OLD FAITHFUL
On Friday night I checked the weather forecast for Saturday morning. One app tells me it was going to be raining all Saturday morning. The other app says partially sunny. What the heck? This is a very big difference. It is less than 12 hours beforehand and they cannot figure out what the weather is going to be like? That is unbelievable to me. It is the difference between the GFS and the European weather models I guess but this close to the actual time they should be in alignment. So which one would be right? Usually the European model is more correct but this time it was GFS. So that meant it was raining on Saturday morning. That is what I woke up to. It was not raining too much in the morning though, just very light off and on. So I guess they were both wrong. Nothing surprising then.
My Plan A hike was going to be a very short, easy hike, close to home. I was pretty confident I could do this hike …until I ran into a big huge fence in which it would be a major crime to cross over it. No trespassing here. I was not expecting that at all. I was bummed. I wasn’t confident at all for my Plan B hike but decided to drive over to check it out. No trespassing again. Strike two. I needed something that would be a sure thing. My Plan C hike would be just that, one that I have done before. Many times before, in fact. American Canyon Creek Falls. Old Faithful.
It was lightly raining as I hiked down the trail. I anticipated it getting worse now as it was much later in the morning. Maybe I should just go back to bed. I continued on, however. I have a new Gopro camera for an early Christmas gift and I really wanted to try it out today. (thanks Tara and Meredy, by the way!) Last time I was here, the poison oak was growing tremendously over the trail. It was unavoidable. At this time of year, however, no poison oak. No ticks either. By the time I reached the falls the rain had stopped. Just long enough to take photos. Sweet perfect timing, Lord.
It was raining harder as I hiked back up the trail but I did not mind. I was happy. It was a lovely morning hike to my favorite little waterfall in Auburn State Recreation Area.