Leon Turnbull Photography

“And the seventh lives in a narrow place, and is of power.” (from Ode to NFAR – by Leon Turnbull)

There is just one place I love to go backpacking early in the season. Into the belly of the beast: The North Fork American River. NFAR. The one and only. My all time favorite river.

This time I decided to go down into Palisade the hard way. I wanted a bit of a challenge. I am a glutton for punishment I guess. There was quite a bit of snow at the trailhead. Probably around 4-5 feet or so in most places. Snowshoes were required, especially as the snow got softer in the warm sun and you would be sinking in deep without them. It was tough going.

As I descended into Palisade Canyon I was in heaven. It is so incredibly beautiful in the spring with all the snow around you. All alone. How many people have ever seen how beautiful this place is in the spring? It is a popular trail in summer but only the madman goes down there in spring. The only others that venture down into Palisade are the bears. I saw quite a few bear tracks in the snow but I did not see any of the beautiful creatures (unfortunately).

Keeping on the trail is virtually impossible. I lost it many times. A couple times I intentionally went off trail, trying to avoid the problem areas. The first time worked out well. I was walking on open granite where all the snow had melted. The second time not so well. I got caught up in way too much brush: argh! The third time I was forced to go off trail because of dangerous sections. This is where I had to turn back in the spring of 2017 but this time I made it through. It was very difficult! As I descended lower in elevation, snowshoes became worthless. There are just big patchy sections of snow. It was better to just hike on it with boots. I left my snowshoes along the trail to pick up the next day. Carrying them down with me (and back up) would be way too much extra weight. Finally, I lost the snow completely. The last mile or so down to Upper Palisade was snowless. It was a big relief.

I made it down to my camp at Upper Palisade Creek Falls at around 2PM. It took 6 hours to hike the 7 or 8 miles. Going back up the next day would take even longer. I setup my camp and ate my dinner. Then I went for an evening hike.

It was not my intention on this trip to go all the way down to Palisade Falls on the river. However, I did go down to NFAR at Heath Falls (pictured here). Going to Heath Falls was not the main reason why I wanted to do this hike again. There was another reason. Actually, three other reasons. Meaning … three brand new waterfall discoveries. You will have to wait for my next couple of posts to see them. Heath Falls, though, was here! How could I not go down to my favorite river and one of my favorite waterfalls? The ever spectacular Heath Falls, 65 ft. high. It was a fantastic day on the NFAR.