One Eye
I love finding new waterfalls. These are waterfalls that are previously undocumented, and very few people know about. Sometimes I find them myself by studing topo maps. Often I get an email from someone informing me about one. A lot of times, I strike out completely when out waterfall hunting. Other times, I find a nice little waterfall. But every once in awhile, I find a real gem.
Well, I found a gem the other day. It may be the best waterfall in the greater Sacramento area. In fact, I can’t believe I had never been down to it before. It is not really too difficult to get to. The waterfall is on Rock Creek in the Placerville area. It is only about 25 ft. high but is about 100 ft. wide, making it one of the largest waterfalls in the area.
The trail is called the One Eye Creek Trail. It is named after a 19th century miner who had a fight with a cougar and lost, losing one eye in the process. How lovely. Fortunately, I did not see the cougar’s descendant on this hike. I was actually much more concerned about meeting one of the local rednecks. I was venturing into hippy land for this hike. The last time I was in this area, I ran into one, and he was very upset I was there, swearing profusely and telling me I had no business being there, even though I was on a public road. I did not particularly want to run into him or one of his cohorts on this hike. But as it turned out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. The hike is on public land in Eldorado Natl. Forest, and is very clearly marked the whole way as such.
The trail is not too difficult to follow, but was very overgrown in places. I spent a lot of time crashing through brush and scrambling over fallen trees. By the time I got down to the creek, I was completely soaked. And when I got down to Rock Creek, I was amazed. The creek was in flood stage. It was freaky scary how high the creek was and how fast it was moving. One missed step, and I would have been over the falls and gone in a matter of seconds. I worked my way downstream through poison oak to get to the waterfall (ugh). Again, all I can say is wow. The creek was just thundering over the falls. It was an incredible display of power, stretching across the entire creek bed. It was also very difficult to photograph because of all the water and the spray from the falls. It would be interesting to see what this waterfall is like in normal flows. It probably would not be as spectacular, but still rather nice. I will definitely be returning here someday.
2 Comments