STRIKE THREE
I was planning to go backpacking this weekend. However, when I arrived at the trailhead I found no place to park! I did this hike a couple years ago and I had no trouble parking overnight, but now there are no parking signs everywhere. So now no one can park here and hike. This is absolutely ridiculous and extremely upsetting, Placer County. This is a public road. There is no reason why we should not be allowed to park and hike here. Well, I will be back here later with a different plan. I am not going to be denied this hike. But for now, I had to retreat. Strike one.
I drove up Foresthill Road in the afternoon. The satellite image seemed to show the road is now open to Tadpole, however, I was stopped before Ford Point. No go. There was not much snow but it was more than enough to stop me. Strike two.
I did not have time anymore to do my planned hike but I decided to just park and walk up the road to Tadpole. There is one waterfall there I have been wanting to check out and this seemed like as good a time as any to do it. It is a pleasant road walk but you do gain about 700 ft. in elevation. I dropped down into the canyon all the way to the creek. It was not “too hard” to get down but it was not easy either. I found this 33 ft. high cascade. Not a very big waterfall but not awful either.
It was in the sun so I had to wait. The problem is I did not research this beforehand so I had no idea when it would be in the shade. I waited an hour, watching the sun closely. While I waited I ate my dinner and then to entertain myself, I threw twigs in the water, trying to get them into a little whirlpool and then see how long it took for the twig to finally get over a mini waterfall. Yes, I am easily amused. Well, after an hour it became very clear that the waterfall would not be out of the sun until sunset. That was still two hours away. There is no way I was going to wait another two hours. It was just not worth it. I still had to climb out of the canyon followed by a long road walk back to my car. I just took some photos as best as I could and left. Strike three. It was an interesting day in Tahoe National Forest.