CHUNKY
After two other hikes on this day I was already quite tired, but since it was such a great day, I wanted to get one more hike in. I ate my lunch in the car and contemplated, whilst trying to gain back some energy for another hike, and at the same time texting my wife and telling her about the crazy death defying hike I just did along the canal (previous post). She was not amused.
For some reason, I had initially thought this next hike would be five miles round trip, and possibly include swathing through poison oak. Getting motivation for that was a challenge. I looked at my map again and realized it was only three miles round trip. Bonus! I can do that!
It was an easy hike down a logging road for the first mile or so, until I got to the turn off. Finding the correct turn off was yet another challenge. This is why they call this waterfall “Hidden Falls”. Once I found the proper trail, however, it was easy as pie. No poison oak. The trail was very wide and well traveled all the way down to the falls. I was surprised how easy this hike was.
I was also surprised when I reached the falls. I had heard that this waterfall was only about 15 ft. high. The pictures I had seen seemed to confirm this theory also. However, when I arrived I could see that it was twice as high as I expected, I measured the falls to be 30 ft. high. It is a marvelous little waterfall, and chunky all inside and out. The river, which is a very little river, was pounding through the canyon like gangbusters, thundering over the edge of the cliff, and down 30 ft. into a violent and large pool. It was amazing, and the mist at the bottom was extreme, making it very difficult to take photos. I had to take pictures from much further back than I wanted to, but what little choice did I have. At lower flows it would be much more pleasant I suppose, and more interesting for photo taking, but certainly not as exciting.
I walked up along the pool to the end and took more photos from the side. The water from the pool was splashing at irregular intervals up against the logs and onto my body where I was standing , which was a bit unnerving when I was not expecting such action from the water.
After spending quite a lot of time down at the waterfall, I packed up and headed back up the hill. On the way back up, I saw a couple of locals hiking down the trail. They had bows in their hands. Not heading to the waterfall, they were headed to the archery range which is also found along the road here. The guy was quite friendly and asked me where I had been, and I told them. They had been to the waterfall before and the guy seemed to be pleased as punch that I liked their little local waterfall so much. You will too.