Log jams, Ant Lions and a Waterfall, OH MY Traditional Cache
Log jams, Ant Lions and a Waterfall, OH MY
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Who's up for a 2 mile (one way) hike to an 80 foot waterfall? Grab
your boots and bug spray and get up there! The destination is the
Mesatchee Creek Falls. The cache is a small Pelican
case big enough to fit say, a GPS unit. There's a log book,
a pen,and a few other things in it. Please be sure nothing is
touching the rubber seal when you close it and make extra sure it
snaps shut. Re-hide as well or better.
Here's the scoop... About 6 3/4 miles East of Chinook Pass is a
road clearly marked. Follow the road to it's end and park. The
Trailhead is marked, you can't miss it. The trail is mostly used by
horse folks. I wouldn't try to bike it, I'll explain later. This is
trail #969 and is a nice, flat and easy to follow trail for the
first mile. At that point you reach another road and more camp
sites. Keep straight and follow the middle path. There's a post in
the ground there that most likely used to be a trail sign. You'll
next cross Morse Creek on a nice foot bridge, and before long
you'll find yourself at the American River. Here's where the real
fun begins. There is no bridge. You could cross a log where the
trail meets the river or walk downstream to a big logjam where it's
slightly less scary. The trail starts climbing more steeply after
the junction with trail #968 and before you know it you you're
enjoying the Falls.
The water is about 5 to 6 feet
at it's deepest here. If you can't do this, go
downstream.
Side
Activity
Do you know what an ant lion is? If not, bring along some type of
small container so you can scoop up some of the gazillion ants that
have mounds along the first mile of the hike because there are very
few ants up near the falls where the lions are. When you get up
near the falls, you'll see lots of little cone shaped divots in the
sandy ground. Drop an ant in one of these cones and see what
happens. (tweezers help) The bigger the cone the bigger the lion.
I'm not sure how long the lions will be hanging around up there,
I'd guess most of the summer.
Learn about Ant
Lions here.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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