May 25: Mooney and Beaver Falls

We had an early “call” this morning for a longish hike today, and the seventh graders in the adjacent campsite were up even earlier.  My tent was closest to their area, and the chaperones were breaking camp beginning at 3:15AM, with the first group headed out by 4:15. They were relatively quiet for 12 and 13 year olds, but I was aware of flashlights and chatter for a bit until they set out. Then we were up with breakfast and packs and ready to continue the canyon.

Mooney Falls, which is 200 ft, is named after James Mooney, an early-ish explorer to the area. The story goes that he wanted to get to the bottom of the falls at this spot to see what lay beyond, and the local tribal people, who didn’t much trust the white men coming in and taking their land, promised to lower him on a rope over the falls. Midway the rope “broke”, and he fell to his death. Later, a local was spotted wearing Mooney’s boots!  Now the way now is only marginally easier. There are tunnel-like caves which lead down on a slope until you get to a more vertical spot with chains to hang onto and spots in the rocks for your feet. Finally there are two 6-8 rung ladders with very big “steps” and with chains for handholds.  By the time I got down to the bottom I was shaking a bit.  We all got down safely, and headed downstream to Beaver Falls. Because we crossed the creek several times, we changed in and out of our hiking boots to our water shoes a couple of times, and then walked through a glorious wild field of grapevines. At about 4 miles, we reached Beaver Falls, which were  easy to walk into and enjoy the cool water. There’s a shorter jump off one section of the falls — about a 12 ft drop, so I took the challenge and jumped in. Wasn’t scary as much as very COLD! We spent about an hour at the falls, ate our picnic lunches and just enjoyed the view and the other people taking the plunge.

The hike back was interesting because Gary had us take a slightly different route, and we got back to Mooney Falls via the water, which was a glorious sight from that angle. I hadn’t worried too much about the climb back up, but once we started, I will admit to being pretty terrified for most of it. There were hand grips, and I could follow the person ahead of me to see where to place my feet, but knowing that one wrong move could be ruinous truly scared me.  I was so relieved to get to the top, but once again was shaking a bit. It was only about a mile on alongside the creek to get back to camp, and I was ready for that adventure to be over.  I guess they call that sort of mid-hike climbing a scramble.  I’d call it very challenging.

Another lovely dinner and early to bed, with a day ahead of us to ourselves.