Leon Turnbull Photography

My next mistake: I thought I could get down to the bottom of the main Lake Catherine Falls on the west side of the creek. I did have the proper route mapped out on my GPS but I did not have enough time to climb around and down on the other side of the creek. It took far too long to get to this point and the sun was about to come out over the mountains. From the upper falls it looked to me that it would be possible to get down on this side of the creek and it would be much faster. It also seemed that Sierra High Route hikers had gone down this way so it must be possible. Yeah … Not true. I got down to the top of the waterfall and was cliffed out. There was no possible way down. Now I definitely had no time to go all the way back up and around. Thankfully there was a very good view of the waterfall from the cliffs. Whew. That was a bit lucky. I definitely should not have come down this way but it just took too darn long to hike from Thousand Island Lake. If I had planned to camp three nights instead of two nights I would have had plenty of time to do all I wanted here. At least I got to see three nice waterfalls this morning (the third one was a small 20 footer but quite nice).

Lake Catherine Falls is a stunning 65 ft. waterfall dropping off a cliff into a lovely little tarn with a magnificent mountain backdrop. From the cliff side it is a spectacular sight. I took my time enjoying the view and eating my breakfast after taking all my photos.

Now that I was done with the waterfalls I wanted to spend some time exploring this basin. I had all day. I went over to see the Ritter Lakes and then back to Lake Catherine where I sat beside the lake for a long time enjoying the view of the glacier and lake. And resting. I was very tired from the morning hike. It was so tough! (did I already say that?) A couple Sierra High Route hikers came up from Thousand Island Lake and we chatted briefly. I was surprised to see anyone in this remote area.

In the past three years it seems that the glacier has retreated significantly. I saw some photos from 3 years ago showing the glacier going down right into the lake. Now it is retreated back from the lake. Climate change, right? I find it interesting that some folks get so antsy about the glaciers melting (it’s the end of the world). Well I can somewhat understand it because glaciers are so incredibly magnificent. It would certainly be a horrendous shame if they all disappeared. But on the other hand I say to them: get over it. The world’s climate is always continually changing. If the glaciers were not melting then guess what: Lake Catherine would not exist (and these waterfalls would not exist either). This entire basin was covered by glacier in the past. Because the glaciers have been melting since the ice age 4000 or so years ago we now have this incredibly beautiful lake and beautiful waterfalls. You can’t have it both ways. If you want the beautiful lakes and waterfalls then you can’t have glaciers not melting as well. In the future the waterfalls here will not exist either. All the more reason to get out there and see them now while they are still here. Don’t miss out on seeing such a beautiful part of the creation. That’s my philosophy. I missed seeing Coquette Falls on Mt. Shasta when it existed and now that the glacier above it is retreated too much, no one will see it ever again.

After enjoying the beautiful Lake Catherine I returned to my campsite back at Thousand Island Lake. I rested all afternoon trying to recover from my tough day of hiking. The wind kicked up in the afternoon. It was a very cold wind. Sitting in the shade was too cold and in the sun it was too hot. At night, the wind stopped for a short while but then it picked up again in the middle of the night with a vengeance. It was shaking my tent around all night long and it did not stop. Nonetheless, I still had a very good sleep despite the crazy wind.  All the next day it was very windy. The wind was good in the sense that it kept all the smoke away from the area but bad news for all the fires in California.

I was up at 5AM in the dark. Very early. While I was eating my breakfast in the dark, I had some visitors. A couple mice came up to me looking for a handout. They were not afraid of me at all, but they sure did freak me out. While I was fending off the critters, I noticed the other hiker camped near me was already up and packed and started hiking back. Who is crazy enough besides me to hike in the dark! I had a long hike back and I needed to get back home because we had a concert to go to in the evening. My wife would not be happy if I did not make it back in time. I finished my hike just a bit past 11AM and made it home before we had to leave for the concert. It was a fantastic trip into the Ansel Adams Wilderness.