Surprise
A surprise rain in Southern California, and it got the waterfalls down there trickling.
We were down vacationing at Disneyland for the week. My initial plan on going to Disneyland in February was that I figured I could take a couple days and go waterfallin’ while we were down there. I had not yet been to any SoCal waterfalls, and I was really hoping to add to my collection this year. God had other plans, however. No rain in December and January meant the waterfalls were bone dry. I did not even take any of my maps or GPS down to SoCal, figuring it would be completely pointless to try going to any waterfalls. Instead, we took a side trip first to Joshua Tree National Park, then continued on over to Disneyland. It would have been pointless for sure. but then the surprise rain came.
It was not much rain, about an inch at the most. But I thought, what the hey, maybe the creeks got enough water in them to make a waterfallin hike worthwhile. So I quickly planned out a couple easy waterfalls to hike to the next morning.
I got up super early. I did not want to deal with any traffic through Los Angeles. Even at 5AM, there was a ton of traffic on the road. This should not have surprised me, but it did. Yikes, that is crazy, but at least the traffic was moving along quickly. It was still dark when I arrived at the trailhead to Sturtevant Falls, and I started my hike down to the waterfall, a steep descent along a paved road. Once down at the bottom of the canyon I began to have second thoughts. There was not a lot of water flowing in the creek. I continued on up to the falls. The flow was about what I expected, but I was certainly hoping for more. Nonetheless, Sturtevant Falls is a pretty 40 ft. high waterfall, and fortunately it does not need a lot of water flow to look nice.
I finished taking my photos quickly because there was a second waterfall I wanted to get to before the sun got too high. As I was finishing my last shot, a group of Japanese men came up the trail behind me to the falls. What? I was a bit shocked to see anyone out on the trail so early, and especially on a week day. If this was northern California, there would certainly be no one out so early (not counting Yosemite of course). On the hike back, I saw even more hikers coming up the trail. I guess that is just the way things are in Los Angeles but I prefer having my waterfalls all to myself, which is one reason why I always get to them so early in the morning.