Leon Turnbull Photography

I debated two options for going out on Saturday morning: Lake Tahoe or Curtain Falls in Oroville. I chose wrong. I wanted to try Curtain Falls again, but I knew there would be less than a 50 percent chance of being able to actually get to the falls (without swimming … and I had no intention to swim). Nonetheless, I had hopes of finding a way around the big pool at the base of the falls by scrambling on the cliffs. Worst case scenario, I figured I could at least take a long distance shot of the falls from the pool. Well, there was an even worse scenario then that!

I started early. The alarm rang at 3AM. It is a long 2.5 hour drive out to the Curtain Falls trailhead. The morning started out interesting enough as I opened the door to my house to hear a couple owls hooting away. I couldn’t see them of course, in the dark. The drive was uneventful enough and quick thanks to no traffic (going home was an entirely different story – man I hate driving through Lincoln!). I did almost run over a rabbit that decided to hop right in front of my wheels. Fortunately, I missed it.

It was still dark as I started the hike at 6AM. And it was slightly freaky hiking through the forest in the dark down to the river. I did talk to God a lot on the way down. That’s always a good thing. I didn’t see any critters except for a couple large moths that tried to punch a hole in my eye, as they were attracted to the light on my headlamp. As I approached the river, the sun was rising, though I still had lots of time before it got into the canyon.

Curtain Falls on the Middle Fork Feather is an incredible adventure to go to, but the hike can only be done in the summer when the river is low. I was very surprised to find the river flowing high and fast at this time of year (not spring flows of course, but still much much higher than I expected). I could hear the river well before I got to it, and when I did get to it, I realized there would be no crossing of it today. Dreamflows.com had told me the flow was low, 230 cfs, but it sure didn’t seem low to me. Nonetheless, I made my way up river towards the waterfall, in hopes of finding a way across. There are tons of very large boulders you have to negotiate your way up and around, which takes a lot of energy. I eventually came to a deep pool which I definitely did not remember the last time I was here. There was no way around this pool but to go through it, so I put on my water shoes and started across this pool under a large overhanging rock. The water came up to my feet, then my knees, then my thighs, then up to my waist! But that was as high as it got and I made it across this section. And yes, it was cold! After that section, more boulder hopping, then you come to the river crossing. There is no way to continue on this side of the river due to the sheer cliffs. The only way to continue to the falls is to cross the river, and then you eventually come to a large pool which must be swam. However, I couldn’t even get to that point because the river was just flowing too very deep and fast to cross safely. I was definitely not expecting to be stopped here. Maybe with two people linked in arms, it could have been crossed, but it would have been quite difficult and definitely deep. So anyway, I made the wise decision to return. I did get my camera out to take a photo of the river.

The hike back up to the top is slow and difficult, gaining 1600 ft. elevation. There are 31 switchbacks. I counted them, taking a drink of water on every even numbered switchback. Hey, it gave me something to do, and to take my mind off the agony. Actually, it wasn’t really too hard (I definitely remembered it being much harder the last time). It was a good hike even though I did not get to my destination.