Leon Turnbull Photography

It is my son’s birthday today. Of course I would not want to miss that (or my wife would not want me to miss it to be more precise – kidding!), but I still wanted to go for a hike. Well, that is not a problem. Jadon would be sleeping in until noon anyway, so I could easily go for a hike in the morning. I did invite him to hike with me, but he said that would be the exact opposite of what he wants to do on his birthday (namely, relax and take it easy). Ah well, I tried.

So where should I go? I did consider going up to Oroville, but then I’d have to get up at 4AM. Umm, I don’t think so. I decided to go back to Rock Creek Falls.

I have been to Rock Creek Falls twice before. It is not a big waterfall (17 ft. high), but it is spectacular, one of the best in the Sierra foothills in my opinion. The first time I went the creek was in flood. The waterfall was absolutely incredible. The second time it was not in flood, but it was still amazing. I was thinking it would be flowing similar to that second time. Rock Creek is a very large creek. Well ….

I was the only one on the trail all day. Everyone else was at Table Mountain in Oroville (I’m not really kidding about that – it has been very busy there lately because of social media). The ticks were out and about. This is the first time I’ve seen them this year. I’m sure it won’t be the last. The poison oak was also out and about. Hopefully, I would avoid getting too close to it.

Once you get down to the creek, you have to go a short distance downstream to the waterfall. It is a bit tricky to get down to it, but it’s not too bad. The worst part is going through the poison oak. (in other words, I could not avoid getting too close to it). I was curious recently about someone who said they hiked this trail. They went all the way down to the bottom but did not go see the waterfall. They had no idea there was even a waterfall here. Really, people! Go to http://www.waterfallswest.com! How horrible to be so close to a beautiful waterfall and not even know it is there. I don’t know why you would even want to hike this trail if you are not going to the waterfall. As I said, this is one of the best in the foothills.

Well … Rock Creek Falls was not flowing quite as well as the last time I was here in 2011. It is still incredibly beautiful, no doubt about it, but I was definitely disappointed in the flow. We just have not had enough rain this year! Even though we had some recently, it just has not been enough. We are so far behind for this season, and the rest of February and into March is not looking very promising at the moment. More rain please. Much more rain please.