SURPRISE
And so we return once more to Bassi Falls and Ice House Rd. This is my fourth time up Ice House this spring. Will it be my last? I think not.
I mentioned a surprise we found last week while hiking the new Bassi Falls trail. Here it is: Lower Bassi Falls. A surprise little 18 ft. high falls, but quite impressive. I had not known this was here before, but I had never hiked this trail to Bassi Falls before. The light was bad last week when we went by it, and I didn’t think my friends wanted to stick around 3 hours for sunset, so back again this week by myself, at sunrise. The light is not very good here in the morning, and it was quite misty at the base of the falls, but I made do the best I could. Compared to 109 ft. high Bassi Falls, it is not very amazing, but it is still quite a nice little falls.
Did you know this waterfall was here? Well how about yet another one on Bassi Creek? Last year I discovered Upper Bassi Falls. This year it is Middle Bassi Falls, a very sweet 28 ft. cascade.
After shooting this lower falls, I went straight to the big waterfall, not even stopping, except for a glance (it was still flowing strong in case you wondered), and I went straight to the top of the falls. It is not horribly difficult to go up, but it is much trickier to go back down. The key word: carefully. You do not want to go the wrong way either, or you will find yourself either over a cliff or in the midst of un-navigable thick brush. Brush was the word of the day today because it does not stop at Bassi Falls. It was easy and fun going upstream from Bassi Falls, during the times I could follow right along beside the creek. However, with the high flow on the creek, there were certain spots you could not go along the creek. That meant you had to go through the brush. It was crazy thick and horrendous. I almost died and no one would have ever found me. But I persevered through that awful stuff, and was able to get back along the creek for the remainder of the journey.
I found the Middle Falls, but it was horribly in the sun. I took some pictures but they are not good. My calculations told me it would be in the shade til 9am. That was quite wrong. Also the creek was just a little too high. Getting to a good viewpoint of the falls was impossible, but with a little less flow I think it would be do-able. The flow of the SF American at Kyburz was about 730cfs. Maybe 150-200cfs less, and I think it will be good. I will definitely return.
On the hike back down, I kept thinking I should have a raft and just float down the creek. It would be amazing and fun, and I could avoid all that horrendous brush. I would just need to make sure to get out before I hit that 109 ft. waterfall. Am I right?