STEEP
I set my clock ahead an hour on Friday night. One day early. All part of my plan for the weekend. Actually, Thursday would have even been better, but of course I had to work on Friday, so I couldn’t do it then. I also went to bed a little earlier than usual on Friday night, so I really only lost half an hour. By the end of the day on Saturday, I am fully adjusted to the new time, so that will make getting up to go hiking on Sunday morning very easy, and with sunrise an hour later now, I will get an extra hour of sleep back as well. Does that make any sense at all to anyone but myself? P.S. Don’t tell my pastor I might be skipping church on Sunday.
I drove up to Foresthill on Saturday morning, anxious to get a good hike in with my brand new hiking boots. They would certainly end up getting a good workout. I had a great plan, but this time around, the plan did not come together. I came to a locked gate, private property, and an ominous sign that said: no “warning” shots will be fired. Ah ok, I guess we all know what that implies. I will definitely not be hiking here. Time to implement Plan B.
Plan B was to hike down into Snyder Canyon. I found this waterfall when I was hiking to Blind Canyon last year. I could hear the waterfall from the road, but could I get down to it? It was very steep. Like practically vertical steep. At least that is what I remembered from my nightmares. When I arrived this weekend, and peered down into the canyon, I saw steep but it was not vertical steep. It was definitely do-able, but I could not see all the way down to the creek though, and it looked quite brushy down there. It was going to be a challenge but Leon the Waterfall Hunter was ready. Down I went. Weeeeeeeeeee ahhhhhh…..
The first part was not so hard getting down (getting back up was another story, however). I could not see any waterfall, but I could hear the creek, and I let my ears do the walking towards the loudest part of the creek. I knew there was a waterfall down there, but I was not sure exactly where on the creek it would be. Once I got down to the trees, I found a bit of a path, and it led me through most of the brushy-ness. Obviously people had been down here before. That in itself is a bit shocking. This canyon just seems too steep and remote, and who the heck would think there would be a waterfall down here anyway (besides me). There was a heckuva lot of poison oak down closer to the creek as well, and I eventually gave up trying to avoid it. Here’s hoping I don’t get the itch.
I could finally see the creek and a waterfall, and I made my way down to it. The last step was a doozy, I had to jump down from a rock to the creek level. Once down I turned around. Umm, how am I going to climb back up that rock? Oh well, let’s worry about that after I take pictures shall I? The waterfall is not a photogenic one, and it was not flowing very great, even after some recent rain we just had. This was the best view I could find, and I had to climb up a slippery rock to get to this spot, then slide back down the rock afterwards, all with camera and tripod in hand.
Now about climbing back up that other rock? There was just no way I could do it. I would be stuck down here forever. I looked around for another possibility, and I found one, managing to hook my rope around a tree branch and hoist my way back up the drop-off. It was a bit on the crazy side of things but it worked. Fortunately my wife will probably not read this because she is currently in Alaska. (don’t anyone tell her, ok) Haha. Back up through the poison oak, and up the very steep mountain. I was beat, but I made it. I can’t imagine I will ever be back down in this canyon, it is just too steep and difficult, but ask me again in a year, and I might give a different answer. I do think there are other waterfalls down there.