SURPRISE!
I like surprises. At least I like surprise waterfalls. Surprise birthday parties not so much. This weekend I went to Slab Creek reservoir again. When I arrived at the parking area, I realized that my GPS was not working at all. I knew I had just charged the batteries so that should not be the issue, nonetheless I tried my backup batteries and they did not work either. What? The GPS was working perfectly fine just a couple days ago, and I know it was not dropped or anything. It just all of a sudden stopped working. Argh! Now it looks like I’m gonna have to buy a new one. Oh that is just peachy. Well, I did not think it was critical to have the GPS today. I wanted to see if I could hike up along the reservoir to Slab Creek inlet. However, I did not get very far. Not even past the dam. The reservoir was full so I definitely had no chance to hike up along the lake as I hoped to do. Strike one.
Next up was to try to get down to North Canyon Falls. This requires crossing the river below the dam. I don’t know why but I find this scary. What if they released water while I was on the wrong side of the river? Never mind that it would not happen. They keep the flow very constant and with no rain there would certainly be no release. Yet that reservoir sure looked very full. And why were the rocks all wet down below the dam if it hadn’t rained in a month? Hmmm. Anyway the river seemed too deep and fast to cross anyhow. Perhaps it could be done at the right spot but I was not motivated. I have to be motivated. Strike two.
I went up to photograph Iowa Canyon Falls next. I wasn’t really into doing this either. I already have a good shot of this falls but I figured I needed to get at least something this morning. There is too much prickly brush along the creek to get right up to the base of the falls (well, perhaps if I was motivated to do it!) so you need to climb up the bank and shoot the waterfall from a distance. I noticed that there were quite a lot of ticks in the grass but I was wary of them and I did not get any on me. Little freakin’ buggers. Ugh.
As I hiked back up to my car afterwards, bummed from a somewhat disappoingting morning thus far, I saw a trail going off the road and back down to the creek. Hmmm, that is interesting. I could see a small waterfall down there and it looked like the trail was going down to it, however another part of the trail continued up the creek, but I could not see what was around the corner. I did not think there would be anything but I decided to just go see anyway. I guess I was motivated enough to do this, despite the ticks and poison oak. I am sure glad I was because what to my surprise when I saw this nice waterfall hiding around the corner! Not a little one either, but a beautiful 33 foot high cascade! Getting up to it was a challenge though. There was a lot of prickly brush to get through. I also saw four old cars down here, two right in the creek and two on the hillside. I’m sure they’ve been there for fifty years or so. You really don’t like your car so much you have to drive it off a cliff into a creek! Crazy. It reminded me of back home in BC when I was a kid, people would drive their old cars off the cliff into the Columbia River. At the time, being so young, I thought this to be very fascinating. Anyway, once down at the creek I had to get my water shoes on and wade up the creek the rest of the way to the falls. This was to avoid all the prickly brush lining the creek bed. It was not hard but it sure was cold! Once at the waterfall I then had to cross a narrow fast moving channel to the other side to get the best viewpoint. Very carefully! Upper Iowa Canyon Falls sure is a marvelous cascade and it turned my morning from BLAH to GREAT. I do love waterfall surprises!