MY PRECIOUS
Two years ago I went into West Cherry Creek Canyon in Emigrant Wilderness with my son. We saw two spectacular waterfalls and had an amazing experience. I thought the canyon was one of the most stunning places I have ever seen, it was so beautiful: the waterfalls, the creek, the mountains, I was in complete awe (Jadon did not have the same emotional experience that I did). Last year, I went back to West Cherry Creek to a different location (without Jadon), and I saw three more amazing waterfalls, and again, I thought the canyon was absolutely breathtaking. This year, I wanted to return once more to West Cherry Creek to yet a different spot to see yet different waterfalls. Would I have the same emotional experience and go three for three in this amazing canyon? (spoiler alert: yes, I would)
It is a long drive to the trailhead. It was Memorial Day weekend. Traffic was surprisingly very light. Was this due to COVID-19? I’m not sure, but from what I’ve been reading, everyone is packing up all the open parks and trails now, and I expected everyone to be out and about somewhere on the long weekend. The last few miles to the trailhead are extremely rough, but I made it as far as possible and was stopped a mile from the official trailhead due to snow on the road. There was one other car here, perhaps some people backpacking down in the canyon?
It is a four mile hike to the waterfall (five, because I had to walk an extra mile), so it is easy enough to do as a day hike. But it is not an easy hike. There is an unofficial and unmarked trail to the creek. Many people use this trail to backpack to Hyatt Lake in the summer. Nonetheless, it is faint in many spots, I completely lost the trail more than once, and ended up having to bushwhack through the forest.
Finally, I emerged from the forest to get my first view of the West Cherry Canyon. Absolutely stunning! (no surprise to me). West Cherry Creek was flowing very strong off in the distance. The trail traverses down to the creek where backpackers cross it to go to Hyatt Lake, but it was not crossable today. The inflow to Cherry Lake was at 1000 cfs (West Cherry is about half that). There is no more trail from here, so I had to go cross country to the waterfall. This is a magnificent stretch of hiking as you walk along the granite rock beside the fast flowing creek. There were a couple difficult spots (brush, swamp, cliff, etc.), but mostly it was glorious. The last section involves climbing up a cliff (not hard), where as you come over the top, you are at the top of the waterfall with amazing views in all directions.
The waterfall is spectacular at high flow. What shall I name it? It is somewhat close to Middle West Cherry Falls, so I think I must name it Lower Middle West Cherry Falls. (I know, it is a crappy name). It probably deserves a better one. It is very wide and shoots off in two separate cascades, each about 40 ft. high. It was too wide to photograph with my camera lens, but I did the best I could. The lighting was good as I arrived at the bottom of the waterfall, and there are tons of angles and photographic opportunities. I took many many photos, much more than I normally do. I was in heaven.
There is a second falls here, and I wanted to go check it out as well. It was much harder to reach and involved climbing up and down a cliff. No easy feat, it was very difficult, and it took a long time. When I got down to the bottom, the light was crappy and I did not take any photos of the waterfall, but it is another spectacular cascade, and I think I will have to return here next year and perhaps camp here. Indeed, there was someone camping here at this second falls. I was a bit shocked to see anyone down here. It is way off the beaten path, and as I said, very difficult to get to. I was even more shocked when I saw him come out of his tent. He was stark naked. The temperature was chilly, only about 50 degrees or so. He was just hanging out (literally) beside his tent. He did not see me sitting by the waterfall. I think he did see me eventually and went back into his tent (thankfully!). No doubt he was as shocked to see me there, as I was to see him with all his bits hanging out. By the way, I think he was backpacking alone – I only saw one pair of hiking boots by the tent when I passed by – some people are a bit odd, I guess.
After he went back into his tent and after I had eaten some food, I packed up my stuff, got a load of fresh water from the river, and headed back up the mountain. I went back up a different route. It was not any easier. In fact, I think it was harder. Technically, it was a shorter route back to the main trail, but it took longer due to the difficulty. When I return next year, I’m not sure how I will come. Hopefully, there will not be any naked people camping at the waterfall. That’s about all I can say about that. I got back to the car and drove home. It was a very hard hike, and an absolutely awesome journey (again) into the West Cherry Creek Canyon of the Emigrant Wilderness.