MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Kings Creek Falls in the winter? Impossible, you say. You would have to walk 20 miles one way in the snow. But if anyone can do it, the madman can do it. Right?
Going to Kings Creek Falls in the winter has been in my dreams for a few years now. But how to do it? Well, I found a route that would be about 7 miles one way. That is not doable as a day hike but it would work for a backpacking trip. But it is so cold in the winter! Normal temperatures at night are in the low 20’s or below. Enter this last week: unusually high temperatures for January. MLK long weekend in January. It would only be 33° at night. This might actually be a very good time to do this trip. Unfortunately, my dream did not happen as I envisioned it, but yes, I did make it there. (and back)
It was hard!
My route took me past Mill Creek Falls again. This time, there was only one other set of tracks on the trail. (unlike at Christmas, when the trail was very well trodden). Mill Creek Falls was flowing well, even better than before. This was due to the snow melting from all the warm weather we have had. Kings Creek Falls should be fantastic … so I thought.
I was following the other snow-shoer past Mill Creek, all the way to Cold Boiling Lake. I was surprised he went that far. Or she. It seemed like he (she) camped at Cold Boiling Lake and after that, I was all on my own. The snow was heavy. Slushy. Deep. Very hard going. It took a lot of effort. I was beaten down tired well before I reached my destination. Yet, I continued on. I was past the point of no return, so I must continue on all the way. Or die.
There is literally no water from the trailhead until you get to Kings Creek. Obviously you cannot drink from Mill Creek, which has a lot of sulfur in it. That would taste super great. Not! I hoped to fill up at Kings Creek. However, when I got there I discovered a huge and unexpected problem. There was no way to get down to the creek! The snowbanks on each side of the creek were 5 feet high at least. It was impossible to get down to it. If I went down, I would not be getting back up until spring. At least I’d have water to drink until the snow all melted. Ha. Well, what could I do? I searched around and I finally found one spot that was doable. It was steep and sketchy but I made it down and got some water. More importantly, I got back up.
At the road, Kings Creek had pretty good flow. I was feeling very optimistic. From here, it is a 1 mile hike down to the falls and about a 600 foot descent. There should be even more water in the creek down at the falls. Humph. There was a lot more snow in Kings Creek Canyon. It was very deep and very tough going.
Worst of all, there was no water flowing down at the falls. The creek was all snowed over and iced over. Where did all that water go from up on the road? Kings Creek Falls itself was completely frozen. How disappointing. I was really expecting it to have a good decent flow considering how well Mill Creek Falls was. Yes, I know it is higher elevation but with the warm weather there should have been a lot of snow melting into the creek. The more I think about it, the more I think it should have been a lot better.
Oh well, what can you do? It was still very interesting to see and I did take photos of it. I was so tired. I still had to set up camp. In the snow. And there was no water. I could not get any water from the creek anywhere, so I had to melt snow for my drinking water. This took a long time and used up all my gas. That meant that I would not be able to have coffee in the morning. Well, what is more important, drinking water or coffee? Drinking water, I guess. Sigh.
I watched a movie, and went to bed …