Feather Falls Dayhike

“Damn! Had typed the whole thing out and managed to kill it. DAMMIT!!

Anyhoo...

MY buddy Colin (and Best Man at my wedding) was in town for a long weekend. After we had gotten the business end of things wrapped up, it was time for some outdoor fun! He wasn't up for anything wintery (being a So Cal boy and all), so we opted to do a day hike at lower elevation. I suggested Feather Falls.

Feather Falls is a 640 ft+ falls, the fifth largest in North America. It is fed by the Fall River, which in turn, feeds the Middle Fork of the Feather River, which in turn feeds Oroville Reservoir and the State Water Project.

We piled in the car and drove the 70+ miles north of Sacto to the trailhead. The trail is an 8 or 9 mile loop, depending on which route you take. The draw back for me hiking at lower elevations is that I am HIGHLY allergic to poison oak and it grows everywhere on this trail. I stopped at the trailhead to apply copious amounts of Ivy Block and then we were off.

Fortunately, the trail was not overgrown at all. Everything was nice and green and moist from all the Winter precip. Wildflowers were begining to blossom. The trail was moist, giving good traction and no dust. Seasonal streams were running, giving us a chance to soak in the many smaller falls before reaching the mack daddy. It was gorgeous.

The weather was prime, in the 60s with intermitent cloud cover to keep the temp down. Overall, mostly sunny.

We hoofed down the 4.5 mile trail in about 1.5 hours, taking time to soak in the views from the various overlooks, including "Something" Bald (can't remember the name), a large bald face of granite that stood out prominently to the west throughout most of the trail.

Finally we reached the falls, which you can hear about a quarter-mile away from reaching. Since the last time I had been on the trail, about three years ago, they had managed to rebuild the observation platform which before was closed and falling off the cliffside. We had a nice lunch on the platform, soaking the sounds and views of the falls, complete with mist rainbows from the water dashing on the rocks below.

Following lunch, we journeyed around to where the falls plunges over the edge. The state park service also had repaired the fenced in overhang since the last time I was at the falls. Good thing too. Just as I was done fliming the "CAUTION. Jason Lee died here in 1995." sign with my video cam, it was as though someone kicked my feet out from under me and I fell squarely on my butt, abrasing my elbow which I used to help break the fall. I don't think I would have gone over the side, regardless of the fence, but it was still a wake-up and reminded me how easily accidents happen.

After freaking ourselves out on the overlook, we headed back, taking the "more difficult" return trail. And it was, climbing steadily for the entire 3.5 miles, giving our quads a good burn and working up a sweat. Towards the end of the trail, we stopped to view some grinding holes left behind in the granite by Miwok Indians 2,000 years earlier.

As always, an excellent hike!

pics”

“We did a lot of soaking! LOL!”

“NICE pics! especially the one with that dude, "roseymonster" in it.
;-)”

“Great pictures, rosey!! Now I want to go there more than ever! Were there many people?”

“Nice report”

“. . . including "Something" Bald (can't remember the name) . . .

Windwalker???? J/K!!!!

Thanks for the report! When are you two getting married?”

“Pepper:

Not too many, really. Maybe saw 10-15 people? Some just starting down the trail around 4:30 pm. I wanted to break it to them that there was no way they would make the hike before dark!

Snowy:

MAY 3rd!!”