Devil's Punch Bowl

I heard about this "Devil's Punch Bowl" over a year ago. I did some research and found that at the time there were access issues. The trail from Ramona was closed as a result of injuries and issues with people drinking. The trail from Julian was still open but was about twice as long. This spring they opened the trail from Ramona back up under the management of recreation.gov. This management requires you to have a $5 permit to use the area immediately around the falls.

I got the permit and headed out to the parking lot. There was a Ranger standing at the gate of the parking lot, which was already full, to check permits. We parked along the road and geared up. We headed down the trail, which I did not find as hard and steep as advertised. We even had some time for a photo op. The only bad part of the trail was the complete lack of shade until you reach the bottom.

At the bottom you are awarded with the first shade and a view of the falls. There wasn't much water falling this day.

The water was plenty cold, and felt nice after the heat of the hike. There are signs that tell you not to climb the rocks, but people still made a splash. I was a pain, but we did manage to put up a slack line across the pool. It wasn't very long before it came off the rock. Only Jeff managed to stand on it. All I had to show for my attempts was a bruise on the leg.

In addition to the natural views there was no shortage of Souther California girls.

-James

Lele Kawa

Three Sisters Falls, San Diego, CA

Finally took advantage of my adventure pass and did some hiking in the Cleveland National Forest.

Reading about this hike most people rate it 8 to 9 out of 10 on the scale of difficulty. I think this rating was undeserved. I would only put it at about a 6. With good shoes and taking your time on the steep area of loose sands, there is almost no risk.

For what turned out to be for no good reason we carried a surf board and a body board the whole way. The only thing they proved useful for was a prop in the photo below, with the three sisters in the background. This picture was taken on the way down just before the steep and loose part of the hike.

Once we got to the falls it was time to play around. The hike up to the top of the third sister was a little sketchy, it was a slab scramble. If you lost your grip you would tumble down the rocks and over the water falls. The water at the bottom of the falls was only about knee to waist deep.

The shallowness of the water didn't prevent me and Jeff from jumping. There was a sandy bottom under the shallow water, so it was soft when you hit bottom.

Above the third sister there was this queens bath in a crack between the rocks that created an infinity pool. I slipped my way down into the pool and relaxed for a minute. Getting out of the pool turned out to be a little hard. The rock gets really slick when your wet.

A little way from the parking area on the way back we crossed paths with a Rattle Snake. This was only my second encounter with a rattler in the wild.

Even got to take a little Poison Oak home with me all over my right arm. I might have been able to avoid leaving home with it if I had read the directions better. At the bottom of the hill when you reach the creek you need to rock hop or hike along the left side of the creek. The trail seemed to cross the creek so I did some bush whacking on the right side of the creek.

-James

Lele Kawa

Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona

Lonely planet list Bear Canyon in the Sabino Canyon park as one of the best hikes in Arizona. Unfortunately I was there the wrong time of year and there was no water and so no seven falls.

I wasn't about the let the lack of water or triple digit temperatures stop me from getting in some hiking. I decided to just wander around and see if Sabino Lake had any water, it did not. I made my way along the trails and then down the creek bed to Sabino Dam.

I liked how this area of the desert has so much more life than here around Yuma. So many more cacti and bushes.

  

When I arrived at the dam, there was no water behind it, but there were some small pools of stagnant water below it. Despite their small size the pools had minnows swimming around in them. I found it kinda funny that there was water below the dam but not behind it, seems to kinda defeat the purpose of a dam, Near the damn there was also a shady little picnic area that I took refuge in from the sun for a while as I decided if I should hike any farther.

 View of the Dam from the trail

 The Dam

 Survey Marker on the Dam

 Pools below the dam

Dam from below

I will need to head back during the late summer monsoons or in the late spring to do the seven falls hike and enjoy the pools.

-James

Lele Kawa

Finger Lakes Part 4, Wine tasting

I spent a weekend in the Finger lakes with my family for hiking and wine tasting. I will break the trip up by park, this is part four.

After our hiking around Robert Treman park, we got to the good stuff, the wine tasting along the Cayuga Wine trail. We plotted a course north along the east side of the lake to hit a few wineries.

The first stop was Six Mile Creek Winery. This might have been the best stop. 6 tastings for $2. They offered about 6 whites, 6 reds, and 3 sweets. Because the finger lakes is big on Rieslings and May is Riesling month, I was happy to see the reds. I have always preferred red wine to white.

Stop number two was Kings Ferry Vineyards. I did not appreciate this winery as much. They didn't offer many reds and their tasting was pretty confusing. The only notable thing was they had two late harvest wines available for tasting for an additional dollar each. As an added bonus 13 tastings was enough to start to get that warm feeling.

Stop number three was Bet The Farm. It was a cute little place. They didn't have as many wines as the other spots we made, so you tried all their wines. In addition to wine it was a gourmet food shop. They had a variety of cheeses and other gourmet snacks. Also it was nice because this place was right on the lake. It shares a parking lot with a town park that has some tables and benches right at the waters edge, that just inviting you to come down and taste the treats you just bought.

Stop four, and the final winery we visited was Long Point Winery. This winery was another one with a good variety of whites and reds. They also had my favorite wine of the day a 2007 Syrah, which has always been among my favorite grapes. They also had a little deli but unfortunately we arrived too late.

