For the season's warm-up hike (at least for us), Dave and Deb suggested the Berry Creek Falls loop at Big Basin. At 11 miles, this was not your normal warm-up hike. Indeed, both Lori and I were sore for days afterward.
Lori and I were last here years ago and so we were looking forward to seeing the falls in the spring, especially after a wet winter. We were not disappointed! The newts were out, the wildflowers were out, and there were still some mushrooms to be found as well.
While the severe wildfires in 1948 and 1960 were still obvious, there had obviously been some fire in the valley in the past 10 years, as evidenced by lack of undergrowth and fire damage on a sapling which couldn't have been more than 5 years old. I couldn't find any reference of it. Can you?
After enjoying the captions below, you can view larger versions of the photos by clicking on them. You can see even larger versions of the photos by viewing the slideshow in full screen (F11). You can also view the photos on a map, or download the GPS tracks of the hike.
Lori in front of the upper Golden Cascade |
Bill and Lori in front of the upper Golden Cascade |
With this much water flow, so much debris was carried over the falls that the Golden Cascade made all sorts of strange sounds |
There were California newts all over the place! |
Lori above the lower Golden Cascades |
Just below the Golden Cascades, a tree had toppled so that the creek no longer had to go around it |
Silver Falls hides behind the trees |
Deb informs us that this male newt is doing it all
wrong—they should be in a ball |
I've never seen so many trilliums! |
Can you identify this flower? |
Some pretty cool unidentified mushrooms |
The redwood sorrel were all blooming too |
This patch of redwood sorrel was on a moss-covered
log |
An unidentified, rusty, dusty fungus |
A pair of trilliums |
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Berry Creek Falls in the spring |
James (Deb's cousin), Dave, Lori, Kunal, Deb, Bill, Jeff (Deb's other cousin), Candace (Jeff's wife), and a random photographer enjoy lunch on the platform across from Berry Creek Falls |
A parting glimpse of Berry Creek Falls |
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Copyright © 2010 Bill Wohler Last modified: Sun Mar 21 21:53:17 PDT 2010 About photos |
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