Leon Turnbull Photography

It was much colder up at the lakes overnight. I’m not sure if it got down to freezing but it was pretty darn close. I was not cold in my sleeping bag, but in the morning my tent was all wet (on the outside). I had to pack it all up in the dark and get going. There were a couple more Falls I had to hit up on the way down to Hemlock Crossing, 2300 ft. in elevation below me.

This was one of them. It is a magnificent 80 ft drop in a narrow slot. I did not go straight down to the waterfall from the lakes. I wondered if that would be faster, it almost seemed possible, but I’m sure I would have been caught on a cliff with no way down. Not a good thing. I went the regular and long way down to the bottom. When I arrived, I found no view of the waterfall. Which meant: you guessed it, I had to cross the river at the base of the Falls. It was a bit easier crossing here (then where I crossed the previous day). However, I somehow damaged my camera remote in the process. Ugh. This makes it much harder to take photos. There is always at least one casualty on a big backpacking trip. And this was it. Crackers. From here on out, I had to take all my photos manually. But it is an incredibly gorgeous waterfall, and I spent quite a bit of time here on the wrong side of the river. I have never seen photos of this waterfall before, and I suspect 99 percent of the people who come by here have no clue of its existence. If only they would subscribe to my website, then they would know about such hidden gems as these (hint hint).

After this, it is all downhill to Hemlock Crossing, and thus pretty easy, so I initially had high hopes of hiking all the way home on this day. However, I still felt tired. Plus it took much longer to get to Hemlock Crossing than I thought it would. By the time I got there (noon), I knew there was no way in kablookies that I could make that 1400 ft climb out of the canyon. One more night of camping was needed, and so I found a spot by the Hemlock Crossing waterfall.

I spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and even took a very quick dip in the cold river at the waterfall. This was the sunniest day of the trip. Every other day was mostly cloudy (but not any rain). I tried to eat a bit more to gain my strength for the next day. I struggle to eat on backpacking trips. I am expending so much energy, but I don’t feel like eating very much. Freeze dried food is not particularly very tasty, but that is the best thing to bring on these kind of trips. I heard about this certain mixture, which is basically a peanut butter and jam goop, combined with regular trail mix. It is a bit on the heavy side, but it is quite good, so I brought some of it along with me this time. A quick energy mix. It tasted good now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?