I woke up with frost on my tent. I thought it was supposed to be getting warmer this week, not colder! I also woke up with my pinky toe hurting. Just like a couple years ago when it was broken and I had to hobble 20 miles back home. It was not broken this time but it was certainly hurting. Should I go home now, while I still can?
I tried to hike down to Piute Falls. I did not make it. It was very difficult, it was very brushy, and before too long, I got cliffed out. This was very disappointing. This was the primary waterfall I wanted to visit on this trip. The sole reason I came up here. If I did not make it to Piute Falls this trip would be considered a failure despite all the other waterfalls I saw. I wanted another crack at it. I could get another crack at it tomorrow if I stayed a second night at Table Lake instead of continuing on to my next planned destination. This would also let me rest my toe for the entire day. It would be a NERO day as through hikers call it, a little bit of hiking involved but mostly zero hiking. My toe really needed to rest for a whole day and I really needed to try this waterfall again. It was the best decision I made on this trip.
But it would be a boring day. I had nothing to do for the entire day. I could not go on a hike, not even a little one. All I could do is listen to the birds all day long. Which ones were most prevalent and which had the prettiest song? I heard the Fox Sparrow, Mountain Quail, Mountain Chickadee, and Western Wood Pewee, among others, but the Fox Sparrow won on all counts.
The photo is Middle Piute Creek Falls from the previous day, one of the two waterfalls I saw that day. It is about 40 ft. high. I almost missed this one on my research. I saw it but thought it was less than 20 ft. high so was not going to bother. I checked again just before I left and realized it was much bigger and definitely worth a visit. You can get right up next to it (which is cool) but in order to photograph it I had to go all the way around to the other side of the big pool. It was getting late by this time and I still had to go to the upper falls so I did not spend much time here. Day 5 of Yosemite backpacking trip complete.
