It was 2008 the last time I went down this trail. I had a wild cougar encounter. Seventeen years later and it was time to go back and find my beloved. I did not find her. I was so sad. Ha ha!
Fifteen inches of rain in the foothills this past week. All the waterfalls were roaring. I had many choices but I decided on Knickerbocker Falls. I have been wanting to go back here and in particular try to get up close to the middle waterfall on this creek. It eluded me last time and I wanted to fix that.
I did not take Journey with me. I thought it was going to be too steep and cliffy but actually she could have made it pretty easily. Except the ticks are out now so that would not have been very good for her. I managed to pick up a couple of the buggers but Journey would have gotten it a lot worse. The route I took last time was too brushy now. I remembered it being quite easy before but I could not find my way through it. I was about to give up but I finally bashed my way through and came upon a much better route. It was open and it was a good path to follow, leading me down the mountain. This entire area is prime mountain lion territory but I did not see my cougar. I suppose I should be relieved about that. My new route took me down past the middle falls so I had to work my way back to it and I came upon a terrific viewpoint of the waterfall on the edge of a cliff.
The middle falls is 144 ft. high. You cannot quite see the bottom from the viewpoint but you can see most of it. It is a beauty. You can see the upper waterfall from here (sort of) but I could see no way to get up close to it. It was also not possible to get down any further to the creek because of the cliffs so I turned back and went down to the lower waterfall at the river. This time I went all the way down to the bottom of it for a better view.
At the bottom I was surprised to find a trail. It seemed to follow the river upstream. It is not on my map but it was well defined and I suspect it is an easier way to get to Knickerbocker Falls. I will have to try it next time (with Journey). It was a very beautiful morning in Auburn State Recreation Area.
Feather Falls has been closed since 2020 when the Bear Fire ravaged the entire area overnight. The devastation was immense. But let’s be honest: the Feather Falls Trail should’ve been opened a long time ago, at least a year or a year and a half ago. There is no excuse to leave this major trail closed for so long. The trail is 100% cleared. The bridges are 100% rebuilt. The parking lot is 100% rebuilt and re-paved. The viewing platform is 100% rebuilt. It has been this way for quite a long time now. Indeed, I am not convinced that the viewing platform was ever burned in the Bear Fire. It was rebuilt just prior to the fire and it looks about the same to me. A lot of people have hiked here in the last year before the trail was open and I don’t blame them. I might’ve come here myself if I had any burning desire to do so. The only thing I really wanted to do, however, was to bring Journey here and make a video, and I figured it was best to wait until the trail was re-opened before doing that.
January 1, 2025. The forest order stating the trail closure to Feather Falls is expired. There is no new forest order posted. I checked multiple times, including the day I came here. The thing that bothers me, and I don’t understand, is why the forest service website does not state that the trail is re-opened. Nonetheless, the forest order is expired, so by the default that means the trail is now open again. It was finally time to bring Journey to see magnificent Feather Falls.
The problem with Feather Falls, which has always been a problem, is that it is in the sun most of the day. So that means (for photography) I need to get up at 4AM, drive out to the trailhead, and start hiking in the dark. This is not good for me but it is especially not good for Journey as she is definitely not a morning dog. That was not going to work for us. The only other option is to wait for a cloudy day. Two of my three weather apps said it was going to be cloudy in the afternoon at around 3 to 4PM. The third one said it was going to be sunny. I thought it would be worth trying it and hopefully 66.67% of the forecasters were not wrong.
We arrived at the re-paved parking lot at 12:30 PM. It was very sunny. We were the only ones there but clearly a lot of people have hiked this trail in recent days or months. The trail is very different. Before the fire the trail was mostly through the forest. Now the forest is completely gone. It is 100% exposed to the elements. This hike is going to be absolutely brutal in the summer. Also, you can now essentially see the entire loop trail as you hike along. That means you will be able to see all the people hiking behind you or ahead of you on the trail. But as I said, there was no one else here when we came.
Journey really struggled on the hike to the waterfall for some reason. After 2 1/2 miles she acted like she wanted to go back. She was tired. I think it was because it was very warm out. Imagine what it would be like if it was summer, though. You should definitely not bring your dog here in the summer. Or your kids. Or even yourself. 9 miles of hiking completely exposed to the sun when it is over 90 degrees? I will not be surprised to hear of someone dying from heat exposure. It was warm for us but not so hot and we were over halfway to the waterfall. I urged her to continue on.
