Leon Turnbull Photography

I had a very rude awakening by the jeepers. They were driving around the reservoir in the middle of the night (very loudly), and they decided they would drive through my camping area right beside my tent! There is no road here! They knew I was there also, because it was the same group of which I picked up their trash earlier. I found this extremely annoying and disrespectful.

Needless to say, I got very little sleep. Nonetheless, I wanted to get up very early, at 5AM to be precise. Are you crazy, madman? Well, it is because I wanted to attempt to find a new waterfall and get there before the sun got on it. I packed up camp, had a quick breakfast, and headed out at 6AM.

I really did not think I was going to make it. My planned route I determined that looked best on Google Earth took me to the edge of a cliff with no way down. I did not see this cliff on Google Earth! After a couple other tries and a lot of scrambling around through brush, I finally found a way around the cliff. I was very tired from all the scrambling around, and it was getting late. I still thought I was going to get cliffed out again, but I continued down the creekside and finally came out at the bottom. I was not cliffed out! I got all the way down to the reservoir and to the bottom of this gorgeous 70 ft. cascade. The light was still good. I was absolutely ecstatic! It was such a beautiful morning, and such a beautiful location and waterfall. This was my favorite waterfall of all the falls I saw this weekend. I love discovering brand new waterfalls!

It was easier climbing back up to the trail because I did not have scramble around the brush the same way that I came down. I took a big break to rest. From here it was a 3 mile hike back to my car. It was hot and slow going but I made it back to my car by 10:30AM. Except for the disrespectful jeepers, it was an amazing springtime adventure into the Hell Hole.