Tales & Trails of a Traveling Wiseguy

This weekend we decided to visit Zim Zim Falls. It's in remote Napa County, a few miles north of Lake Berryessa. We'd mentally bookmarked it for a visit some Spring season when there'd been good rainfall followed by a sunny day. Well, we've had epic rainfall this season. After the most recent rain squall a few days ago this weekend's weather forecast is sun and blue skies. Time to get out!

Zim Zim Falls is a place you have to really want to go to get there. For us, at least it's nearly a 3 hour drive from home, making it a day-trip that requires planning. We set our alarms for 7am and left home a bit after 8:30. The real challenges start as you approach the trailhead. The road up from Lake Berryessa narrows to a single lane and traverses several water crossings. These crossings would be no sweat in our Nissan Xterra 4x4, but today we drove our BMW convertible. Watch an example of how it went:



...Haha, Hawk is joking in the video about her feet getting wet inside the car. The truth is I know what I'm doing when fording water like this, and I can do it safely in cars that other people would have trouble in.

There were 4 or 5 crossings like this before we got to the trailhead. Yes, it's way out in remote country.

Once the driving part of the trip is complete the hiking part presents its own challenges. Yup, more water crossings!



This was the first water crossing, about ¼ mile in from the trailhead. We took off our boots and socks and carefully made our way across, then dried our feet and put our socks and boots back on on the other side. It was time consuming, but we figured having dry feet was worth it.

Well, then we found the second water crossing. I remembered there were probably going to be five crossings total (each way). We considered whether to do the boots-and-socks thing again or just quit. Like I said, seeing Zim Zim Falls is something you have to want to do! And we did want to do it. So we tried crossing with our boots and sock on. ...And yup, we got wet. But then we discovered it's not so bad.

Here's a clip of our fifth water crossing:



There would ultimately be NINE water crossings to get to the falls— each way! Plus countless mud bogs on the trail. At some point we realized there was no way to hike this trail today while also keeping our feet dry and our boots not covered with mud. Once we stopped caring it was so much easier!

Eventually we reached Zim Zim Falls. ...Well, not the falls themselves but an awesome vantage point from atop a rocky perch partway up the canyon on the opposite side of the creek.



Zim Zim Falls is well over 100 ft. tall. It's the biggest falls in the Bay Area. And right now the flow over the falls is stunning.

The way back to the trailhead went much faster than the hike in. That's typical, though in this case it was doubly true because on the way out we spent absolutely no time being worried about wet or muddy boots. We had towels and clean shoes and socks back at the car!

Link: view video on YouTube

We were ready to roll around 4pm. It would be over an hour until we were back in civilization— by which I mean a place with restaurants for dinner! We ate in Fairfield and then drove home. We were back at our own place before 8pm. That was pretty good timing for a full day trip!

5 Days in the Desert travelog #19
Afton Canyon, CA - Mon, 26 Dec 2022, 1pm

Not long after leaving an impressive but unnamed side canyon off the Mojave River, we arrived at Spooky Canyon.



We knew where it was because the friendly guy back at Afton Camp had a guidebook that identified the distance from camp (3.8 miles), the number of the railroad bridge (194.65), and even had a picture so we knew to look for a low, short trestle like you can see above. In fact as we were driving up the canyon we crossed paths with 4x4er coming down from the east. He had the same guidebook and recommended we visit. He had questions for us, too, BTW. He was happy to hear that the water crossings further west were passable.



We headed up into the narrows of Spooky Canyon. After the serendipity of the previous, unnamed side canyon we explored, Spooky Canyon felt... not very special. And totally not spooky. "What's so spooky about this?" became and in-joke Hawk and I tossed back and forth.



Okay, so apparently what's so spooky about Spooky Canyon is that... wait for this... it gets dark at the back. There's a cave. You need flashlights.

Whatever.

I mean, it's still beautiful. It's just that we felt a greater sense of awe, not to mention delved about 10x deeper, in that unnamed side canyon we found for ourselves.

Pacific Northwest September Travelog #8
Vancouver, WA - Sat, 3 Sep 2022,11pm

I can tell right now that if I try to keep a linear blog about this trip I will fall very far behind. Partly that's because today has been just packed. After leaving the hotel at 9:30— a pretty good start after arriving late last night— we drove east up the Columbia River and then north into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest to visit a series of waterfalls.

Before leaving town, though, we stopped at an amazing local donut shop. "Are you buying a half dozen?" the cashier asked. The food looked so amazing I took the liberty of saying Yes. We each ate one in the car. Then another one later in the day. The last one each are for tomorrow morning. We might have to get more after that. 🤣

You might wonder about the name Gifford Pinchot National Forest. I've used that name a few times before , most recently when visiting a bunch of waterfalls in Washington in August. Gifford Pinchot was a person (which you might have guessed). He was the first head of the US Forest Service after it was established in 1905. He also served two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania later in his life.

Gifford Pinchot wasn't the only noticeable name today. The other was Stinky Pud. I chuckled when I saw election posters all along the roads in Vancouver for a Don Steinke. "Poor guy, his name is pronounced Stinky," I said to no one in particular.

Then I wondered what office he's running for. Is he looking to become Mayor Stinky? Assembly member Stinky? Sheriff Stinky? And that's where it got even funnier. He's running for— I kid you not— PUD. That's what it says on his campaign signs. PUD. That's Public Utility District, BTW. He's running to be one of its commissioners. But he's got PUD in bold letters on his signs. Stinky Pud!

Anyway, long day, a bunch of waterfalls. We didn't get back to our hotel until sometime after 10pm. Tomorrow will be... well, I don't know! It may be a hike along a ridge at Mount St. Helens, or maybe we'll go for some more waterfalls. Or maybe both!