Evening Adventure
After work on Thursday I headed back up yet again to Ice House Rd. I knew it would mean getting home late (which is difficult since I need to get up early for work) but I couldn’t go out Friday (hockey game) and I had other hiking plans for the weekend, so Thursday was my best option.
I brought my bike with me. When I was up here two weeks ago the road was still snowed in. Even though the elevation is lower than Bassi Falls (which was open) snow seems to really linger on this road. I figured if it was still snowed in I could bike the rest of the way to the trailhead. I thought it might be as there was still a lot of snow along the side of Ice House Rd as I drove up, but the road to the trailhead was thankfully clear (but I am sure if I came the prior week it would not be – I timed this one perfectly).
Even though I could have hiked all the way I decided to bike the first part (and I’m so glad I did). It is a three mile one way hike, the first two are along a dirt road. It is uphill all the way but it is very gradual so it is quite do-able on a bike. Nonetheless it is a tough climb on a bike and would have been much easier hiking (but a lot longer, and coming back down on the bike was so fast and quick).
At the end of two miles you need to get off the bike and hike through the forest the rest of the way to the waterfall. At first the going was very easy but then the manzanita brush got a lot thicker. There was a bit of a path through the brush so I kept going. There was also quite a bit of snow still around, so I was able to walk on the snow over the brush (much easier than going “through” the brush). It took an hour to hike this mile through the forest and I arrived at the waterfall a bit later than anticipated. It was a beautiful and large cascade which I measured 251 ft high. Finding a good point of view to photograph it was difficult. Ideally I should have crossed the creek but I was not prepared for that. Plus I was out of time. It was 8pm, sunset was in half an hour. I quickly took some shots than literally ran back down through the forest, arriving back at my bike by 8:30. The bike ride back down the mountain was a breeze and I got back to my car just before it got dark. It was a great evening adventure (but I was sure tired the next day at work).
More info on North Fork Big Silver Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=655