It was 2008 the last time I went down this trail. I had a wild cougar encounter. Seventeen years later and it was time to go back and find my beloved. I did not find her. I was so sad. Ha ha!
Fifteen inches of rain in the foothills this past week. All the waterfalls were roaring. I had many choices but I decided on Knickerbocker Falls. I have been wanting to go back here and in particular try to get up close to the middle waterfall on this creek. It eluded me last time and I wanted to fix that.
I did not take Journey with me. I thought it was going to be too steep and cliffy but actually she could have made it pretty easily. Except the ticks are out now so that would not have been very good for her. I managed to pick up a couple of the buggers but Journey would have gotten it a lot worse. The route I took last time was too brushy now. I remembered it being quite easy before but I could not find my way through it. I was about to give up but I finally bashed my way through and came upon a much better route. It was open and it was a good path to follow, leading me down the mountain. This entire area is prime mountain lion territory but I did not see my cougar. I suppose I should be relieved about that. My new route took me down past the middle falls so I had to work my way back to it and I came upon a terrific viewpoint of the waterfall on the edge of a cliff.
The middle falls is 144 ft. high. You cannot quite see the bottom from the viewpoint but you can see most of it. It is a beauty. You can see the upper waterfall from here (sort of) but I could see no way to get up close to it. It was also not possible to get down any further to the creek because of the cliffs so I turned back and went down to the lower waterfall at the river. This time I went all the way down to the bottom of it for a better view.
At the bottom I was surprised to find a trail. It seemed to follow the river upstream. It is not on my map but it was well defined and I suspect it is an easier way to get to Knickerbocker Falls. I will have to try it next time (with Journey). It was a very beautiful morning in Auburn State Recreation Area.
