usually she wants to rest on the weekend because she is dancing 5 days per week, but for some reason she wanted to hike this weekend. And this would not be a particularly easy hike either.
I wanted to return to Big Carson Falls because I did not have a very good photo of it. Plus it should be absolutely rocking with all the rain. In fact, I was a bit worried we would not make it. There are three big creek crossings and after 4 inches of rain I thought they might be at flood stage.
I picked Nekoda up from her dorm at 7am and we got out to the trailhead by 7:30am. There is just one single parking spot so it’s a good thing we were there by sunrise. It was a Big Chilly morning for us to see Big Carson Falls but we warmed up quickly. It is a 700 ft. climb up the mountain and then a 600 ft. descent down to the creek and waterfall (and reverse that on the way back). The creek crossings were pretty tame. We rock hopped the first two without much difficulty. The third crossing I had to wade across but you don’t even have to do that one in order to see the waterfall. I went across to get a better photo angle but Nekoda did not bother with it. I was a little surprised the crossings were so easy. I have been down at this creek in the past when it has been uncrossable and I was expecting similar conditions after so much rain.
Big Carson Falls is 56 ft. high. We chilled out at the base of the falls enjoying it very much. It was gorgeous and flowing much better than the last time I was here. I was pleased. I think Nekoda was pleased as well. She thought the hike was a bit too hard though. She asked me which of my muscles were sore after the hike. I told her none. I don’t think she believed me. We ended the day with a pizza lunch. It was another magnificent morning in Marin County.
My second hike of the day was in nearby Kentfield. There were a ton of cars parked by the trailhead. I was a bit shocked. It was a rainy day and there were still this many people out hiking? And it started pouring. It was not supposed to rain until the afternoon, but it was raining. And hard. Maybe everyone else was not expecting it to rain until the afternoon as well.
Well a little rain has never stopped me. The hike started out with a very steep uphill. This road was crazy steep. After a few hundred feet of climbing it leveled out at a point where I needed to drop down off the road and down to the creek. It wasn’t too steep of a descent, thankfully, and I made it down to the waterfall in short order.
Bill Williams Creek Falls is 21 ft. high. Whoever Bill Williams is I have no idea. When I got home I looked up the name, however, and found this: “Legend has it that a ‘treasure’ lies buried somewhere on Mount Tamalpais. Bill Williams, after whom Bill Williams Creek is named, is said to have deserted the Confederate Army taking along a chest of stolen Confederate gold.” I did not find any treasure down at the creek except for this pretty waterfall. Nonetheless, I was expecting more water in the creek. There was a lot more in the first waterfall and the creeks are about the same size. It is difficult to take photos in the rain but I managed. Thanks again to Mike for telling me about this one.
I hiked up the mountain and then back down to the car. I decided to skip the third hike that I had planned. I was supposed to meet Nekoda for lunch. I wanted her to come hiking with me but she dances five days a week. She says she needs to rest on the weekend. I suppose that is smart. At least she can have lunch with her old man. It was another beautiful morning in Marin County.
I returned to Neverland (aka Marin County) to retrieve the waterfall I missed last weekend and more.
It rained one inch on Friday and a half inch earlier in the week so the creeks in the Bay Area should still be full. You would think. It seemed to me about the same as the prior week. I arrived at sunrise and found my one and only parking spot in the same spot as last week.
This was supposed to be a very quick hike but it took longer than I expected. Even so, it was all on trail and very beautiful following the creek the entire way. It is a magical place when it is green and lush and there is water. There was a bit of poison oak but I think I avoided it. After seeing the waterfall I continued up the trail a bit but did not find anything else.
Thanks to friend Mike for telling me about this one a few years ago. South Fork San Anselmo Creek Falls is a lovely 25 ft. high horsetail waterfall and it was flowing quite nicely. I had to sit down in the poison oak to take this photo. Kidding, but there was some right beside me. I was happy to finally see this waterfall. Now I don’t ever have to come back to this location with practically no parking available. After this I went on a second hike in a different spot so stay tuned for that…
