THE COWS WERE ANGRY THAT DAY, MY FRIENDS
December was a great month for California. As of Jan 1, we are now at 158% of normal for rain in northern CA, 156% (central Sierra) and 145% (southern Sierra). Even better is the snow pack: 135% (north), 148% (central), 160% (south). All this came from just two big storms in December including the last storm that dumped about 10 feet of snow in Tahoe! We went from 10% of normal to over 135%. A lot of people are saying that this is too much! But you are wrong if you are thinking that. The overall snow pack (for the year) is only at 50%. If it does not snow for the rest of the winter then we will still be in a bad drought situation and after a huge December it looks like January is going to be dry (at least the first half). We still have 3 more months of winter though so hopefully we will get a lot more snow and end this mini drought for good.
Anyhow, we arrived home from Canada on Sunday. Since I had Monday off work I decided to go hiking. I was tired from the long drive but the conditions seemed perfect and irresistible: a cloudy day with lots of recent rain. Table Mountain in Oroville should be fantastic. Right?
I arrived at the trailhead at 7:30AM. I was the only one there. I only saw one other couple on Table Mountain the entire day. It is funny. In the spring the parking lot is completely overflowing every day of the week but in the winter? No one! The cows are a different beast, however. They were in angry mode today. They were all standing in the middle of the trail defiantly blocking my path and peering furiously at me the entire time. I had to go way off trail to get around them, through the mud in some cases. I probably walked an extra mile to get around them. As I walked by they would start trotting towards me. I thought one of them was going to charge me. Seriously. Crazy killer cows. In the words of George Castanza: The cows were angry that day, my friends. My wife laughs at me. She says why are you afraid of cows and not afraid of bears? Well … I’m not totally afraid of the cows, only slightly afraid of them. Ha ha.
I stopped at Hollow Falls first. I have to admit I was quite disappointed in the water flows on Table Mountain. It was only about 7 days since the big storm and the flows are already down significantly. I was expecting a lot more. This is going to make me re-think my hiking plans for the next couple weekends. I was even more upset about another thing: some idiot left their poop (from their dog?) in a plastic bag under a rock right at the base of the waterfall right in the middle of the foot path, in the perfect place for everyone to see and have to step over as they visit the falls. Argh … who does this????? It is so annoying. Almost as bad is that no one else bothered to pick it up. It was obviously there for a long time and you literally could not miss seeing it if you went to Hollow Falls. Well don’t worry, it is not there anymore.
After visiting Hollow Falls I continued on my hike to see more waterfalls. Where would I go next? Phantom? Beatson? Something else? Stay tuned to find out …