Leon Turnbull Photography

There was no sun at our camp in the morning. It would take awhile for the sun to penetrate those granite walls. Thus, it was very cold in the morning. We took our time eating breakfast, and packing up our camp.

It would be an easy day. We only had to hike 3 miles back to the top of the canyon. Jadon should have been much happier today. He was not. Not that he complained, but he was not enjoying himself. He was probably bored too. We got to camp before noon, then had nothing to do all afternoon, so we napped and played cards.

At around noon, I tried crossing West Cherry Creek (while Jadon waited in camp). You would think it would be utterly impossible. The inflow to Cherry Lake was about 700 cfs. West Cherry gets about half that flow, so 350 cfs. That is certainly not crossable, but right at the trail crossing, the creek splits into five separate channels, so about 70 each? But at noon, it is much less than that as well. So in other words, I crossed the creek easily. It was up to my knees, and there was a strong pull, and it was freezing cold, but it was crossable. I explored the other side of the creek, and I came up with a plan for the evening. It was a darn good plan, but sometimes plans go awry.

You see, I was 90 percent sure that we could not get to the upper falls on the near side of the creek (where we were camped). There is a granite cliff that comes down from Piute Lake right to the creek, and the main part of the waterfall is around the corner, out of sight. I was certain we would not be able to get around that corner. However, on the other side of the creek, as I explored, I could see the upper falls, and it looked easy to get up to see it. So the plan was to cross the creek in the evening, and go up to the falls on the other side.

However, one problem: in the five hours since I crossed the creek at noon, the creek level had now risen by about one foot (perhaps a bit less) due to snow melt from the heat of the day, and it was now uncrossable! It was crazy how much it had risen, and it was far too risky to cross it now. I figured I could just try it again in the morning. We decided to climb up the creek on this side and see how far we could get. Well as it turned out, this was a better plan anyway! Getting around the corner was actually very easy, and we came up to the main section of the falls, a majestic two tiered waterfall about 70 ft. high. It was a glorious spot (and much better than it would have been on the other side of the creek). I was very happy, and I would not have to cross the creek in the morning. Sleeping in was a much better option now. Yeah, now that is a good plan.