Renegade Rip

Issue date: 5/7/04 Section: Features

Media Credit: Chris Wong Joseph Nidever cools off in the pool below Lower Salmon Creek Falls.

Media Credit: Chris Wong Sign points to a distant nearly-inaccessible Salmon Creek Falls (Upper) falls

Media Credit: Chris Wong Salmon Creek flows away from the falls on its way to the Kern River.

Don't bother looking for Lower Salmon Creek Falls on any map. And don't think the ranger station will be able to help either. Officially, there is no trail and the falls don't exist.

As far as the Forest Service in concerned, there is only one Salmon Creek Falls, a 400-foot cascade tucked into a remote corner of the Sequoia National Forest thousands of feet above the Kern River. And, as anyone will tell you, it is virtually impossible to get a close-up view of what amounts to the highest waterfall in the southern Sierra. The best you can hope for is a faraway glimpse from the highway, or, for the less sedentary, a long drive and a 10-mile round trip hike to get close to where Salmon Creek spills over a steeply-rounded granite cliff.

That's an excellent hike in its own right, but it lacks the accessibility and intimate charm of the unheralded little waterfall a few miles downstream that hardly anybody seems to know about. (In the four times I've been there, I haven't run into a single person on the trail or at the falls.)

And charming it is, if you don't mind a little bit of scrambling and route finding. The payoff is a beautiful 80- foot shower tucked into the back of a sheer-walled gorge, complete with a large plunge pool, cooling spray, and the delightful roaring sound only an airborne Sierra stream can make.

It's the perfect stress relief for all you starving college students out there who don't have the luxury of a backyard waterfall or a hydrotherapy session at the neighborhood day spa.

The trick is finding the starting point (See "Lower Salmon Creek Falls" for directions.)

The trail begins where an unnamed dirt road dead ends at a flume, a kind of above-ground canal that spans Salmon Creek before disappearing into the mountain side on its way to one of the hydroelectric power plants along the Kern River.

Start hiking where the flume's water goes underground. With the creek on your right, follow a dusty trail a few dozen yards as it climbs up a gradual ridge. As soon as you can, veer left to the top of the slope and follow one of several tracks you see heading up the ridge parallel to the creek, which is now on your left as you climb in an upstream direction.

Continue on a well-defined trail, climbing gradually as you angle over to the creek. Keep walking on the right side of the creek, occasionally scrambling up and over rocks until you reach the falls, formed where Salmon Creek shoots to the right of a huge boulder and strikes a rock, spraying a rooster tail of icy snowmelt into the pool below.

If you happen to arrive early in the afternoon, you'll catch the whole sweet scene illuminated by sunlight. That way, you might consider a dip in the bracingly-cold water.

And you'd better take advantage of the falls now before the temperature soars and the water dries up to a trickle. Also be aware that the sometimes rocky west-facing slope is often hot, so it's a good idea to bring a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, plenty of water and shoes with good grip.

All told, it only takes about 30 minutes of walking to get there from where you parked the car. Add to that the fact that's it's only an hour-and-a-half drive from campus, and you're looking at a half-day adventure to one of the coolest spots in the Kern River Valley.

Lower Salmon Creek Falls

Fun factor: A cool 80-foot waterfall you'll probably have all to yourself

Difficulty rating: 2 (scale = 1 to 5, 5 being the toughest)

Distance: 2 -miles round-trip

Total hiking time: About 1 hour

Driving time: 3 hours round trip from campus

Directions: Go east on Highway 178 until you reach Lake Isabella. Turn left on Highway 155 and proceed to Kernville, where the road dead-ends into Mountain Highway 99. Set your trip meter to zero. Turn left and drive 11-miles until you reach a small unsigned turnout on the right and a dirt road climbing sharply to the southeast (If you get to a large turnout on the right side of the highway opposite a sign with an arrow reading "Salmon Creek Falls," you've gone too far.) Set your trip meter to zero again. Turn right onto the dirt road and make a hairpin left turn at the first opportunity (approximately 0.15 mile) At 0.65 miles, you'll come to a three-way fork. Take the middle one and continue until it reaches a dead end at the flume.

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