Since Mike’s on the walking disabled list, we decided to do some hiking this weekend. I’d been looking through my paltry hiking book collection and come up with a few options, one of them was Ramona Falls near ZigZag. It’s about a 7 mile round-trip hike, with some elevation gain on the way in, making the way back easier, sounds perfect to me!
We did the loop counter-clockwise, starting on the PCT section that allows horses, this is the “less pretty” route, and I figured since I’d be huffing and puffing I wouldn’t really be enjoying much anyway, so we’d take the trail that follows the creek on the way back. I think this worked out really well, and would probably recommend it, especially since your entrance to the falls, and your first view of them from this direction is simply stunning.
A really neat way to spend the morning, and we were very happy to have gotten up early as we encountered way too many hikers on our return journey. Getting there at noon would give you a much more crowded experience than arriving at 7am.
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- Moss and shady trees cover the sandy floor for the first half of the hike
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- Cathedral of green and sun
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- The bear is our tour guide.
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- Woodpecked old stump
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- Rounding a corner you are suddenly confronted by masses of tumbling water
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- These falls are much larger than we expected. See Mike standing lower right for some perspective
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- Trees, moss and basalt cliffs surround the return trail
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- Weird ‘shroom says, “Eat me, I’ll show you a wild ride” we decline the invite
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- Old stump turned into a natural water pipe for a cool find along the trail
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- Horse and rider have a discussion about river fording. Mike helped out by giving the girl a spank on the butt, she hopped in and was across in a minute, with a wave of thanks from her rider.
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- Hood peeks through the trees in a few spots near the trailhead
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