The old man returns to Phantom Falls. It was my birthday. I took the day off work and went for a hike. To one of my favorite places. With Journey.
Journey is a high energy, high maintenance dog. That is not a bad thing, it is just the way she is. It is built into her genes from her breed. She will play fetch with mom for an hour non-stop and still not be tired. I don’t think I am exaggerating much. She loves her walks with daddy and also “needs” a walk every day. That’s not possible every day but I try to take her most days. I knew a 9 mile hike at North Table Mountain would not be a problem for her even though it was twice as long as anything we have done so far.
We arrived at sunrise. No one else was around. Yet. It is a very popular place, even in winter now. Even on a weekday. It never used to be popular in winter before. There were no cows around either. Yet. We began our journey to Phantom Falls.
I have to say I was disappointed with the amount of water flowing. I saw a photo from the 15th and it was flowing quite well. Since then they had 5 inches of rain. It should be absolutely amazing today. But alas, it was no better than the flow on the 15th. It was not horrible, it was good, but definitely not amazing, which is what I was expecting and hoping for. Indeed I was worried about crossing the creeks with Journey. Would she be able to even do that? Well, it was not really an issue at all.
We stopped at Ravine Falls first. Then to the viewpoint at Phantom Falls. Then we crossed over Phantom Falls and continued on, looking for another waterfall, however the creek was dry (disappointing). I did see a coyote, which was cool. Journey did not see it. We also saw a bunch of bones from an eaten cow. Someone had a feast (I assume it was a mountain lion, not the coyote, but who knows). Journey was very interested in sniffing all the bones. We came back to Little Phantom and Lower Ravine Falls, had our lunch at Lower Ravine Falls, then continued on back to the car. Journey did not want to cross the creek at the top of Lower Ravine Falls. It was not really that deep but I guess it was too deep for her and she could not see the bottom where she was stepping. We went upstream a bit and found a better crossing. It was a good 9 mile hike by the time we were all done. Journey was very tired and slept on the drive home (but was raring to go again once we got home). She did awesome on the hike. She was incredibly patient while I took photos of all the waterfalls. She listened well and was so happy. It was by far the best hike we have had thus far together.
As for the cows? We came close to them a couple of times. Journey was entranced. Can I go chase them, daddy? Pretty please? They certainly kept a close eye on her as we walked by. All in all, it was a fantastic birthday hike at North Table Mountain.
