Leon Turnbull Photography

The forecast had indicated the worst day of our trip would be Wednesday with rain scheduled all day. Well, it was a lot worse than just that. The rain started Tuesday afternoon and evening, and did not let up all night or all the next day. The already saturated ground around our campsite turned into a very large pond. But it was a lot worse than just that. The wind was a nightmare. It started Tuesday evening before we went to bed. We battened down the hatches as best we could. But the wind got worse as the night went on. Sometime during the early morning hours, the wind literally blew our tent down. I went out in the pouring rain to see what I could do. However, the ground was so saturated and wet that I could not drive the stakes back into the ground. The wind kept pounding the side of the tent. There was nothing that could be done, so I made the call to the rest of the family inside the tent: “abandon ship!”. We got everyone (dog included) out of the tent and into the SUV where it was dry. The tent was left abandoned to the elements. At that point, most everything in the tent was still dry. But the wind and rain kept pounding the tent. The ground was now a small lake. By morning, the water eventually made its way into the tent, getting a lot of our clothes wet.

What could we do? We had one more day scheduled at this campground, but everything was soaking wet. Even if the rain had stopped, it would have been still impossible to get everything dry by that night (and it was supposed to continue raining all day long – which it did). We decided to pack up everything, and throw everything wet and all into the back of the Gator (we call our SUV the Gator because it is dark green). Tara and I went out in the rain to do this, while the kids stayed dry in the vehicle. We then made our way into town and found a place for breakfast. At breakfast, we took a family vote. The options were either to (1) drive back to California to Nana and Papa’s at Red Bluff, or (2) drive to Diamond Lake as originally planned, but stay for a night in the lodge there instead of camping. Camping was just not an option since everything was so soaked and there was no way to get it dry by day’s end. Jadon voted for California, Nekoda voted for Diamond Lake, and Tara voted for Diamond Lake as well (but I was sure she did this just to appease me). That left me with the deciding vote, and I voted for California. Time to tuck in my tail and run home.

Now I know all of you Oregonians will be saying “you wimpy Californian!”. What’s wrong with a little bit of rain, anyway? And you would probably be right. I love the rain, but camping in the pouring rain with everything completely soaked is not a fun experience, especially with kids. At least you Oregonians can go home to a dry house at the end of the day, right? Not only that, but the forecast was not getting any better. More rain was coming on Thursday and Friday, with a warning of flooding on Friday due to excessive rain and snow melt (the Pineapple Express was on its way). It just didn’t look very good.

But on the drive back, I changed my vote. My reasoning was as follows: The rain on Wednesday was supposed to let up by the end of the day, and Thursday morning was supposed to be just cloudy, with the next rain not beginning until Thursday afternoon. If we stayed for one night at Diamond Lake in the lodge, then we could get up in the morning and see quite a few waterfalls in the area before the rain started up again. Then we could drive back to California later that day, and get out of there before any flooding started on Friday. I would not get to see all the waterfalls I had planned to see, but at least I would get to see quite a few of them. Also, I would have been very disappointed and regretful if I had just gone back to California too soon.

So that is exactly what we did. The rain was constant and heavy all day on Wednesday as expected. By evening, after dinner time, it let up a bit and finally stopped during the night. We woke on Thursday to cloudy skies with even a bit of sun poking through. Perfect.

This is one of the waterfalls we saw on Thursday morning, majestic Watson Falls, 272 ft. high. It is the tallest waterfall in the Diamond Lake area, and certainly one of the best. We all hiked up to the upper viewpoint, which is right beside the falls. It is an awesome experience standing there, as you will get completely drenched (even more so than from all that crazy rain). Both Jadon and Nekoda loved this experience, saying it was very awesome. This is why I love waterfalls so much.