Did You Know that there Is a waterfall in Rancho Cucamonga? cause I sure didn't but once I found out i knew that there was nothing I wanted to do more than to find it, I had already eaten a doughnut which was what I usually want to do most first. I decided immediately that I needed to find this waterfall hidden away somewhere in the Inland empire. after spending several hours on the interweb watching Stargate SG-1 I googled Inland Empire Waterfall and immediately found several links and photos. This epic journey was about to begin. first I needed to get to Rancho Cucamonga.
Once I was in Rancho "fun" amonga I jumped on the 210 freeway, from there I took the "Day Creek" exit I headed north on Day Creek up into the foothills. it's pretty ritzy up there so don't get all gangsta or anything. eventually Day Creek dead ended at Etiwanda, I took a left and the road went immediately from nice ritzy paved road to nasty broken nature hippies don't deserve nice things pothole road.
After about 200 yards you will find yourself at the end of the road and in front of this guy. There is a big empty lot for parking and big metal power line towers to make you feel safe.
Of course before you start any day hike you will want to make sure that you have all your provisions. sunscreen, water, M&M's, you know, survival shit.
and you should never go into the wilderness without a smile. :)
The fun thing about this particular trail is that you have a few options as to how you want to start. you can go to the left or to the right. I chose to go to the left. westside style.
The Trail is pretty wide and while it is littered with rocks I would consider it to be very user friendly. on this particular day the wind was no joke. but I would Imagine that in this part of so cal that the wind will be blowing more often than not. so if you hate the wind this might not be the trail for you. seriously I got sandblasted like ten times. I almost lost my hat twice.
About 1/4 mile up the trail you will come to this little building that will give you all kinds of fun info about all the local flora and fauna in the area. and a little bit of history about the preserve. It's pretty cool for the naturalist nerd type. there is also the usual graffiti totally ruining the info signs, so you can be all like uh people are so terrible, not like me, I'm amazing. you know that's what you do when you see graffiti, your so full of shit.
Once you leave that little hut you will start out on what is known as the Etiwanda preserve loop. however this loop will not take you to the Waterfall. It is a pretty cool loop and from what I saw on the map at the beginning of the trail it is definitely worth doing and someday I will return to do it. but today I'm chasing waterfalls despite what TLC told me. there are plenty of helpful markers along the way to help guide you along the trail like this little guy pictured below. but as I already mentioned the waterfall is not on this trial. Why don't you listen? when you come to this first marker what you actually want to do is take the trail that goes directly behind it, do not follw the little hiking guy and do not follow the little guy who seems to be giving a speech to some kind of floating picnic table.
It is easy to know which one is the correct trial to take, your choices are right, left or up. you want to go up. and up..and up. but don't worry too much even though you will be climbing pretty much the whole way Its a pretty easy incline.
after hiking up for about an hour or so you will come to a fork in the path take the path to the right. you will know your going the right way when you see these two yellow gates and a long trail spanning out to the northwest.
after a short hike on this path you will find your coming to the end of the trail you will be able to hear the water but not see it. the path will narrow and become a little be more challenging. your gonna have to use your hands and climb over some small boulders but nothing to serious.
you will only be on the more narrow path for a short while when you will come to this. it looks more like an animal trail than a people trail and to be honest it very well may be. I didn't see any footprints, but that could just mean that they were washed away during the last rain storm or gusty wind. or, its an animal trail.
Up until this point I would definitely call this a good beginner trail. but this is where it gets a little bit more advanced. there is no real path down to the creek and I did end up doing a bit of downward climbing and some real good butt sliding. so if you don't feel real confident in your butt sliding skills. you may want to just stick to the trail. but If you do decide to brave it the payoff is totally awesome.
I love waterfalls. even little ones. hey little guy way to flow.
and to celebrate, a little waterfall of my own.
and now to rest and enjoy this beautiful place.
after finishing my beverage and enjoying some snacks. It's time to head back up. this is a better view of the area you will need to traverse to get in and out of this little nook. not to bad. of course in my opinion getting down is always somehow harder than getting up.
now it's time for the hike back but having already done the tough part, the hike down seems like a walk in the park
and the view from the top can't be beat.
on the way down I pick a sprig of sage the plants grow wild all over the mountain and the entire hike smells like sage. it's great and I can't help but want to savor the smell for just a little bit longer
All in all I would say that this is a great hike well worth the uphill climb and facing off with the wind.
No comments:
Post a Comment