Leon Turnbull Photography

On Tuesday, I took the day off work and went back to Knickerbocker Falls in Auburn. I wanted to get back there and try to get to the upper falls in that canyon while it was still flowing well. Knickerbocker Falls is a 500 ft. waterfall with 3 major waterfall drops. The lowest falls can be viewed easily from the other side of the American River. The upper sections are so enticing but yet so unreachable. I was determined to change that this day. But I was denied. Knickerbocker Falls would not give up its secrets to me (this time). I started hiking from Cool at the Olmstead Loop trailhead. Once I hiked over to the top of Knickerbocker Canyon, I was on my own. No trails lead down into this canyon. I was doing some cross country solo down the canyon, battling through brush, down steep and sometimes dangerous terrain. Hoping beyond hope to catch a good view of the upper falls of Knickerbocker Canyon. In some places, I was following some old trails and old roads so the going was not too difficult. But in other places, I was scrambling down very steep sections. Knickerbocker Canyon is in a very steep recess with a truckload of heavy brush all around it. I could not get very many glimpses into the canyon itself, where the waterfalls were. Whenever I got to a new potential viewpoint, I thought to myself, yeah, I’m sure I’ll be able to see it from here no problem. Then I was yet again denied. I only caught one glimpse of one of the 2 upper waterfalls, but not a good one at that. It was definitely rather frustrating. I did eventually get down to the bottom of the canyon and was able to get to a good viewpoint of the lower falls (shown above), so it wasn’t a total loss by any means.

What goes down must go back up. Right? After scrambling about 800 ft. down the mountainside, I had to then of course go back up. So while I was hiking back up the mountain, it happened … I saw a cougar!!!! Now as an aside, I have always found it interesting that Americans usually call this animal a “mountain lion” and Canadians call it a “cougar”. Same animal, different names. Strange. Well, since I am a Canadian by birth, I will be calling it a cougar. Anyway, so this was the first time I have ever seen a mountain lion – er, I mean cougar, in the wild. I saw him first. He was just sitting up on a hill about 100 ft. away from me, hunting for some lunch (really). When he saw me, we just stared at each other for a very long time. I could not continue forward, or I would be walking right in front of it. I could not really go back down the trail, because then I would lose sight of it, and he could easily come right after me. All I could do was just wait … and wait … and wait. I thought I would be waiting all afternoon there. I amazingly had cell phone reception, so I called my wife and told her about the situation. That sorta freaked her out, especially because the phone reception was not great, and it cut out a couple times. I guess the Verizon guy has not been to Knickerbocker Canyon. Can you hear me now? While we were talking on the phone, she was looking on-line to find out what to do when you spot a cougar (or when one spots you). But I already knew all that. Finally, after a long while, the cougar saw some other animal and stalked slowly towards it and pounced on it. I was praying God would provide him some lunch to eat (that wasn’t human tasting). But he missed. He immediately turned around and looked at me to see what I was doing. I think he was as wary of me as I was of him. A few minutes later, he walked off slowly, and I lost sight of him. I was then able to continue hiking up the trail. I was still being very wary in case he looped back around. But he was gone. Whew! What a crazy adventure.

Now truthfully, I thought I acted fairly calm throughout this ordeal. I was definitely very nervous and anxious on the inside, not knowing what the cougar was going to do. But my knees were not shaking and I did not pee my pants, or anything like that. I was definitely doing a lot of praying to God. And God did protect me, thankfully. If the cougar had come after me, I had my hiking poles to fight him off, which may or may not have worked. I should have had my bear spray, but I had left that at home on this hike. Oops.