Of course we couldn't head back without hitting a falls. We stopped at Ludlowville Park in a little residential neighborhood. The falls looked pretty cool. Big and flat on top and a big cave under one half and rocks on the other side. Naturally I jumped the fence so I could go stand at the ledge. The logical next step was to go into the cave. It couldn't be done without getting my feet wet, but there was a knee deep ledge going around the cave. I managed to make it without dunking my phone in the water and get these photos in the precess.

-James

Lele Kawa

Finger Lakes Part 2, Buttermilk Falls

I spent a weekend in the Finger lakes with my family for hiking and wine tasting. I will break the trip up by park, this is part two.

A few years ago I read an article in Backpacker Magazine that was just my style "Top 3 Trailhead Pub Hikes." Number three on the list is Buttermilk Falls State Park. Since we arrive in Ithaca a little early to check in we attacked the park.

For this park we started at the bottom. The first of the 11 falls is a large sliding falls with a large pool at the bottom. In the warmer months they add a damn to make the pool bigger for swimming. We followed Backpacking Magazines suggestions and headed up the valley trail. This trail made you earn it, steep in parts and slippery as it makes its way up the stream bed.

 Looking up at the falls from the trail head

 Looking down into the pool and life guard stand

About half way up the trail the streams gorge gets narrower and you walk along the top of it. In this section it looks similar to Walkins Glen.

 Layered Slate wall along the trail

After the few falls in the narrow gorge it opens up again and you pass this tower. If it wasn't made of loose slate, I doubt I could have resisted climbing it. Since climbing it would have torn it apart I just admired it form the bottom.

At the top we crossed the bridge skipped the upper part of the park and headed down along the rim trail. For reasons unknown, my GPS stopped tracking on the way down. The view from the rim trail wasn't as good. There were only a few places that overlooked the creek.

Sadly we didn't take the advice of Backpacker and hit up Ithaca Beer Company, since it was time to check in to the hotel. We made up for it by hitting Bandwagon Brew Pub downtown for dinner.

-James

Lele Kawa

Finger lakes Part 1, Taughannock Falls

I spent a weekend in the Finger lakes with my family for hiking and wine tasting. I will break the trip up by park, this is part one.

Down at the southern end of the finger lakes their are many parks and waterfalls. There is one falls that is about half way up Cayuga Lake. It is Taughannock Falls. I had no idea this place even existed until we stopped at the Falls Restaurant and Tavern on our way down NYS Route 96. The restaurant had a bunch of photos of the falls and it looked great in photos. Even their sign was a wood carving of the falls.

I would guess this is one of the biggest free falling falls in the Finger Lakes at 215 feet. Most of the other falls of the area are sliding falls.

Since we were coming from NYS Route 96, we started at the top (North West) end of the park. This meant the first area we reached was overlook near the top of the falls. The view is impressive. The falls spill into its large pool from its big V shaped canyon.

 Once at the bottom of the park we "hiked" up the valley. I was a little disappointed by how huge the trail was. You didn't have to earn it, one could easily drive I semi truck to the falls down the trail, which was pretty flat. This easily approachable falls I guess serves a purpose, as an introduction to the outdoors for those of us that are less adventurous.

From the bottom, the falls looked even better than from the top. Maybe it had something to do with being hit by the spray that floated down the valley.

At the head of the trail on the way back to the parking lot I spotted a little cave. Naturally, I couldn't resist climbing in. It was only about 10 feet deep, but still made this nice photo.

Across the road was the rest of the park. which included some picnic areas, play grounds, marina and a beach.

 Bridge over Marina's entrance

View of the beach

-James

Lele Kawa

Sharing Niagara Falls

This is a post I have been sitting on for a while. Due to a stolen camera, I only recently got all the photos.

I had the opportunity to share the place I grew up with my girlfriend from overseas. This was my first time really sharing Niagara Falls with a true outsider. Growing up in Buffalo it doesn't take long for Niagara Falls to loose its wonder. By the time I left Buffalo, I had likely been to or near the Falls about 100 times.

For my girlfriend I planned to hit all the highlights, especially the ones with a bit of adventure. For her this was really out of her element. She is from the desert and isn't much for outdoor adventures.

We started off with visiting the Three Sisters Islands above the falls. This is a pleasant little hike that takes you out into the river just over the falls. It offers a pretty unique experience.

After little hike, we made our way over to the Cave of the Winds. Despite living so close to the Falls for most of my life, I had never done the Cave of the Winds. This made for a good warm up for the rest of the days adventures. Again it has a pretty amazing view. You are standing at the base of the falls and just being overcome by the mist and the wind the falling water creates, yet the water flowing under the boardwalk is flowing rather calmly.

Hurricane Deck

Next on the hit list was the Maid of the Mist. This was the first boat she had ever been on.

The last main adventure of the day was the Whirlpool Jetboat. If your counting this makes it the second boat my girlfriend had ever been on in her life. The ride starts with a 360 degree spin. My girlfriends face when they made the spin was pretty priceless. She suddenly realized is was on a ride she was not prepared for. This jet boat is a pretty wild ride. It plunges you through two different sets of class IV rapids, in addition to giving you a front seat view of some Class Vs. We made about 4 passes through the Class IV Devils Hole rapids. After the first pass, my girlfriend started to relax a little and enjoy herself. The captain did a good job of working the gas to insure the boat was swamped in every rapid.

-James

Lele Kawa