Leon Turnbull Photography

I had thought there might be an upper falls on French Creek, but I had not planned to try to get down to it. The terrain looked far too cliffy and it seemed out of the realm of possibility, but mostly I was not even sure there was another waterfall there.

However, as I hiked back up the road from the lower falls, I looked down and I could see there was another waterfall down there. It did look very steep and cliffy, but I decided to try it. If I could do it, it would be so awesome. I descended the mountain for the second time. Down down down, I went. It looked like I was going to get cliffed out, but hey maybe not. I continued down, and soon enough, I was at the creek level, below the waterfall. From there, I was able to just work my way up beside the creek bed to get up close to the falls. And hey, there was no poison oak down at the upper falls. Bonus!

This upper falls is slightly bigger than the lower one, 54 ft. high. It was thundering over the cliff and down the canyon. It was utterly spectacular. Again, it was very difficult to photograph because of all the mist, in fact, the mist was far more intense at the upper falls.

Once again, I ascended back up the mountain to the road. Now I was very tired. But back on the road, it was an easy hike back to the car. I picked up a ton of garbage along the road and also some down in the canyon. My pack was way heavy because of it. Too bad I have a bad back, people! Thank you so much! But no worry, I picked up all your trash that you left (if you are reading this), and now French Canyon is once again pristine (until you go back in the summer).

As I drove back on the dirt road, I passed a truck that was parked just off the road. I saw it on my way in, and I found it curious that there would be anyone parked down here. Camping in the middle of nowhere? As I was wondering this, an old crazy looking lady came running out at me, flagging me down. Oh boy, what is this? Well it seems their truck battery died and they needed a jump. She and her husband were stranded there all night long, and then all morning until I came by. Geez, what if no one came by all week? It is winter, not many people go down here this time of year. Anyway, they were nice folks. Glad to be of service.

Last weekend was a bust. I put my back out bending down to feed the darn cats. Ugh! It bugs me because I have been doing my back exercises regularly. I rested all week, and was ready to hike the next weekend.

Spring has not started yet. I am very happy about that, though most people around here are not. After a brief respite from the monster February, the rain has started up again in California, and looks to continue for another couple weeks at least. Hoo yah! It was a rainy Saturday morning (again), and I was out hiking in it. I was hoping to go on three different hikes, but I over estimated how hard the first one would be. It was hard! But it was awesome.

I drove down this dirt road for 8 miles. I was surprised the road was in very good condition and I could drive this far on it. I expected a lot of mud, perhaps a washout or slide or tree down. Well, there was a washout on the road, actually, but it was at the 8 mile mark. From that point, it was only another two miles down to the waterfall. It should be an easy hike, right? Ha!

It was easy hiking down the road, but the last part involves a huge descent off trail, through the brush, through the poison oak, and down the steep mountain to the creek and waterfall. It was steep and it was cliffy, and once I got down close to the falls, it became very brushy, and there was a lot more poison oak. I could see the falls through the trees, but I could not see any way down to it. I was about to give up. I decided I would try one more route. This one was golden. I was able to get through the brush, and down to the creek level, right near the bottom of the falls. This is called French Creek Falls, 50 ft. high, and it was roaring! I could not believe how much water was flowing in the creek. It is not a very big creek (normally), but it sure was big today. It was spectacular, but very difficult to photograph because of all the mist from the falls. I am sure I touched some of that poison oak, but I have hope I do not get the itch.

What goes down must go back up. It was a tough climb back up to the road. Then an easy hike back to the car? But wait … I was not quite done yet ….

If I may be so bold, I would like to say something to all you Ventana Wilderness hikers: I think that many of you think you are very “hearty” and “tough” hikers, because you regularly hike through so much deadfall, heavy brush, swaths of ticks, and forests of poison oak. Granted, it is very tough, but that is my objection: It is not enjoyable! Ticks give you lyme disease. Poison oak gives you a horrible rash. If I was immune to poison oak, I would have no trouble bashing through it for 26 miles, as it covers over the entire trail for that distance. However, if I touch a single leaf, I will get the itch. I cannot afford to get that again this year. (already had a horrible case already). After two miles of going incredibly slowly, trying desperately to not touch any of it, I decided enough was enough, and I turned around to go to a different trail. If it was just the ticks (and there were plenty), I could deal with it (-maybe-), but not the oak. I can not hike like this for 26 miles. As for the brush, I can do a good bush whack to find a waterfall, and I have done so many times, but that is not enjoyable or fun either. It is hard! And if the brush is laced with poison oak, I probably would not do it, even if there is a waterfall.

