AZURE
I continued upstream from Upper Cascade Falls. Surprisingly, there was a pretty decent trail. It was hard to follow in places, but overall quite decent. Considering that this section looked rather brushy on Google Earth, I was pleased. The trail took me right through all the brush easily. It did, however, meander all over the place, weaving in and out of the brush, across streams, and through the forest. Yes, the forest was interesting. It was late in the afternoon now, and the light in the forest was getting dark. Gloomy dark. Menacingly dark. The trail was quite overgrown through the forest. I was afraid I would be ambushed by a Sasquatch. There were only mosquitoes.
Finally out of the forest, and I could see the waterfall ahead, dropping down from Azure Lake. It took much longer than anticipated to get up here. And now time was my enemy. Sunset was approaching rapidly. I made my way over to the base of the falls. The waterfall is 46 ft. high but it is difficult to view it from the bottom. The angle is wonky and extreme. I looked around but I could see no other viewpoint available, so I did what I could, but I was not happy with this one. I decided to try to climb up to the top of the falls. I estimated that I had two minutes to climb up, get a photo, and start hiking back to the car. Otherwise, I would be hiking back through that forest in the pitch dark. Sasquatches abound in the Desolation Wilderness (and mountain lions). The trail continues from here up to Azure Lake, so there was a good path. Once up there, I found a huge rock that you can walk out on where I found an excellent viewpoint of the upper tier of the waterfall. I was out of time, but the view was worth it, so I quickly got out my camera, and walked out to the end of the huge rock with deadly drop-offs on either side of me. It is such a very pretty view and waterfall. I will definitely be back up here someday. I was about 10 minutes late starting back down, but I made it back to the car just as it was getting dark. The timing was perfect.