The weather has been changing this past week; fall is in the air. So to Falls Creek Falls I hiked. This is the longest I have hiked in over a year, and in particular since my spinal cord injury left me unable to walk. The learning process has been slow and unsteady for just over a year now. But I have to challenge myself and push my body to do hikes like this. The trail is only 3.6 miles round trip, with 750 feet elevation gain. I am not a fast hiker; and now I am even slower. I took me three hours and twenty minutes round trip. I stop and take photos. And I am very slow on the downhill sections. This is my weak area, hiking downhill.
Click on any image to enlarge it.
About a quarter mile in, you have to cross the creek on this beautiful bridge. From here, you are hiking along the cliffs and this year the Forest Service added a new sign cautioning hikers about these dangerous cliffs. The trail goes along these cliffs above the creek.
I was not expecting to see any wildflowers still in bloom, but I did find two: Wall Lettuce and White-Flowered Hawkweed.
I was expecting to see a couple of mushrooms since we had some rain this past week, but there were none. I didn’t see any wildlife either, except this lovely little critter inching across the trail.
This is a Yellow Woolly Bear Caterpillar. Sometimes these are a dark brown instead of yellow; these become Virginian Tiger Moths after their metamorphosis.
With all this, the view of the falls is worth the hike.
