I arrived at the Leavitt Meadow trailhead to the sound of Thunder.
Big Thunder. Lightning. Hail. Huge Hail. Pebble Sized Hail. I took shelter in my car. It pelted the windows. I almost thought they might shatter. I would not want to be standing outside in this. Or hiking in this. The hail continued for about an hour. Followed by a steady rain for another half hour. So much for being one and a half hours early for my hike. There were another couple guys and a dog parking next to me that did the same thing. Waiting for the rain to stop before they started their backpacking trip. Finally the rain stopped at 6:30PM. I had cell service so I kept checking the radar during this time. It seemed that no more rain was coming for the evening so I got all my gear together quickly and started my hike. It was perfect timing, really. I would not have wanted to start hiking any later than this. In fact, if the rain had continued any later, I probably would’ve slept in the car and did the hike to the waterfall in the morning. But I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to backpack in and camp at the waterfall. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening hike. Cool temperatures with a nice breeze. The sagebrush had a wonderfully refreshing smell. There were a lot of puddles on the trail from the rain. There were no bugs. There were mosquitoes near the end as I hike through the forest after the breeze had stopped and I had to put on bug spray but when I got to my camping location, there were not many bugs there at all. I arrived at sunset, 8:30PM. Unfortunately, there was no easy access to water at the top of the waterfall but thankfully, I had enough water left to last the night. Barely. I would get more in the morning when I went down to the waterfall. I set up camp in the dark. It took longer than normal because I was using my old tent and it had been awhile since I have set it up (remember, my good one died on the last trip). I hopped into bed and went to sleep.
The forecast said it would rain more in the night, and more in the morning. I did not care about that, so long as I could take photos of the waterfall in the morning before the rain started. However, that did not happen. It did not rain at all. I slept fairly well, and woke up to an absolutely gorgeous morning. No mosquitoes at all. It was perfect. Thank you, Lord.
I scrambled down the steep hillside to the river. You have to cross the river to see the waterfall. This is the reason I did not bring Journey on this trip. I thought the river would be a lot higher and I figured she would not be able to cross it. As it turned out, the river was a lot lower than I expected. I think she could’ve crossed it. But she definitely would not have wanted to cross it. It was deep enough and slippery enough that she would’ve had troubles. Maybe it is a good thing I left her at home.
I spent a lot of time taking photos from different angles. West Walker River Falls is a beautiful 33 foot high waterfall. It is well hidden and off trail. When I was here a few years ago I walked right past the waterfall not knowing it was even there. Shame on me. I suppose I probably would’ve figured it out eventually but many thanks to my friend Mike who told me about it. After taking photos I gathered some water and hiked up the hill to my camp, made some coffee and enjoyed the beautiful morning.
On the hike back, I passed some people with a pack of horses. They told me to go way up the hill off the trail because they had a skitterish horse. Thankfully, there was a place to get way off trail. What if it was a much narrower spot? Anyway, one of them asked if I saw the beaver at the waterfall. There is a beaver at the waterfall? I never saw it, but it would’ve been cool to see one for sure. All I saw this time were some deer. I arrived back at the car at 10:30AM and drove home. It was a magnificent one night trip into the Hoover Wilderness.
