SILVER BELLS
I had big plans this weekend to see an epic waterfall. It would have been so amazing. Then on Friday I checked the water flow and found out they turned off the tap! The flow had been high for at least two months and then on the day I plan to go they turned it off! I was so depressed. Now I really did not want to do anything at all but I decided I would go on a short hike near home: South Fork Silver Creek Falls. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. But better than doing nothing at all.
I got up early on Saturday and drove up to Ice House Reservoir. I was not able to drive as far as I thought due to a big snow patch. I decided to park and walk the rest of the way. I parked in a bad spot. There were bugs. Gnats. A lot of them. Like Tehipite Valley bad. And they were biting me. There were no bugs at all on the rest of the hike except where I parked. What the heck? Anyway, I probably should have driven past this snow patch but I really did not want to take a chance on getting stuck. I needed the exercise anyway. The problem was that I did not have enough time now to get to the waterfall before the sun was on it.
I had an hour. I was 3.8 miles away. I ran. (for much of the hike). I got to the end of the lake and now had just 0.5 miles left to go but I was out of time. I was going to be 10 minutes late. However, I was completely exhausted from running. I could not even walk. I had to rest. I took a forced five minute rest. Now I would be 15 minutes late. I arrived at the waterfall. It was still in the shade. Thank the Lord for the 15 minute reprieve. (or for me making an error in the calculation). I was happy. I had time to take some photographs.
HOWEVER, it was far too misty at the overlook to take photographs of the waterfall. There was a lot of flow in the creek, probably more than I have ever seen it before. I climbed up higher on the cliffs and found a secondary viewpoint. Not as good but still good, and there was not much mist up there so I could take photos. I had a much more relaxing (and slower) hike back to the car. It was a grand morning in Eldorado National Forest.