Off season visit, September 12. I rolled in five minutes after 5pm, so the entrance staff had left, and the cafe closed. Bummer. But as I struggled to figure out where to look for a campsite on the park map, I found the hiker/biker site, and got excited about a potentially cheap night.

It was empty when I arrived and set up camp. Two picnic tables, one fire ring, a couple of bear boxes that seemed a little flimsy, and one had noticeable gaps between the wooden boards. That one was empty, but the other one had random bits of helpful things for Pacific Crest Trail hikers who stop through, since the PCT runs past this park.

I headed to the shower, and almost forgot to bring quarters in the event that it cost something, which it did. 50 cents for 2 minutes, and a quarter for every minute thereafter. I was just glad I had quarters to use, since the cafe was closed.

Walked back to my site, dropped stuff off. Headed out to see the falls that are the focal point of the park. And they are pretty impressive. Not hugely tall, but wide, with interesting fractal patterns of falls. Apparently due to three very different layers of rock being eroded away at different rates. There are a number of hikes around the falls.

When I got back to my site, there was a PCT through hiker there. It was interesting to talk to him about his experiences. He was heading north to south, and had started late, missing all the snow in the north. Now he just had to get south fast enough to avoid snow in the Sierras in October and November.

That night, the trucks on the adjacent highway were ridiculously loud. I think there was a particularly loud period from midnight to 1am, and then they started back up again around 5:30am. I think the sites on the other side of the campground would be ok, but anything on the highway side probably got a decent amount of noise. Probably the worst part of the campground, and more annoying than the trains I experienced at two other camps on this trip.

The next morning I was up hoping to get a good breakfast sandwich at the cafe, but they only had standard convenience store food, which mean frozen breakfast burritos to microwave. It was ok, but I didn't feel so bad about missing dinner there the night before. I also stocked up on snacks, knowing I was camping in the middle of a National Forest next, and there would be no food whatsoever. Jerky, Milky Way, Fritos and Cheetos. Probably some other stuff. Then I went out to talk to the PCT hiker, who had gotten not just his restock package, but also a care package from a friend. And he ended up with so much food we both started laughing. He had offered some to me as he started unpacking, and I was hesitant to accept, but thought he could probably spare a few things. But by the end of the unpacking, it was clear plenty of it wasn't going to fit in his bag, so I ended up with a few different bars, and granolas, and the like. Pretty sweet. Another PCT hiker came up as we were wrapping up, and I think he probably got even more.