Cataract Falls
On the way down, we encountered two men sitting next to an older man who seemed shaken. What had happened was that one of the men was hiking and saw that the older man had probably slipped and fallen 10-15 ft off to the side of the trail into a small creek. He stated that the man was conscious and he was able to help the man stand up and get back on the trail, where they sat. The old man was huddled in multiple layers of sweaters and did not look cold (no shivering and the color of his face looked good). I would have activated my WFR training and helped out with the situation, but it turned out the man who helped was a doctor so he had already tasked another helper with calling 911 and was in control of the situation. I asked if I could help or anything like that and he joked that if I ran into the first responders, I should ask them to bring him a latte and a croissant. I did a few things right, such as taking note of the GPS location (in case the 911 responders did not pass it on to the firefighters and rangers), providing further information to the first responders as I saw them, and making sure to offer assistance. Here’s what I think I could have done better: I should have taken a Level of Responsiveness (LOR) test to see how he was doing mentally (there was possibility of a concussion as the old man had a contusion on the side of his head and he could not remember being helped up to the trail); I didn’t see the doctor take the man’s vitals and I think I should have; and after doing the first two, I think I should have taken over the communications with the 911 dispatcher as I believe that LOR and vitals would have helped the first responders a lot. When I got down to the parking lot, it turned out the firefighters did not have the GPS coordinates and they had brought a wheeled litter, which would have been difficult to use on this trail with tons of stairs. I think had they known the correct coordinates, they could have driven to Laurel Dell Falls and gotten to the old man who was only a quarter mile from the waterfall. On the drive out, I saw an ambulance; I hope the old man was all right with all the help he received from the doctor and the first responders.
Friends
I hiked with Cassie on this hike and we ended up stopping for each other as we took photos and videos. We also explored many of the short trails that branch off this trail to the creek, up a fallen tree truck, or other fun distractions. It was like the other hikes I have gone on with Cassie—the conversation flowed like water and hours went by unnoticed.
What Happened?
~6 miles, 3 hrs 43 mins, ~1400 ft of ascent
Cassie and I had originally made plans to bike, but it was forecast to rain all around the Bay Area, so we audibled to hike Cataract Falls, which I advertised as the current champion of beautiful waterfalls in the Bay Area.
We arrived around 9 AM and started hiking with the rain cooling us down as our heartbeats increased. We hiked at a relaxed pace, as we hiked fast, but then would stop to take videos and pictures, chat about the trees, or get close to the waterfalls to get overwhelmed by the majesty of it all.
We ran into some very nice people on the trail who made small talk with us or just wished us well on our hike. On the way down, we hiked it pretty quickly, which was perfect, as right as we got to the car, we found the firefighters pulling up. I talked to them for a bit and gave them all the information I could. We then headed off to Boudin Bakery to engorge ourselves with soup in a bread bowl (they were delicious, but neither of us was able to finish it).