Leon Turnbull Photography

Hello, old friend. This is now the fourth time I have been to East Fork Falls.

The last couple weekends I have struck out on my hikes. This weekend I needed a sure thing. Enter East Fork Falls. Why do I keep going back here? Well, I like it because this river flows year round. Even in horrible drought such as this year, the river still flows. It is a tough hike but a good one and a fun one, and the waterfall is pretty accessible (ie. not too crazy to get to). It is located in a stunning location, dropping into an incredible emerald green pool and towering cliffs all around. It is also close to home. I strongly considered going to the Eastern Sierra to see the fall colors but I just did not feel like driving so far. I decided to go to East Fork Falls at the last minute instead.

It is fantastic that we have rain already this year. It has been many years since we have had an early start to the season, and looking at the forecast it seems that by next week many of the winter waterfalls will already be flowing! It is only mid October! Praise the Lord for this, we surely needed it this year. Yet, we still have a weak La Nina this year, the exact same as last year, and despite the early start to the season I am still not feeling very optimistic for our winter this year. Maybe we will be surprised this year (like in 2011). I am praying hard for a good winter.

Anyhow, I was up at 4AM and was on the trail by 6AM in the dark. I hoped to get to the upper falls after the lower falls, so that is why I wanted the early start. I arrived down at the bridge over EFNFNFAR and thought: well, this is different. There was a brand new bridge over the river. Interesting. Not only that, but the old, incredibly overgrown road is now completely cleared. It confused me a bit, mostly because it was dark and I couldn’t see much but I knew this was not how it was last year. The good news is that this makes the hike a bit easier, but the bad news is that it means they are going to be clear cutting down here in the near future (probably next year, I imagine).

The road does not go all the way down to the river and the last section is still off trail and difficult. It seemed a lot brushier this year as well, especially near the river. I made it down to the river about sunrise. Now it is time to get in the water and wade up to the waterfall. As anticipated, the water was freezing cold so I brought my neoprene socks to keep my feet nice and toasty. They were not actually toasty but they were not freezing  either. I also bought new hiking shoes and I must say that I really like them. My feet (as you may know) have been in much pain over the past 6 months or so. Even after resting for most of the summer they were still in pain when I went out backpacking in late summer. It occurred to me the problem may be my hiking boots (even though it is the same brand and boot that I have always worn). So I decided to try some new shoes. With these ones I can just wade through the river and they dry off fairly quickly. And guess what? I have had zero pain on the last two hikes I have done. I am very happy so far.

I took a lot of time taking photos at the waterfall . With the lower water levels I was able to get a different composition than usual (shown here). I guess I took too much time taking photos. I figured if I was to get to the upper falls I needed to start hiking back up the mountain by 8AM at the latest. It was already 8:30AM by the time I was done taking photos. I would not have time to get to the upper falls. Well, that is all right. I had a very enjoyable time at the lower falls. Also, I was supposed to get home to take my daughter to dance class. Now I would not be late for that and she would be happy. Everyone wins.