Story:
Joel and I decided to go check out the Big Basin waterfalls before the end of the wet season; our (well, my) original plan was to head up the Howard King Trail to Mt. McAbee, then over and down to the Berry Creek Falls trail and out via the Sunset Trail. I'd heard (from all these folks' hikes) that the Howard King trail from Skyline-to-the-Sea to Mt. McAbee was a pretty tough climb, so I figured I'd do it the opposite direction -- for ultimate knee destruction. Didn't quite work out that way.
We arrived at Park HQ at 9:00, to a nearly-empty parking lot. I'd never seen the parking lot so empty before. We headed out along the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail and up to Middle Ridge Road. According to the map, our next move was to cross Middle Ridge and go about ten yards before finding the Howard King trailhead; a half-mile down S-to-S past the road, we realized we must've missed the turnoff.
We decided to continue heading down Skyline-to-the-Sea to the Berry Creek Falls trail. I've taken that trail a few times in the past, but I'm reasonably certain it's been rerouted in the interim (perhaps after having been closed for a while last year). We saw plenty of places where trees recently came down, but whether that recent was "a month ago" or "a year ago", I couldn't tell.
At the Berry Creek Falls trail, our pace slowed considerably as we (well, I) took a bunch of pictures at each of the falls. This time out, I had a small tripod with me to see if I could finally manage some non-blurry photos; I got a few more than normal, but my success rate is still quite low at Big Basin. At the top of Golden Cascade, the decision was made to head back down and up the Howard King killer climb. On the way back down, I remembered to check for geocaches; we found one near Berry Creek Falls proper, and were amused to find that Vaudesir et al were the previous log entry.
The Howard King climb was indeed sustained, but I was expecting something worse than we found. It was certainly a notable climb anyway; the conversation rate dipped quite a bit until we got to the Mt. McAbee Overlook. Once there, I pulled out the GPS to search for a second geocache -- about twenty minutes later (on a "pretty easy to find" cache), I gave up. I'll have to log the DNF tonight.
From Mt. McAbee, we had a choice of heading straight down the Hihn-Hammond Road or taking the winding Howard King Trail (our originally-planned route); time concerns led us to take the road. Once we got back to the junction with Skyline-to-the-Sea, we found the elusive Howard King trailhead approximately five yards to the left (down Middle Ridge Road) of the S-to-S junction. Guess now I know for next time when I try for that McAbee cache again.
On our way out, we decided to loop around the Redwood (interpretive) Trail next to the parking lot; in all my visits to Big Basin, I've never taken that path. I'm glad we did -- it seems like an excellent grove, and the signage along the way pointed out a bunch of interesting trees. Right as we got back to the car, it started to drizzle -- it wouldn't've been a Big Basin trip without some precipitation, right?
Joel and I decided to go check out the Big Basin waterfalls before the end of the wet season; our (well, my) original plan was to head up the Howard King Trail to Mt. McAbee, then over and down to the Berry Creek Falls trail and out via the Sunset Trail. I'd heard (from all these folks' hikes) that the Howard King trail from Skyline-to-the-Sea to Mt. McAbee was a pretty tough climb, so I figured I'd do it the opposite direction -- for ultimate knee destruction. Didn't quite work out that way.
We arrived at Park HQ at 9:00, to a nearly-empty parking lot. I'd never seen the parking lot so empty before. We headed out along the Skyline-to-the-Sea trail and up to Middle Ridge Road. According to the map, our next move was to cross Middle Ridge and go about ten yards before finding the Howard King trailhead; a half-mile down S-to-S past the road, we realized we must've missed the turnoff.
We decided to continue heading down Skyline-to-the-Sea to the Berry Creek Falls trail. I've taken that trail a few times in the past, but I'm reasonably certain it's been rerouted in the interim (perhaps after having been closed for a while last year). We saw plenty of places where trees recently came down, but whether that recent was "a month ago" or "a year ago", I couldn't tell.
At the Berry Creek Falls trail, our pace slowed considerably as we (well, I) took a bunch of pictures at each of the falls. This time out, I had a small tripod with me to see if I could finally manage some non-blurry photos; I got a few more than normal, but my success rate is still quite low at Big Basin. At the top of Golden Cascade, the decision was made to head back down and up the Howard King killer climb. On the way back down, I remembered to check for geocaches; we found one near Berry Creek Falls proper, and were amused to find that Vaudesir et al were the previous log entry.
The Howard King climb was indeed sustained, but I was expecting something worse than we found. It was certainly a notable climb anyway; the conversation rate dipped quite a bit until we got to the Mt. McAbee Overlook. Once there, I pulled out the GPS to search for a second geocache -- about twenty minutes later (on a "pretty easy to find" cache), I gave up. I'll have to log the DNF tonight.
From Mt. McAbee, we had a choice of heading straight down the Hihn-Hammond Road or taking the winding Howard King Trail (our originally-planned route); time concerns led us to take the road. Once we got back to the junction with Skyline-to-the-Sea, we found the elusive Howard King trailhead approximately five yards to the left (down Middle Ridge Road) of the S-to-S junction. Guess now I know for next time when I try for that McAbee cache again.
On our way out, we decided to loop around the Redwood (interpretive) Trail next to the parking lot; in all my visits to Big Basin, I've never taken that path. I'm glad we did -- it seems like an excellent grove, and the signage along the way pointed out a bunch of interesting trees. Right as we got back to the car, it started to drizzle -- it wouldn't've been a Big Basin trip without some precipitation, right?
Comments (6)
Sounds like a great idea, Steve! Normally this would be a little late in the season for waterfalls, but it's been a strange, wet spring so you might still have a few weeks :-)
by navratil on Apr 25, 2010
You know... Thanks everyone. Because of all the great Hiking trips on Everytrail.com and all the great details. We got some Hiking poles and Hydration Backpacks and now fully appreciate the joy of hiking the trails. So Thanks to all. Was just thinking of doing a "See the Falls Month" where the idea is to get as many local waterfall photos and GPS info as you can. What ya all think?
by Steve44MCaUSA on Apr 24, 2010
Excellent trip journal.
I've only just started hiking, and found Big Basin nearby me..I've been going every chance I have! It's so wonderful.
Won't be long before I can tackle this loop :)
by liquidthex on Feb 26, 2010
I've only just started hiking, and found Big Basin nearby me..I've been going every chance I have! It's so wonderful.
Won't be long before I can tackle this loop :)
Yes, that's a fine hike, glad you enjoyed it too.
I did a very similar climb in Coe on Saturday (like 1700') and it was far, far easier without a heavy brick of a freshly-devoured sandwich weighing me down!
The geocache by Berry Creek Falls was one of many placed by Bud Gawlik (aka 50sumtin) who has since passed away. Bud hid an enormous number of geocaches, hiked every chance he could, and was truly was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He is missed. (And speaking of missed, we would have missed that cache if I didn't happen to notice it out of the corner of my eye! I had to backtrack a couple of steps to confirm I'd spotted a cache. :)
You got some great-looking shots of the falls too.
by croyle on Feb 22, 2010
I did a very similar climb in Coe on Saturday (like 1700') and it was far, far easier without a heavy brick of a freshly-devoured sandwich weighing me down!
The geocache by Berry Creek Falls was one of many placed by Bud Gawlik (aka 50sumtin) who has since passed away. Bud hid an enormous number of geocaches, hiked every chance he could, and was truly was one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. He is missed. (And speaking of missed, we would have missed that cache if I didn't happen to notice it out of the corner of my eye! I had to backtrack a couple of steps to confirm I'd spotted a cache. :)
You got some great-looking shots of the falls too.
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