Today I woke up with sky covered by smoke from all the fires in the area. I wasn't really sure what to do since the hikes I planned for today were pretty strenuous with vista on top of the mountain. I knew that there would not be any vista due to poor visibility, so I changed my plans and decided to drive to McCloud Waterfalls. I didn't really expect much since this has been one of the driest years in California, but the waterfalls managed to surprise me.
I arrived at the parking lot and immediately saw dozens of fliers posted all over the campground about daily sightings of bears. I was the third car in the parking lot, so I knew the trail was not going to be very busy. I am not easily discouraged to hike in bear territories (most of forests have bears and mountain lions), but this was a bit unnerving. I started the hike fully alert of my surroundings. The first view of the lower falls was right at the beginning of the trail. A few people were fishing there.
You can see the slight yellow hue to these photos. This is smoke in the air. You could smell it, you could see it. The nature continues to exist though, and I hike on to the next waterfalls.
About a mile and a half into the hike, the middle waterfalls can be heard from a distance. Soon I see slowly trickling water (well, it's still a waterfall, but I believe it's at its lowest levels). The air is nice and cool by the flowing water.
I continued the hike uphill as the weather was getting warmer and warmer - it was going to be in mid-90s today. As I reached another parking lot, this one for the upper falls, I started seeing more people starting their morning hike at 10 am. This is usually when the trails get a bit crowded, but with smoke in the air and it being a weekday, there were still few people around. I made it all the way to the upper falls.
I didn't stay too long and headed back to the trailhead. A woman with her dog who was originally in the parking lot with me said she was glad to follow someone as she was afraid to hike by herself with all these bear sighting warnings. It made me a bit proud to push myself further beyond my fears and hike on.
As I reached the parking lot, I knew my hiking for today was not over. I drove another 30 minutes to Burney Falls. Again, I did not expect much, but what I saw reenergized me for the rest of my trip. When I arrived at the site, I noticed a toll booth as you would typically see in National Parks. Parking was $10. I quickly found a spot and after a short bathroom break headed to the falls.
The sound was what amazed me here. I don't think that the video will even portray the vibrations I felt through the ground. I can't describe the feeling of coolness and lightness I felt at that moment. It was very crowded, but even with crowds I felt like the energy from the falls lightened me.
I made a loop and came back to the parking lot. More and more people arrived, which was my signal to get out of there!
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