11/12/2023: An absolutely beautiful hike to beautiful waterfalls. The falls were not running at their fullest, but you could still see them cascading through the boulder field. Very pretty. Be careful. I fell trying to get a picture of the creek. I didn’t realize it was icy. Stupid me.
Big Silver Creek - Note the ice. I didn't at the time.
From my FB post: Today we hiked 5.5 miles along Bassi Creek to Bassi Falls in the High Sierras. It was truly beautiful, and I will post more photos later. But this photo was the most dangerous and, well, stupid photo I have ever taken. I fell...three times... on the icy ledge leading down to the creek. The second fall was into a swirling eddy that tried to pull me under. I am not quite sure how I pulled myself out. I lost my hat, nothing else. It was a simple scramble down a rock formation far easier than many others I have done. It took over a half hour to find my way back up the ledge to my very worried best buddy. She hugged me. She didn't yell or scold me. She held me. She knows me. I don't know where I'm going with this other than to say, be careful out there, you never know when that next step will be on an innocuous sheet of ice. I'll take more pictures in precarious positions, but I promise to remember that there are those in my life that want that life to stick around a bit longer. I got lucky today, but luck can run out. There is now new meaning to the phrase, "watch your step." I like the picture, but it was not worth the risk.
Marg’s Notes: Bassi Falls Trail. Diwali. We did not rush out this morning. Left ~7:45. Drove ~1.5 hours up Hwy 50 to Ice House Road. Beautiful drive. No one else was there when we arrived. Not too cold ~47°. I think. Easy walk thru forest along a creek for the 1st mile. Then, we went closer to the creek…Rod of course was taking pictures fro precarious perches & slipped & fell! Ended up in the creek. VERY SCARY! I did not see the fall but started to get concerned, so went to find him. I finally spotted him on the opposite side of the creek! Without his hat! It took at least 30 minutes for him to cross the creek & climb back up the rocks. He slipped once again. Luckily, his pack protected him from too much damage, but he landed on his back 2-2 times. Even though he was wet, we had a snack, then continued on. More nice hiking thru forest and nice creek views. We saw a few people. A man & his sons, ahead of us. The falls are beautiful! had some trail mix & H2O. a few more people arrived. We climbed up thru trees to try to get to the top of the falls, but we would have had to do some boulder climbing, so headed back. Rod is ok. His back is a bit sore but it was a scary day!
Chicken Tenders, baked taters & salad.
Finished Izzy’s sweater!
Note: Didn’t sleep well. Guess we were both shaken up more than we realized!
Rod’s Ramblings from the Trail: Absolutely no issue on that little half mile coming up on the dirt road. Although it says on Alltrails that you should use four-wheel drive, our little CRV did just fine and a regular car would probably be fine as well. No issues there.
It is 37° and about 9:30. There is nobody at the trailhead except us.
This is one of those very peaceful trails. Very quiet and runs along a gorgeous stream. The cascading water along the streams is absolutely beautiful. However, be very careful this time of year in approaching them because the rock is covered with ice. I found that out the hard way.
We arrived at Bassi falls about 11:30. Three other people were here, and we have
now been joined by four others in another group. It is flat-out gorgeous. This hike is five stars for sure. My back does hurt from when I fell into the stream and had to fight my way back up the hill over glazed ice. That was pretty stupid of me.
We left the falls at 12:05 and headed up the climbers trail to see if we could get to the top of the falls. Not 100% sure we
want to do that, but we are just going to see what's up here.
We got to the top of the hill and decided to turn around. There is a trail marked on all trails that we were on, but it just seemed to go along the edge of the rocks and stop. So, we decided that we liked the creek and since my back is hurting from the fall, we decided we would just hike back along the creek.
Next time.
We have been on the trail for over 3 hours and have only seen maybe 15 people.
If you are smart enough to stay off the frozen rocks and not fall into the creek, and just stay on the trail, I would not rate this as a moderate hike. It is more on the easy side. If you climb to the top of the waterfalls, then that will probably make it a moderate. But
I'm going to rate this as easy, and Marg agrees.
Finished the hike about 145. It was beautiful. We did about five and a half miles and some of us, Marg, did more by walking back and forth worrying about me down in the creek where I fell.
Created: 2023