WHO’LL STOP THE RAIN?
(hopefully no one!)
The rivers did not get as high as I predicted this weekend. We received the 11.5 inches of rain in the Sierra foothills as forecast, however the North Fork American peaked at 29,000 cfs on Saturday morning midnight. I predicted it would get above 50,000. What happened? Well, the snow levels dropped much quicker on Saturday morning than forecast and so there was less rain falling in the mountains. This is a good thing (we need the snow pack!), but I had planned to hike out to my go-to waterfall Canyon Creek Falls on Saturday afternoon with the river raging at 50,000 cubic feet per second. When I woke up it was at 20,000 and dropping fast. I did not feel like hiking there now. Certainly, there is no question it would have been awesome but it was nothing that I had not seen before. I wanted something different if I was going to hike in the pouring rain. Also, it is probably a good thing I did not go there because they closed the freeway on Saturday afternoon. I might have been stuck.
So anyway … change of plan. I decided to go to Point Reyes instead. The rain there was supposed to be lightening up or stopping by the late afternoon. Off I went.
It rained the entire drive and was still raining when I arrived at the trailhead at around 2pm. It is an easy hike amongst the killer cows down to the beach. I do not think they liked all the rain. They were mooing very loudly. I had to cross the creek at the top of the falls. It was flowing strong and I would be getting my feet wet (normally this creek is dry except after a lot of rain). Crossing was not too much of a problem except it was very deep. I stuck my pole in to find the bottom and I could not find it! That is crazy for such a small creek. Anyway, I found a spot that was not too deep and I made it safely across. Then I had to descend the cliffs down to the beach. It was a bit muddy and slippery but it wasn’t too bad (which is good because I was a bit worried that it would be too dangerous). Bolinas Point Falls was raging. A fantastic 42 ft. high cascade. Not bad for a waterfall that is dry for most of the year.
I messed up. I was not using my brain properly. There was a second waterfall here that I wanted to go to. I did not make it. The tide was coming in fast, much quicker than I anticipated. As I hiked up the beach to the second waterfall the waves were already almost up to the cliffs. I still had a long way to go to reach the falls (and then I would have to hike back). I did not want to be trapped by the tide so I decided to play it safe and turn back. If I had gone to the second waterfall first then I would have had time to go to both, but I spent too much time taking photos at the first waterfall. Stupid madman. On the bright side I did see a coyote on the beach. It ran away and up the cliffs as soon as it saw me. And I saw a second one on the road later. Not a bad way to end the year. It was an awesome rainy day hike in Point Reyes National Seashore.