I did get out hiking last weekend but did not find any new waterfalls so you are stuck with another one from Oregon. This is University Falls and not particularly photogenic at low flows, but I did what I could. This weekend I will hopefully fare a little better with my waterfall hunting. And the rain is coming next week. Finally. So that means the waterfalls here will start flowing again. Yipee!
This is Fern Rock Falls in Oregon. It is a pretty little thing. I think this might be the last decent image I have from my summer trip to Oregon. That’s all she wrote, folks. Now we just need the rainy season to start here so I can go get some more images. I do plan to hike this weekend, but there’s really not a lot flowing right now.
Wake up 3:30am. Drive to Feather Falls trailhead. Arrive in dark. Start heading out to the waterfall.
Sound crazy? Nuts? Insane? Wait til you hear the rest of the story.
First off, this may be TMI but when I arrived at the trailhead I had to use the outhouse facilities there. I noticed a rat crawling around down in the hole. I’m not kidding you. Needless to say I went very quickly.
That was the freakiest thing I saw this day. Which is probably good because I was biking in the dark. Not hiking. I was hoping to be at the falls by sunrise and since it is about 5 miles one way, biking is the quickest option. It is actually a very nice trail to bike, going out is mostly downhill, but fairly gentle, so coming back afterwards is tough but not killer. It is easier to hike out and back but much quicker to bike.
I was also trying out the new camera I just bought. A GoPro Hero head cam. Why would I get such a thing? Well, I have a grand idea of documenting my hikes for the public to view and follow me along. This one is going to be really good I think and definitely not boring, so be watching for it soon.
I arrived at Feather Falls a bit later than I wanted. I first went down to the viewpoint. The falls was flowing really quite well, much better than I expected. This late in the year and after two years of drought I thought it would be as low as I have ever seen it. Not so. It was exquisite.
After photographing from the viewpoint it was time for part two of my adventure: crossing the river above the waterfall and try to find a spot on the other side to photograph it. I have never seen a photo of Feather Falls from the other side. Now I know why. (actually I lied – I have seen one very very old photo, but that is it).
I figured the worst part by far would be crossing the river and with the falls flowing higher than I expected, I thought it might be impossible. People have died here including one last year. It is kinda freaky crossing a river above a 410 ft high waterfall but actually it was very easy (don’t try it in the spring though).
Next up was to climb the ridge on the other side and make my way down to a point where I could see the falls. After studying Google Earth I really expected this to be a piece of cake. It looked so open and non brushy. Not quite. It was extremely brushy. I found a trail going in the right direction and thought I would be in luck. At first I thought it was a human trail but after awhile (and after passing a number of bear droppings) I realized it must be a bear trail. Eventually I was stopped by the brush. I could go no farther but I did get to a point where I could see the waterfall. It was too obscured to take a picture but you will see it in the video. So it was not a huge success but at least I got a view of the waterfall (albeit somewhat obscured).
The bike ride back to my car was quite tiring (it didn’t help that I did all that scrambling on the other side of the river). All uphill and 5 miles, but I made it all the way. It is a good thing I am in shape right now from biking to work every day. Otherwise I might still be out there on the trail somewhere.
Here’s some alpenglow of Mt Brokeoff in Lassen Volcanic National Park. The alpenglow only lasted a few seconds and then poof it was gone. I was really hoping those clouds over the mountain would color up a bit but they never did. C’est la vie, I guess.
Well this government shutdown has me annoyed to no end. I would not even care if the parks were closed if they still let us in there to hike the trails, but we cannot even do that. How dare the government take our land away from us. Now Utah is opening their national parks (paying the feds for it), but will California do the same? Of course not. Our governor doesn’t give a crap about our parks. He has proven that already. Oh how I would love to knock some sense into our politicians. This had all better be settled before waterfall season starts or else…
Speaking of which … when “will” it start? Who the heck knows but I sure am anxious about it. I just read one report saying that we could have an above average winter in California (about time, I say). I am hoping so, but then again I read another report we will be having a weak El Nino which is exactly what we had last year, and that makes me think it will be another below average season. How about we split the difference and have a NORMAL AVERAGE season? After two awful years in a row, that would make me happy enough.
Here you go folks: A brand spanking new waterfall just found in Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is a nice one and a significant drop too at 50 ft. high. Thank you very much, Mr. Amazing and Crazy Waterfall Hunter at waterfallswest.com!
I say that last sentence in jest because of a recent high profile news article in which a certain canoeist in Canada found a previously unknown waterfall while canoeing down a remote river. He claimed it was 40 ft. high but from the picture I saw, it was clearly only around 20 ft. high, and likely less than this! Now he is getting paid money by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to find waterfalls in Canada. I did not say anything about this previously, but I really thought the whole thing was very lame. I mean, heck, I find new “uncharted” waterfalls all the time. Last waterfall season, for instance, I found Upper West New York Canyon Falls (and it is 150 ft., not 20 ft.), not to mention quite a few others as well (oh I could mention some of them: SF Rubicon River Falls, Upper Clipper Crk Falls, Upper Iowa Cyn Falls, Upper Devils Falls, Iowa Hill Ditch Falls). And I am not the only waterfall hunter that finds new waterfalls. It is not difficult if you know where to look, and have a lot of determination. So it kind of bugs me that he finds a 20 ft waterfall and now gets paid for doing it. One thing I guess I can say about him is that he is a lot smarter than me if he can scam RCGS into paying him to find 20 ft. high waterfalls.
This season (which has only just begun) I now add yet another one to my list, which I am naming West Sulphur Creek Falls. Although not far from a main trail, it is hidden and rather remote. I am quite certain that no one currently in the park service has been to this waterfall or even knows of its existence. I saw no evidence that anyone had been down there in the recent past. Of course I am not foolhardy enough to believe that I am the first person to ever lay eyes on it (I am only slightly foolhardy). In fact, I saw what seemed like a very old road down there but it was so old I am not sure if it even was a road, and certainly has not been used in over 100 years. And if anyone did see it in the past, it was probably just swished away, discounted, ignored, snubbed – even though it is a significant drop at 50 ft. high. That is because it is hidden in an extremely steep canyon, surrounded by cliffs on both sides. The cliffs seem even steeper than those at Mill Creek Falls – and we all know what those are like (see my previous post). It was very difficult to get any view of this waterfall at all, I was standing on a hairy scary precipice, and even then, the top part of the falls is obscured by tree branches, so from this viewpoint it is not very photogenic, but it would be sweet if you could get down to it. It may or may not be possible to do that; I would like to come back and try someday, but I did not have time on this day as I had to get to Chester to meet up with my family for lunch. Oh and by the way … there are more “uncharted” waterfalls in Lassen NP, and some of them may even be a lot bigger than this one.
It is of course rather a huge shame and disappointment that Lassen NP is now closed because of the government shutdown (as well as all other national parks). So now you can’t even go to this waterfall (at least for awhile). It is very irksome for sure. Even the trails are closed. I just don’t understand that. I could understand closing the facilities, but why the trails? Why can’t we still go in there and hike? This is our land, people. Not the government’s.