Leon Turnbull Photography

It was an extremely windy afternoon and evening.

PG&E had shut off power throughout California due to wildfire prevention. Our church on Sunday morning was without power and we had service in the dark. Despite the power being off, PG&E still started a massive wildfire in Sonoma county. Good thing your new policy works so well, PG&E. Not.

Indeed it was very cold and very windy. It was so windy it felt as if every other tree was going to fall on me as I hiked. It was so windy it felt as if I was being blown clear across the state. There were many fallen branches and twigs on the road (and falling onto the road) as I drove to my destination. It was an obstacle course to avoid them. I do not normally like hiking in such windy conditions. I’m afraid a tree is going to fall on the road and block me in somewhere. Or worse: a tree is going to fall on my car. Or even worse: a tree is going to fall on me. However, I had not hiked in quite a few weeks and I was feeling the big itch to get out into the wilderness.

Most of my hike would be off road. No trail. Just hiking through the woods, with the wind howling and shaking the trees. Thankfully, there was not that much brush I had to whack through. It was mostly open and nice. When I was out in the open, I felt really happy, but the few brushy parts got me anxious for some reason. It was getting late and I did not want to be hiking back in the dark through thick brush. Well it was a nice idea but …

I arrived down at the river after 5PM. It took two hours to hike that two miles through the forest. I was taking a lot of video along the way, which always adds a lot of time to the hike, but I estimated it would take 1.5 hours to hike back to the car. I figured I needed to start back by 5:30pm at the latest to avoid having to hike back in the dark. Hmmm.

Middle Bear River Reservoir Falls is a really nice one, dropping 41 ft. over a big huge rock. It looked very unique and very interesting. I was very pleased. I went to the upper falls last year (also very nice). This year I wanted to try the middle falls, and overall, it was not that difficult to get down to it, and I did not have to cross the river either. I took my photos as quickly as I could. I did not have much time. It was 5:40pm when I started back.

Here’s the problem: Somehow, I totally miscalculated the time for sunset. I had written down in my notes that sunset was at 6:40pm. It was actually at about 6:05pm. I was wondering why it was already so dark as I hiked back up the mountain. I know I am in a deep canyon, but it should not be this dark. By about 6:20pm, it was pitch black (just like the rest of California). I was not even back to the brushy section yet. Now I had to hike through that stuff in the dark, which is exactly what I did not want to do. Not much I can do about it, though. I got out my headlamp. It did not turn on. The batteries were dead. Why did I not check this before my hike! I did not even think I would need it for this hike, which is probably why I did not check it. Well, at least I had my iPhone light. Not quite as nice but it worked. I managed to make it back through the brush and got back to my car at 7PM. It was still extremely windy. Thankfully, no tree had fallen on my car. It was a great little hike at Bear River Reservoir.