Leon Turnbull Photography

Today’s blog title comes to you courtesy of my daughter, Nekoda. I could not think of a good title myself, so she smartly suggested the title: “A Hike”. Sounds good to me. It was indeed a good hike.

The  weather was in between storms, and it was supposed to be cloudy all day, with the next storm coming late Saturday. Three out of my four weather apps said it would be cloudy and showery all day in the Bay Area. The other one said it would be partly sunny. I figured that one had to be wrong. Surely it had to be wrong. Wrong! It was right! The  other three were wrong! The ones that are usually right were wrong! The one that is usually wrong was right! Does that make any sense?!?!

Bottom line as I started hiking at sunrise is that the sun was up. I had not checked my sun calculations, since I did not think I would need to. I had no idea if the sun would be hitting this waterfall early or not, but I suspected that it would be getting sun very early, based on its projectory and terrain. I said quite a few prayers as I hiked up the mountain. Please let the waterfall be in shade when I get there!

The hike was fantastic. The first section winds up through a beautiful forest area, with large old trees. Redwoods, I believe. It was gorgeous. Once you get through the forest area, you come up along the top of White Hill, hiking along a ridge. The views are astounding. On a clear day, I believe you could see the ocean. There were clouds today over in the ocean area, but still plenty of fantastic views over Marin County.

The wind at the top of the hill was from another world. It was so strong it seriously almost blew me right off the mountain. I had to make sure my steps were planted firmly on the ground, and my hat was secure on top of my head. Yowzers. After climbing all the way to the top of White Hill, I then had to make the big descent down the other side. All the way down to the bottom, where I found the waterfall. It was pretty easy to get down to the bottom. After all the rain, I was expecting the water in this small creek to be much higher, but it was pretty nonetheless.

And what about that prayer I made earlier? As soon as I arrived at the waterfall, it started to rain! I guess that is a positive answer to my prayer. It was definitely in the shade. I was able to obtain at least one decent photo, even though it was raining. Not to mention very cold, with that wind.

By the time I climbed back up to the top of the mountain, I was extremely tired. This hike was much more strenuous than I anticipated, and I soon realized I had no energy to go on the second hike that I was hoping to go on. By the time I got back to the car, the sun was back out again as well, which also took away any desires to go on any other hikes. So I ate my lunch, and then made the long drive back home. I will be back, though.