When going to new waterfalls it is difficult to know if I should take Journey or not. I have no idea if there is going to be too much brush or if it will be too cliffy for her or something else. Well, I had my eyes on a new waterfall in Oroville area and I thought she might be able to do it. The waterfall is basically beside a dirt road. It should be all right, I hoped. We did not get very far. The road was completely washed out. If I was by myself I think I could have gotten by it but there is no way Journey could do it. Well, that was a washout. (pun intended) We did end up hiking 8 miles so she was happy at least that we had a good hike.
Two days later. My birthday. I took the day off work and wanted to get a good hike in with Journey. We would be getting to a waterfall this time. 100 percent.
My initial plan was to go back to Oroville area but I wasn’t so keen on it. It would be a good hike for sure but the waterfall was just a little one and I have been to it before. For my birthday I wanted something better. But I could not think of another option. I woke up Monday morning and considered it. What if we go up into the snow? How about Rattlesnake Creek Falls? I looked at the satellite. There was not that much snow so it should be do-able and the creek should be flowing as well. This is going to be a much better hike for my birthday. And Journey gets to sleep in an extra hour. She’ll be happier. (she would be happy anyway)
We arrived at the trailhead at sunrise. The usual parking was all snowed in. There is no other legal place to park. I found one small spot that seemed to be legal enough. Off we went. It was 28 degrees.
They are doing construction work on the Fordyce Dam and they have the road entirely closed to the public. It is ok to go here in winter since they are not working but I had hoped to go backpacking up here with Journey in the spring. I don’t think I’ll be allowed to do that until 2029 according to the sign. That kinda sucks. Sigh.
Anyway, we stopped at the lower falls first for a quick shot. Then hiked up to the middle falls for a quick shot. Then continued to the upper falls (shown here). There was snow on the road the entire way but there have been people snowmobiling up here so it was very easy walking on the road in the tracks. There was not much snow either. Sadly. We need a lot more snow this winter. Please. The last part over to the waterfall is off the road and there were no tracks. There was more snow here and it was icy and hard but I was still post-holing a bit. Journey had no troubles with that. She is much lighter than I am.
We came to the viewpoint of upper Rattlesnake Creek Falls. It was very pretty covered in snow and ice. I am certain this picture is not going to be appreciated as much as I think it should be. I really loved the look of it. It was so gorgeous.
We took our photos and Journey had her snack, then we hiked back down to the car. We were home by 12:30PM. It was a fabulous and cold and snowy birthday hike in Tahoe National Forest.
