I slept fairly well and was up at sunrise. The creek was much clearer in the morning as I suspected it would be so I scrambled down the steep and unstable slope to obtain water for drinking and for coffee. It was actually still quite a bit dirty (much more so than 6 years ago) but once it passed through my filter it was clean as a whistle.
While I was down there I walked up the creek bed to the upper falls to take a photo of it from the base. This was a new photo for me as I did not do this last time. Being down in this canyon is frankly a bit frightening. The cliffs are very unstable. I heard more than one rock fall during the night. Indeed as I was taking photos of the waterfall a large rock fell down the cliffs directly beside me. Thankfully it was on the other side of the creek and was not a danger (although it would have been if it was much bigger). Nonetheless it freaked me out and I jumped four feet in the air. I did not realize it until afterwards but there was a massive boulder sitting very precariously on the cliffs directly above where I was photographing. If that had fallen while I was down there? Well … you get the picture … Pancakes.
I climbed back up with water in tow and made some coffee for my breakfast and pancakes, enjoying the morning sun with view of the mountain and waterfalls. The hike back out was uneventful. My pack was much lighter since I was only carrying two liters of water and less food as well. I made it back to the car by 10:30am. The Kia Soul was still there. I’m just glad it wasn’t stuck somewhere along the road and blocking my path. I was home by 4pm. It was a marvelous two days in the Mt. Shasta Wilderness.
