Leon Turnbull Photography

This would be the eighth time I have been to Feather Falls in 17 years. It won’t be the last.

In actuality, I was not planning to go to the overlook this time. My plan was to go to the bottom of Feather Falls, on a new route, one that did not involve steep cliffs and abundant poison oak. You may wonder how I would do that. Impossible! Well, I cannot say. Yet. I had a good route mapped out on Google Earth, and I thought it would be golden. However, the route was a washout. There was just too much brush to hack through (surprise surprise). The good thing is there was not much poison oak, but that brush was killer. I tried another way. It too was blocked. Then I tried a third way, and this time I think I found something. However, by now it was too late. There is no possible way I could make it down in time before the waterfall would be in sun, and I did not want to go all the way down and not be able to take photos. So I backtracked, and went to the overlook instead. By the time I got there, the top of the falls was already in sun, but I think I got a pretty good photo nonetheless. I will definitely be back to try my new route. I’m just not sure when that will be.

You will be happy to know that the lower loop of the Feather Falls trail is now completely trash free (for now, anyway). I picked up a ton of garbage on the way back, including a disgusting dirty diaper I found by Frey Creek. I did not want to leave it there, but I had nothing to pick it up with either, so I dumped my lunch into my backpack and then used my lunch bag to store the diaper (picking it up with gloves on). I really think that if you are so lame that you cannot pack out your own trash, you should not be allowed to hike in the wilderness. Am I right? The worst is when people throw their trash off the cliff at the Feather Falls overlook. It is impossible to get down and pick it up. It really irks me to no end. At least leave your stupid trash along the trail so someone else can pack it out for you.