Salcedo-Chourré - Hiking waterfalls in Northern California: a guide to the regions best waterfall hikes

Tracy Salcedo-Chourr has written guidebooks to a number of destinations in California and Colorado, including Hiking Lassen Volcanic National Park, Best Hikes Near Reno-Lake Tahoe, Best Hikes Near Sacramento, Best Rail-Trails California, Exploring Californias Missions and Presidios, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and Best Easy Day Hikes guides to San Franciscos Peninsula, San Franciscos North Bay, San Franciscos East Bay, San Jose, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Sacramento, Fresno, Boulder, Denver, and Aspen. She lives with her family in Californias Wine Country. You can learn more by visiting her website at www.laughingwaterink.com.

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Every effort has been made by the author and editors to make this guide as accurate and useful as possible. However, many things can change after a guide is publishedwater levels vary, trails are rerouted, regulations change, facilities come under new management, and so forth.

We welcome your comments concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. While we may not be able to respond to all comments and suggestions, well take them to heart, and well also make certain to share them with the author. Please send your comments and suggestions to the following address:

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Thanks for your input, and happy trails!

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Copyright 2015 by Rowman & Littlefield
Photos by Tracy Salcedo-Chourr, except page 303 courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
Maps: Melissa Baker Rowman & Littlefield

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
ISBN 978-0-7627-9457-7 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4930-1443-9 (e-book)

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI / NISO Z39.48-1992.

The author and Rowman & Littlefield assume no liability for accidents happening to, or injuries sustained by, readers who engage in the activities described in this book.

I must start by thanking the waterfall explorers and writers whove come before me. It turns out that a number of folks out there with waterfall obsessions have created fabulous resources for those who seek to find and explore Northern Californias waterfalls. My hat is off to them: I cannot hope to catalogue what they already have. I have included their books and websites as resources in the appendix at the end of this guide.

Just as crucial to the production of this guide is the work and input of those who serve as stewards of public lands. The bulk of the waterfalls in this guide are accessible via trails on public lands, whether national forests, national parks, state parks, or local parks and open space. My thanks to the land managers who oversee these public resources, for the hard work they do every day, and for taking the time to review hike descriptions within this guide.

I am also grateful to the folks who supported me while I hiked and wrote, including my cohorts at Streetwise Reports. Thanks also to the editors and mapmakers at FalconGuides/Rowman & Littlefield, who ushered the guide through production. Finally, thanks to friends and family, including Alison Pimentel, Mike Witkowski, Julianne Roth, Bettina Hopkins, Kerin McTaggart, Mitchell and Karen Friedman, Rita Friedman, Deb and Kern Rodman, Tory Rodman, Samantha and Callie Friedman, Ned Farnkopf, Jesse and Judy Salcedo, Nick and Nancy Salcedo, Chris Salcedo and Angela Jones, Sarah Chourr, Martin Chourr, and last but never least, my sons, Jesse, Cruz, and Penn Chourr.

I see now how hiking Northern Californias waterfalls could become the obsession of a lifetime. One waterfall leads to another, and to another, and even as I put this guide to bed, my mind spins with the possibilities. By one waterfall bloggers count, more than 1,400 waterfalls await exploration in the state. This guide covers just a fraction of those: It represents a launch pad, both for you, the reader, and for me, the writer.

It turns out that hiking NorCal waterfalls is like sailing or skiing: You need the right conditions. California has a rainy season and a dry season, which means many falls are ephemeral, running for only a handful of months before evaporating. Thus, winter and spring are optimal for waterfall hiking, with watercourses filled by either rainfall or snowmelt.

But prime conditions for seeing waterfalls in full flow go deeper than that. Climate matters. And unfortunately, my window of research for this guidebook corresponded with a historic drought in the Golden State. Even in winter I found myself hiking NorCals water-streaked cliffs. It was frustrating, but for the fact that I was hiking.

And hiking is what sets this guide apart from other waterfall compendiums. It is about the journey as much as the destination.

A hike to Carson Falls in Marin County, north of San Francisco, crystallized this for me: Sitting at the falls overlook, I gazed into a stagnant pool at the base of a black-streaked cliff, baking in an unseasonably warm winter sun. Waterfall? Ha! But on the hike back to the trailhead, I was met by a fabulous panorama, with Mount Tamalpais reclining on the southern horizon, a low wall of fog rolling over the wooded ridgelines to the west, and hills cloaked in golden grasses spreading east to the sprawling blue of San Francisco Bay. I paused, breathed deeply, and understood. Id have to come again, to see the falls when the rain returned, but in the meantime Id enjoy the path that I was on.

This revelation qualifies every hike in this guide. Ive given each waterfall a beauty rating (up to five stars), but these are more than ratings of the falls themselves; they also take into account the quality of the hike.

The ninety-nine hikes in this guide are a drop in the proverbial bucket. I hope that they will inspire you, as they have inspired me, to head out on the route less traveled, and to use that as a springboard to a route less traveled still.

Original research for this guidebook was done in 2013, 2014, and the beginning of 2015. Trails were hiked using modern GPS technology, but exact mileages may differ from what appears on park maps. Distances listed on trail signs dont necessarily mesh with maps or GPS readings. I have recorded the mileages logged on my GPS unit for consistencys sake. Discrepancies seldom exceeded 0.5 mile and shouldnt affect a hikers ability to gauge the difficulty or duration of a given hike.