Hiking Journal

the big storm

Housebound during a week of rainy weather, I was ready to go outdoors at the slightest hint of a break in the rain and/or wind, so when the Sun finally appeared I decided to have a look around.

The water in Lake Siskiyou was going over the dam and the spillway entering Box Canyon was one of the few instances where the word "awesome" would be a valid description. I felt sorry for the fish and any aquatic insects who happened to get in the way of the spectacle.

My next stop was Cantara, where I walked upstream as far as I could and got the photo above. After marveling at the speed and volume of the flood, I drove down to Hedge Creek Falls, below.

Aside from the main waterfall, there were others coming down the cliffs on the right, something I never saw before. I wanted to get the obligatory photo from the grotto behind the falls but there was too much spray swirling around.

With the clouds closing in again, I made a last stop at the Parks Creek overflow, just before it empties into the Shasta River, and photographed the horseshoe falls below. You can see from the erosion on the right bank that the peak of the flow had already occurred... sorry I missed it.

upper sulphur creek

An un-seasonably warm day (i.e. above freezing) propelled me out of the house and over to the south side of the Crags to bask in the sun. I walked up Sulphur Creek, which was still higher than normal, but the current "normal" wasn't very high to begin with. My hiking legs weren't quite up to par but I made it up to the rocks, where I scrambled around a bit, then came down. Other than some new downed trees here and there everything looked like it made it through what passes for winter around here OK...