We arrived at the viewing platform at 2:30PM. It was completely sunny. Journey had a snack and then she laid down on the deck to snooze for about 45 minutes. I sat down to enjoy the waterfall and waited for the clouds to arrive. I was not too hopeful because there was nothing around at all, nonetheless, at about 3:15PM the clouds made an appearance and I was able to take some good photos. It would have been even better if I waited longer but then we would have been hiking in the dark. I got my shot and I was happy. We left at 3:30PM and headed back.
The shorter loop going back is much more difficult but after her long rest Journey had her second wind and she did great on the hike back. Much better than me in fact. I was quite struggling on the uphill. Journey was way ahead of me the entire time but she always waits for me to catch up. I love that about her. We got back to the car at 5PM and drove home but stopped for a hamburger, which she mightily deserved. We had a terrific hike to spectacular 410 ft. high Feather Falls.
They say La Niña has finally arrived. Is it too little too late? We have had zero rain in January so far (excluding the first weekend) and it is not looking good in the immediate future. Bloody stupid polar vortex. Perhaps La Niña will have a positive effect in February or March. We shall see.
I was quite disappointed in this waterfall. I really thought there would be a lot more flow. I know it is a small creek but we had a lot of rain in late December and I thought for sure it would still be decent.
It was 3:30 PM when we arrived at the trail head. Journey was excited. It was a really good hike for her and she had fun. Down at the river I saw that some people were camping there. We saw no people, just the tents. I did not think about it at the time but later I thought it was odd that there were no people. It was late afternoon and near dusk, it should be active with people getting dinner and ready for bed. Now I am thinking that maybe the tents and campsite were just abandoned. Hmmm…
Anyway, I thought this was going to be an easy hike for Journey and my prior notes did not indicate otherwise. However, when we got down to the river I realized it was going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. It was not just an easy stroll along the river. There was a lot of rock scrambling, with slippery rocks and steep drop offs. There were a couple places I had to lift her up the rocks. I wondered if she was even going to be able to make it to the waterfall but she did incredibly awesome. I was very proud of her. We made it to the falls and she waited patiently while I took photos.
It took a lot longer to hike here than I expected and it was already close to sunset. No time to see the middle or upper falls and it was dark by the time we got back to the car. We had a fun and enjoyable hike at South Yuba River State Park.
I think Journey had quite a bit of fun up in Canada. We went on a few hikes in the snow (she loves the snow), and she had loads of fun playing with her cousins Siri and Ebbi, especially Siri. They would chase each other around the yard for an endless amount of time. It was funny because Journey is so much faster than Siri this year. Siri had no chance at all getting the ball when they played fetch. Ha ha. But they both had fun.
On the last day Journey, Nekoda, and I went to Cherry Creek Falls (again). Whenever I have been there in the past the road has always been plowed right to the trailhead. This year it was not plowed. There was just a tad too much snow on the ground to drive it but it was only 1 kilometer so it was no big deal for us to hike in to the waterfall. Journey in particular was happy about the additional hiking in the snow.
As expected the last section down to the bottom was very icy. We did not want Journey going down so we took turns. I went down first to take my photos, then Nekoda went down. I told her in no uncertain terms not to go out on the dangerous ice at the bottom. So what does she do? Goes out on the ice. Ugh. Teenagers.
It was not very cold this year in Canada. There was a bit more snow than last year (not too much though). We did not have very many days up there so I did not have any hiking plans, however I always have to go visit Marysville Falls. It is very easy to get to and very close to my sister’s house. I have probably been to it more times than my sister has. Ha ha! It is also very interesting to see how much snow and ice is covering the waterfall. This year it was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be like: decent flow in the creek and a little snow and ice but not too much. It was perfect.
After photographing the waterfall I took Journey down to the bottom where the creek meets the river. From there the trail continues on the other side of the creek but there was too much water in the creek to cross it without getting wet and I did not want Journey (or myself) to get the shivers from the ice cold water so we continued along the river on this side of the creek. The trail only went a short distance before the snow became too deep. We scared up a couple deer and they decided to escape from us by swimming across the river. It was fun to watch them cross. Journey was certainly interested in them. I saw some unexpected wildlife on this trip. A lot of deer. Only one elk this year (usually I see a lot of elk and a herd of them often come straight through my sister’s yard). I also saw a fox and a moose, both of which are quite unusual to see. It was a lovely short trip to British Columbia.
