Leon Turnbull Photography

After my last day of work at my old job and getting off early, I drove back up to Fuller Lake in order to get back to Fordyce Falls. My plan was to bike the trail this time in hopes of saving a lot of time and in hopes of it being much easier. It is 4 miles one way, and it took me about 1.5 hours to hike it. When I hiked it, the terrain seemed quite bike-able, except for a couple big hills, and I know other people frequently bike this trail. I figured biking to the falls would take 45 minutes max. I could get there in good time, shoot both of the waterfalls, and be back at the car by dark. Easily.

So how long do you think it actually took me to bike to the falls? It took 1.5 hours, essentially the exact amount of time to hike it. It was also very difficult and much harder; it would have been easier to hike the trail. How is this even possible? Well, the terrain is actually extremely technical (which is not something I figured it would be, after hiking it). I was constantly having to get off the bike and walk sections, due to steepness, or very rocky terrain, or other obstacles. There were certainly long sections where I could go at a good fast clip, but the technical sections slowed me down way too much and too often.

Wow, when I got to Fordyce Falls I realized I had not much time to shoot the waterfalls if I wanted to get back to the car before dark. I certainly had no time to shoot both waterfalls. I decided to skip the lower Split Falls, and just shoot the upper Fordyce Falls. I waited until the waterfall got into the shade at 6:45PM, took my shot, then quickly packed up my bike and headed back at 6:50PM. It seemed to take longer to bike back and it was well past dark when I arrived back at the car. Fortunately I had a headlamp, but I did not get back to the car until about 8:15AM. I was dog tired but I made it.