So there you go. Thus was my failed attempt in the Ventana Wilderness recently. At this point I am thinking I will never hike in Ventana again, even though there are plenty of more waterfalls to see there. Just say no to Ventana! I don’t know. Perhaps I will try again next year. This is a throwback to one successful attempt in Ventana from last year: Sugar Falls.

February was just Febru-tastic! At the beginning of February, we were basically average across the board. As of Mar. 1, here is the update: Snow pack is 147% of normal (northern CA), 154% (Central Sierra), 146% (Southern Sierra). Rain fall is 133% of normal (north), 127% (central), and 122% (south). All is looking good, and the rain looks to be roaring into March. We should end up well above average for the year. But …. I just want to say one thing. Please do not complain about all the rain and snow we are getting! I’ve been hearing a lot of complaints recently. If you live in Lake Tahoe, and do not like the snow, why do you live there!!?? Do you want us to go into another huge drought?? Believe me, another drought is coming. Indeed, my prediction is that it will be even worse than the last one. We have basically four months out of the entire year where we get all (or most) of our rain and snow. (Dec-Mar). No one should be complaining about rain or snow that we get during these four months. We had a horrible start to the winter. Everyone was complaining about the lack of rain and upset about the fires that happened. Now people are complaining about the abundance of rain. Personally, I am praising God for all the rain (and we all should be). It is also important to note that Lake Oroville is *NOT* full yet and is BELOW normal (because they drained it after spillway incident a couple years ago). We still need a lot more rain in March to fill that reservoir. Hopefully we will get it in March.

Anyhow … speaking of rain… it was just a wee bit rainy on Saturday morning. I still wanted to hike, however, since I missed hiking last weekend. Going to Napa was not my first choice. However, everywhere else I thought of, it seemed to be just very heavy rain all morning. In Napa, supposedly, the rain was ending early. Indeed, when I woke up on Saturday,my weather app said it was just cloudy there. The rain had already stopped (supposedly). I decided to go to Napa.

As I drove down the freeway from Sacramento,there was a torrential downpour. In fact, the rain was extremely heavy for the entire drive. It seemed to be getting worse the further west I drove. Is it really not raining in Napa? Visibility was poor. I had to drive slow. It was ridiculous. By the time I got to Napa, it was still raining (not cloudy), but at least it was now just light rain. When I got to the trailhead, it was just misting. So I would not call that cloudy, but it was not rain either. It was really the perfect hiking weather.

I have not hiked to the Palisades before. I have been wanting to go. I heard there is a waterfall there. It should be great today.

It is a good trail. It is a very interesting trail. There is a rock maze along the way which you can walk through, and try to make it to the center of the maze. Whoever did this, must have worked for many many hours. Maybe it was aliens. I am not a fan of rock piles and cairns and such in the wilderness, but this was very cool. The trail is also very long. It is a hard trail. The hike was 3 miles longer than I expected, and the waterfall was much further than I thought. The elevation gain on the hike was much more than I thought (about 1800 ft. in total). All in all, it was a pretty darn tough hike. At least it was all on trail, but I do think I somehow managed to touch some poison oak.

I finally arrived at the waterfall. I was almost ready to give up, since I had been so much hiking further than expected. That would have sucked. I am glad I kept going. It is a very gorgeous 48 ft. high falls. I just wish that tree was not there at the bottom of it. I did go down to the bottom of the falls, which was not too difficult, and was pretty cool, but it was too difficult to photograph the waterfall from the bottom because of all the mist. There was no just good spot. The best place to photograph it was from the top. But here too, it was difficult. The cliffs are extremely unstable. I did not want to get very close to the edge. It was a big dropoff to the bottom of the cliff. Not fun.

It was a long and tough hike back to the car. Six hours total hiking there and back. Was it worth the effort? I would say, yes. It was a Febru-tastic day in Napa Valley.

Every so often the mist from the waterfall would rise and cover the view, making it seem as if it was fogged in. Pretty darn cool.