July 4. We were up north visiting my wife’s mom for the long weekend. I really wanted to take Journey hiking somewhere. I wanted to do something new but also something that we could get to in time before the sun got on it. She is not allowed in Lassen Volcanic National Park so I could not go there. I could go to Lassen National Forest, however. There was one hike that would work: Digger Creek Falls.
We were up at 4:30AM. Journey was not very appreciative about this disturbance to her beauty sleep but she would be excited once we reached the trailhead. We arrived at about 5:45AM.
It is a short hike up to the waterfall. The USGS topo map shows an old trail following the creek up to Heart Lake. It is not the official trail to Heart Lake but I was confident it would work and I have heard of others going up here before. The trail to the waterfall was not too bad but there were a lot of downed trees we had to climb and jump over. Journey was a trooper and did very awesome. There was only one that she could not jump and which I had to lift her over. (on the way back down I was getting ready to help her again but she surprised me and insisted on jumping over it on her own).
We arrived at the waterfall in short order. Digger Creek Falls is a very pretty 47 ft. high tiered cascade. The creek was flowing quite well for early July. I was pleased. In order to photograph the falls, I had to get right in the middle of the creek. It was really the best and only spot to photograph it. I left Journey beside my pack while I did this. She waited very patiently and was absolutely perfect. That’s my girl.
After the waterfall my plan was to continue on the old trail up to Heart Lake and then come back down on the official trail. It would make for a very nice loop and a perfect hike for Journey. It did not happen. After the falls, the trail became much much more difficult. I lost the trail many times and in fact, it was impossible to follow. We were essentially going off-trail. Lots of downed trees. It was slow going. Journey did very well to follow in my footsteps as I tried to find the best route for her up the mountain. We got very close to the lake but then the route became much worse: too difficult, too rocky. I could tell that Journey did not want to continue any further and I don’t blame her. We turned around to go back.
When we got back to the waterfall I gave Journey her breakfast. There were a few mosquitoes but they were not bothering me (though I think Journey may have gotten a couple bites). Mostly, I think the mosquitoes have migrated to higher elevations now. It ended up being about a four mile hike by the time we got back down to the car. Not as much as I had hoped and I felt bad about bringing Journey on a tough off-trail hike. It was hard and she could not run ahead on the trail as she normally loves to do. I would have to do something better tomorrow. Even so, it was a great morning hike for both of us in Lassen National Forest on Independence Day.
