Oh Glen Alpine Falls, Where art thou?
I had this great plan after shooting sunrise at Fallen Leaf Lake. Hike/snowshoe to Glen Alpine Falls, which is just at the other far end of the lake. I wanted to do some snowshoeing this weekend, and I thought this would be a good location for that. I figured Glen Alpine Falls would be a nice waterfall to see in the winter. Not exactly. It was completely covered in snow! I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I knew there would be lots of snow, but it did not dawn on me it would be all covered up. You’re probably thinking I was being very naive about that, considering that we have had an average to above average snow fall so far this year. And you may be right too. Nonetheless, I was definitely bummed.
It’s quite a bit more difficult to get to Glen Alpine Falls in the winter. Fallen Leaf Lake Road is gated about 2 miles from the highway and you have to walk in. But it is still plowed, and people live here during the winter. I don’t get why they gate the road in the winter. Anyway, that means I had to walk about 3 miles along the road to the end of the lake. It is not hard hiking, but it is not what I was expecting. I knew the road would be closed, but I didn’t know it was plowed. So I was expecting I would need my snowshoes. I did get to use my snowshoes a bit, because I hiked another mile above the lower falls to get to Upper Glen Alpine Falls. It also, was completely snowed over. C’est la vie.
After hiking 8 miles, there and back, I was pretty darn beat. My back was hurting me from the heavy pack I was carrying. All that camera equipment is not light, you know. Plus I was carrying my snowshoes for most of that 8 miles. Whew! I didn’t see anyone else walking on the road except for one jogger and her dogs, which tried to bite my legs off. Well, not really. They were friendly dogs. But they scared the crap out of me, when they came running up to me barking loudly. After I got back to the car though, all of a sudden there were tons of people out and about, it seemed. Hikers, snowshoers, kids playing in the snow. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the especially sunny day. It was a traffic jam (literally) on Fallen Leaf Lake Road.
No Comments