LOST FAITH
I have lost faith. Not in God. He has always been faithful. I have lost faith in humanity. Although, to be honest, I think I lost faith in humanity years ago.
I have been horribly upset with what has happened during the government shutdown in the national parks. They have kept the parks open during this shutdown, which I really liked at first. Last time, they were completely closed, which greatly upset me. I expected there not to be any problems (silly me). I mean, come on! The national forests are not patrolled by rangers, and there are no problems with them. Yes, people do litter and such. However, mostly, it is not too bad. But with the national parks? It is like people have literally lost their brains: Litter left everywhere (where wild animals can get into), pooping on the side of roads, driving snowmobiles illegally to the top of Lassen Peak, vandalism, cutting down rare trees, blazing roads where there should not be any roads. You can’t take out your trash? You have a car! You can’t bury your poop? You should have known before you even entered the park the restrooms were not being maintained and you should have been prepared for that! You have to vandalize precious places just because the government is shutdown and you think you won’t get caught? I can’t even comprehend that! I would like to think that 100% of my readers would never do any of these things, but if there is someone out there reading this that is guilty … why would you do this??? Please let us all take responsibility for our actions.
Well enough of that crap (literally), now let’s get to the topic of the Camp Fire … I drove through the area for the first time this weekend, where the fire started, along Highway 70 north of Oroville. As you would expect, the devastation was intense. It was absolutely awful. I was not hiking in the burn zone, I was just driving through it. Unfortunately, the traffic was also awful because of the construction and cleanup, and there were many road delays. I do not know why I did not think that they would be doing cleanup and that there would not be any delays, but alas, it did not occur to me. Well that was dumb. It took an extra hour to drive through the area.
I finally arrived at my hiking destination: Murphy Creek Falls. This is the second time I have come here. It is a short hike up to the first waterfall (pictured here). The flow in the creek was good, and again it was extremely tricky crossing the small stream just before you reach the waterfall. One slip here and you are toasted, down and out over a waterfall. I did actually slip in the stream. But smartly, I was using my rope to cross for safety and I caught myself before disaster struck. I took my photos of the first waterfall.
Next I wanted to try to get up to the second waterfall but unfortunately, I ran out of time. There is a decent trail up the mountain and I followed it. I was kinda surprised to find a trail here, actually. However, it did not go to the second waterfall. It continued up the mountain above the upper falls. It made sense to continue following the trail. By the time I realized this was the wrong way, it was too late. I came to a dead end. I could see the waterfall but the view was obscured and it was not worth taking a photo. It was now almost dark, and I had to retreat back down the mountain. If I had not made that wrong turn and if there were no traffic delays, I probably would have had another hour of time and could have made it to the falls. I will have to come back up here another time. The sooner the better. I arrived back at the car just before dark. The workers were done for the day, and there was no delays driving back home. It was a nice hike to a beautiful waterfall in Plumas National Forest.