My new tent arrived earlier than I expected. Before the weekend. This would be a perfect opportunity to give it a test run since I was not playing drums on Sunday. I wanted to take Journey along as well. New journeys with a new tent. The Eastern Sierra would be a great idea to see Fall Colors, however it was going to be 23 degrees at night. I could handle that but not Journey. That would be way too cold for her. Well I could go by myself or find a different place. Nearer to Lake Tahoe it was only going to be 37 degrees. Granite Chief Wilderness. This seemed perfect. Let’s go!
It is a very long drive to the trailhead. On a very windy road. Journey loves that. Not! Finally we got there at 11AM and were happy to get on the trail. It was a beautiful day. The first storm of the year just finished with about 2 inches of rain. Would all the creeks be up now? Not really but hopefully the waterfall would still be decent. It seems we are going to have a weak La Nina this winter which is a good sign, however we also have the Big Blob back which was very prevalent in the drought years. Are we going back into another extended drought or will we have a good winter? Pray for rain.
The hike to the waterfall is fairly easy, about 5 miles with minimal elevation gain. The first part is through an old growth forest. Huge trees. Redwood. Spruce. Douglas Fir. Absolutely incredibly beautiful through here. After crossing the Middle Fork American River (which was easily rock hoppable) the terrain changes in Picayune Valley. There are a lot of Aspen trees. Sadly they were all still green. I really wanted to see some Fall Color on this trip but I guess the elevation is too low and they have not changed yet. The trail was also a bit overgrown in places. It was not difficult but I was sad about that as well.
We arrived at the waterfall about 1:30PM and set up camp. It is very rocky and there was just one small spot to put the tent. I bought the Durston X Mid2. It takes some getting used to for setting up and taking down but so far I really like it. The camping area is quite large (and rocky, as I said) so Journey had a lot of room to explore while I was setting up the tent or doing other things.
Since it was an easy hike and still early I thought we would continue up the trail for awhile. I wanted to tire Journey out some more before bed. We hiked about 30 minutes up and 30 minutes back. I am not sure if that really tired her out more or not. Ah well. It was overcast when we got back to camp so we went straight to the waterfall to take photos. It was a bit difficult getting Journey up to the falls. There were some tricky spots including walking along a cliff edge, crossing the creek, and lifting her up over a big rock ledge. She did great though and we made it. Going back I found a much easier way for her.
Picayune Valley Falls is 41 ft. high. I thought it would be flowing a bit better, at least twice as much, but oh well. What can you do. It was still all right.
We got back to camp, made dinner, and went to bed. I had two coats for Journey but even so, she woke up at 4AM and was shivering. This was surprising to me. I took my sleeping bag liner (which was keeping me very cozy) and put it on over her. After this she stopped shivering and I think she was warm enough for the rest of the night.
We woke up, made breakfast, and hiked out, getting back to the car at 10:30AM. Then the very long drive home. It was a marvelous trip with Journey into the Granite Chief Wilderness.
