Bassi Falls!

Saturday we hiked to Bassi Falls. Yeah, we got a later start than we intended (previous blog) but that would be okay. There's plenty of daylight this time of year. We'd be able to enjoy the falls for a while and then try a few other short hikes in the area. And after it all we're not even going all the way home. We're following up last night's Friday Night Halfway with Saturday Night Halfway. Better yet we're not going halfway home; we're going halfway to our next adventure!

But let me not get ahead of myself. We're still on this adventure. And Bassi Falls is always a fun little adventure.



I say "little" adventure because the trail we took is short. It's a bit over 1/2 mile each way. It starts out in forest cover amid towering firs. After cresting a slight rise then dropping down the other side the trail breaks out onto granite slickrock (photo above). This is where it goes from pleasant to fun. Being on bare rock like this is our happy place.

From here, BTW, we could hear the falls before we could see them. They're quite full right now with spring snowmelt after a record setting winter snow season. Their roar filled the canyon.



Soon enough the falls came into view. We could see even from a distance that there are a lot of people here today. Of course, we could tell from the number of cars parked along various spots on the road that there'd be a crowd. People were sunning themselves on rocks while kids and dogs splashed around in the swift moving shallows.



Despite the crowd there's plenty of Bassi Falls to go around, especially in a high-flow year such as this. We crossed through part of the stream below the falls, getting our feet wet though we didn't care, and found an area without so many people at it. Here were lingered for a bit, enjoying the view.



I also took some long exposure pictures with a darkening filter and my tripod. With the crushing flow of water right now the effect isn't as powerful as when we were here a few years ago in a dry year. But still it's an interesting effect as it captures the clouds of spray creating by the churning falls.

At the top I described Bassi Falls as an adventure. Though the falls are lovely it's not quite an adventure if all you do is walk to the falls, enjoy their beauty, and walk back. That's totally still In Beauty I Walk but not so much adventure. Well, the adventure comes from climbing that granite ridge to get to the top of the falls. That's where we're going next. Stay tuned!

Keep reading: the view from atop Bassi Falls— and D'oh!

Atop Bassi Falls, Hurrying Back Down

One of the fun parts of visiting Bassi Falls (previous blog with more pictures) is scrambling up the granite ridge to the top of the falls. Some people think to climb up the prominent rock face to its right. That's just barely possible in low flow years. In a super high flow year like this, nobody was even trying. It's obvious folly.

Around to the left, though, away from the water's spray and behind a stand of trees, the dirt rises halfway up to meet the granite slickrock of the ridge. You'll find spots in the rocks like this....



The first several linear meters of the route are obvious; you just go up that ramp. But then you've got to choose whether to climb a steeper section that's narrow with an abrupt falloff, or an even steeper route to the left that has better handholds. Then there are other steep sections above them. Many of these look scary at first, but someone who's either moderately skilled in rock-scrambling or bold and foolish can traverse them.

Once near the top the routes get easier and plenty of different views open up. I made a beeline for the main view, a perch near the top of the falls. Here's a short video I recorded:

Watch on YouTube

This is very different from what the top part of the falls looked like two years ago.

Moments after I recorded this video I got some bad news. Hawk, who'd been at the bottom of the rock-scramble area looking for another route up— we agreed it was okay for us to split up as we improbably had enough cell reception out here to call and text— had texted me that she pulled a muscle. She tried to shake it off but it only got worse. She was starting back toward the car and needed help. I let her know I was coming and scrambled back down the ridge, cutting short all the other exploring I intended to do at the top.