It was not my intention to do the exact same hike that I did in 2018 but sometimes things do not work out as you expect.
I wanted to return to Mt. Shasta. The biggest problem I was anticipating was smoke. Mt. Shasta was getting a double whammy. Smoke from the Park Fire as well as smoke from a fire in Oregon. It was caught right in the middle. The air quality was hovering between yellow and orange all week long. Not good. I did not want to drive 5 hours to the trailhead and then realize it was too smoky to hike. However, on Friday it seemed as though it might be clearing up for Saturday. I decided to take a chance.
I swear the road to Northgate trailhead is much worse than it was in 2018. I don’t remember it being that bad at all. It took a full hour to drive 8.5 miles. You do the math. The last 2 miles especially were extremely rough. I did not feel comfortable driving it, not so much due to the clearance, but mostly because I was afraid of getting a flat tire on all the very sharp rocks. Nonetheless, I made it to the trailhead successfully. I was shocked to see there were a couple low clearance cars here including a small Kia Soul. What the heck? There is no way on God’s green earth you should be driving a low clearance car to this trailhead. Maybe you could do it six years ago (indeed, I did see some small cars on that trip), but not anymore. If this small Kia did not bottom out multiple times on the drive to the trailhead and back I will eat my dirty socks. (not really, but I think it would be a safe bet).
Good news. There was no smoke! My entire hike was smoke free. That was a big relief to me.
Now as for why I wanted to return here, the first reason was this: (1) Coquette Falls. But Coquette Falls is dead, isn’t it? Yeah … you are right, it is dead … HOWEVER … I saw a photo that was taken from Sept. 2023. It was of Upper Coquette Falls and it had water. I pondered this for a long time. How is this possible? Is it because of the huge snow year we had in 2023 and it was flowing from regular snow melt? I am certain this was the case. I was last here in August of 2018, a drought year, and of course Coquette was dry. Since 2024 was an average snow year and since I was going more than a month earlier than the photo, I thought perhaps it was possible Coquette would still be flowing. When I came across a small stream along the way (dry six years ago) and it had decent water in it I thought I just might be in luck. Surely Coquette Creek is much bigger than this small stream. But alas, Coquette was completely dry. It was a bit disappointing even if it was not too surprising.
The second reason was this: (2) Whitney Creek waterfalls. My actual plan was to cross Bolam Creek and continue to Whitney Creek and camp there. HOWEVER … I was dead tired by the time I reached Bolam Creek. I could not continue any further. Is this hike really so difficult? It is only a 1500 ft. elevation gain and that section was all on trail. The elevation tops out at 8500 ft. so I don’t really think it was the high elevation that was getting to me (though perhaps a bit). I think I am just too much out of shape but also I had a very heavy pack and was carrying 5 liters of water as I anticipated not being able to filter water from the creeks. It was another 3 miles to Middle Whitney Falls where I was initially planning to camp. I am sure I could have made it there but then it would be an additional 2 miles and 1000 ft. elevation gain down to Whitney Falls and back which was the primary reason I wanted to go over to Whitney Creek. There is absolutely no way I would have been able to do that. Also I wanted to explore further UP Whitney Creek and there is also no way I could have done that either. I only had one night to spend. Thus, it seemed pointless to continue to Whitney so I decided to camp at Bolam Creek again and have an enjoyable afternoon.
The nice thing is that it was a very cloudy day so I could get all my photos of the Bolam waterfalls early and have a relaxing evening and even sleep in. First up was Bolam Creek Falls, 92 ft. high. As you can see the water was very dirty. Chocolate sauce! Yummy! It was definitely very interesting and quite different from six years ago and I’m not just referring to the chocolate water. I think a lot of that was caused from rain up on the mountain. It was a lot dirtier than last time I was here so I think it was more than just glacial melt. In addition to this the waterfall seemed different. It was more of a straight down plunge. It was more graceful (even with the dirty water). One thing that was very different was the blue-green color in the rock beside the waterfall. That was not there six years ago. A large chunk of rock had broken off revealing that blue-green color underneath. My geologist brother-in-law thinks it is some sort of hydrothermal alteration and magmatic flow. Finally, I think there was more water flowing six years ago so that could mean there is not as much glacier melting now (or left). Bolam Creek Falls was certainly very fascinating to see this year.
It is about a 400 ft. ascent from Bolam Creek Falls back to camp. I really struggled climbing up. I was so tired. When I returned to camp it started raining so I hung out in my tent awhile and chatted with my wife (I had cell service). After the rain stopped the sun came out and I made my dinner and enjoyed my evening. More to come …
