What would be the best option if one wants to escape from the city when forecasts promise 90+ degrees? This question has no easy answer, right? And we all ask this question every week (and sometimes even on weekdays). The simple answer would be - go to the mountains. But where exactly? Even going up the mountains (somewhere above 10,000-12,000 feet) is not really helping. The temperature there is much more comfortable, but... the sun is even hotter and shining brighter. If you think harder, you find another answer - go somewhere shady and close to the water. Sounds better and, probably, one can stay closer to the city too. And, believe it or not, I just found a hidden gem I missed before - Maxwell Falls trail.
Actually, I had no idea how good this trail was before I finished
it last Saturday ;) But I liked it from the beginning. First, there is a
lot of shadow because the trail is running between the trees. So even
though the sun is shining brightly, the hiker is mostly hidden from its
rays. And it worked this way up to the end of the hike, actually. From
time to time you walk under the waves of heat, but mostly in the
pleasant shadow. There is one more thing I liked about this trail, but let's talk about it later.
The first stretch is steep and goes up quite quickly. And the steep
slope on the left makes it impossible to wander around - you better
stay on the trail. And it continues on the right and drops down to the
canyon bed where the creek is making its way to Evergreen Lake and Bear
Creek (but the way, this is Cube Creek, not Maxwell Creek at this point,
but does it really matter?).
Purple and white flowers can be seen on the sides of the trail and
this is not a surprise - the creek is close and there is enough water so
everything is lush and blooming.
A bit later, when you climb up the trail now is more flat and the surrounding forest looks very lovely and well grown.
At this point you hike between tall (I mean it) pine trees and the trail is wide, flat and easy to follow.
Later terrain is changing again and now you are surrounded by huge boulders and non-passable forest. But... it looks nice as long as you stay on the trail and don't try to walk through the woods ;)
At this point the trail drops down and crosses the creek (and now this
is Maxwell Creek) and you need to hike up and soon find yourself high
above the creek again.
And, again, you are constantly crossing patches of the shadow and the sun and it feels just good.
The trail is lowering itself and now you walk at the bed of the
canyon and can step even closer to the running water. And here is
another thing I wanted to tell you - the creek is so close you can feel the coolness of it
all along. And it makes this trail just amazing - enough sun but a lot
of shadow, some warmth but also coolness from the water nearby so it
feels just right. I stopped at the waterfall, cooled my feet in the
freezing water and moved further...
...just to find out I missed the main waterfall ;) From the trail I
was able to see the people, who were sitting at the bottom of the falls
and enjoyed watching them. That's fine, I can see it on my way back I
thought and didn't turn around.
About a quarter of a mile after the falls and the trail is wide and
flat now and the stream runs at the same level, so I crossed it and
enjoyed walking in the forest looking at the trees and boulders (and
flowers ;) ).
When I was going back to the trail and crossing the creek again, I
found a huge spot of chamomiles. Simple but elegant flower and... nice
looking, isn't it?
Mostly the trail is very nice looking there...
...but from time to time it becomes rocky and steeper. But... it is still super cool and not very hard to walk on.
Finally I returned back, made a turn to the side trail and climbed to the bottom of the waterfall. I made it! ;)
It doesn't look impressive this time of the year, I guess to see it
in full bloom you need to go here when the snow is melting and the
creek is roaring. But.. it still looks appealing and cools the air good 10
degrees. So - stay here for a while before turning 180 degrees and move
back to the trailhead ;)
On my way back I crossed the creek again and, as I mentioned before, the surrounding area is wet. Even though it was around 10 AM the dew wasn't dried out and the leaves were bathing in the nice waterdrops. And the flowers there were so nice and not exhausted from the heat.
I again made a turn to explore another trails going around and this one was wider and even more flat. Later I met some hiker who told me that this is just a loop trail and following it I will go to the water falls from the other side. So I decided to turn back, but I guess I can take it next time I am in the area and will see where it meets the main route (so, I guess I have a plan for the next hike ;) ).
It took another 20 minutes or so to hike down to the trailhead and
by this time the traffic became really heavy. People were moving in
batches and there were more and more of them. So if you would like to
enjoy this escape from the heat, you'd better start earlier so you can have the trail all for yourself!
Almost three and a half hours (but I stopped and rested a lot) and 6
miles - it was a nice hike! What is interesting, even going up and down
all the time I didn't realize the total accent was almost 2000 feet! I
thought it would be half of that ;) And that's even though the
difference between the lowest and highest point is just around 700 feet.
But going up and down, it wasn't that tiring. I like this trail even
more than and... I sure need to go there again (and soon).
Pictures were taken on July 16, 2022.
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