I returned to Upper Bidwell Park in Chico. They received an additional 2 inches of rain in the past week (after the big storm the prior week) so I was sure the waterfalls here would still be flowing well.
As Journey and I hiked down the trail there were many little streams flowing along down beside the trail, sometimes in the middle of the trail. Other little creeks had very good flow. These are all normally dry. This was a great sign. Lovejoy Falls and Iron Canyon Falls would be roaring. Right?
We came to the Lovejoy Falls stream. It was pathetic. It was worse than when I was here before. What the heck? Why isn’t this creek flowing better? Indeed it should be very strong. Iron Canyon was the same way. It barely had any flow at all. It was all quite disappointing.
Iron Canyon Falls is 63 ft. high. I have not been to it before. There is a very interesting slot canyon you can go down to get to the bottom of it. I was not sure if Journey would be able to do it but a friend who has a dog said it was not a problem for his pooch. Indeed Journey had no trouble getting down the slot. I, on the other hand, did have a slight issue. There is a very narrow spot at the bottom and I got stuck trying to go through it. I had to take my backpack off then I was able to squeeze through, pulling my backpack down after me, with Journey following along behind. We made it. It is an incredibly cool spot. Even with the low flow there was a lot of spray from the falls and it was difficult to take photos. I can’t imagine taking photos down here at high flow (but a friend of mine has a great photo from the bottom – how did he manage?). Anyway, I will definitely be back here again when there is more water. Give me more more more.
We climbed back up the slot and over to Lovejoy Falls. Then we hiked back to the car and drove home. Even though the water flow was disappointing, it was still a gorgeous hike in Upper Bidwell Park.
