Middle McCloud River Falls
MVP
Chaco sandals—This is a weird MVP because I’m going to replace these sandals as soon as I can, as it let me down on this trail. However, it was still awesome hiking in sandals, then crossing the river without changing shoes.
Hike Review:
The trail is only .7 miles, so it’s a short steep descent down to the waterfall, then retracing your steps.
It is crowded and it is dusty, however, the water fall is gorgeous, the water isn’t too cold, and there’s a swimming hole right next to the waterfall.
The trail is almost completely shaded.
What I Learned:
The sandals were amazing compared to wearing hiking boots, but the bottoms of the sandals were not as grippy as I was accustomed to and it led me to slip near the waterfall, causing a small gash on my left palm. Given that I didn’t like the straps to begin with, I’m going to try a different brand of sandals that I heard rock climbers like.
I was getting hungry, so I didn’t end up swimming in the swimming hole, but looking back, I kinda wish I did.
As I was crossing the river, because of the slippery conditions, I landed a little awkwardly on one of my jumps, causing my backpack to jolt, and my water bottle to fall out from the deep pockets on the REI Flash 22 backpack (not the backpack’s fault—it was wonderfully deep side pockets). I ended up retrieving it and zipping it up in the main compartment so that it wouldn’t fall out.
There is 5G (T-Mobile) signal at the trailhead, but no signal once you’re down at the waterfall.
What Happened?
1.9 miles, 54 mins, 210 ft of ascent
I hiked this trail with my brother and sister-in-law, and they were awesome companions. We hiked down together and when we got to the waterfall, I wanted to cross the river and get really close to the waterfall. They weren’t interested, so we separated for a bit (with no drama).
I crossed the river, almost lost the water bottle, but got it back as it got stuck in an eddy about 10 ft away from where it fell out. It was really cool that a fellow hiker tried to help retrieve the water bottle even though it meant him getting completely soaked in the process. I definitely didn’t thank him enough for trying.
I perched myself right in front of the waterfall and took a few pictures. It was really bright out, and I never have my ND filter or tripod with me, so I did the best I could. After 10 minutes or so, I started walking back, except to watch a pair of asian dudes jump 30-40 ft down into the swimming hole. That looked like a lot of fun. I think it was 5-10 ft higher than the waterfall I jumped off of in Hawaii, and I kind of wanted to join them, but I thought better of it and started walking back to the rendezvous point.
It just so happened that my brother and sister-in-law were walking back to the meeting spot at the same time, so we headed back up to the car together. I think I was walking just a little bit faster than their comfortable hiking speed, but I slowed down when I remembered and they kept up admirably. At the top, we took some pictures, and headed off to lunch.