First!
In my strange mind waterfall season begins after the first storm of the winter. That storm happened this week, mid October. The mountains in the Tahoe area received anywhere from 2 to 3 feet of snow from this storm, not a bad start to the year as this is much earlier than usual for our first storm. So all this means that waterfall season has begun! To celebrate, I headed over to Devils Falls after work on Wednesday. I was anticipating the area would have had much more rain than they actually received on Wednesday so I’m not really sure what effect the rain had in the creek’s flow, but it was pretty low. I tried for a different view of the falls from the left side this time. After shooting this waterfall I went down to Shirttail Falls but it was almost dark when I got down there and I was not happy with my photo so I’m not sure if I’ll share it. That creek had low flow as well. I was also freaked about that ledge and I did not venture as far out on it as I have done in the past. There is nothing to hold onto and the ground was wet and potentially slippery (with a huge dropoff). I think I’m also getting more wimpy in my old age. Haha.
The other main reason for going to Devils Falls was to check out the effects of the forest fire that happened here in the summer. It began very near Devils Falls, however I had heard that the lovely greenery around Devils Falls was not touched by the fire at all. Well it is true that the falls did not seem to get burned but everything around it on all sides sure did. Indeed it is very strange that Devils Falls itself was untouched. The scourge from the fire can be seen from Yankee Jim bridge all the way down the North Fork on the east side of the river as far as I could see. Indian Creek Falls was very likely burned. Shirttail Creek Falls was definitely burned and even the south side of Shirttail Creek was burned. I did not venture up to Mexican Gulch Falls as it was dark (but now that I’m thinking about it, I realize I should have). It was definitely very interesting to see the area and the fire’s effects. It also seemed that the road down to the falls is getting worse, which may or may not have anything to do with the fire. It seems narrower and more eroded than ever before. It is probably just my imagination.