The last time I'd ventured on the Red Reef trail up Sisar Rd was back in November of 2021. I had hiked that trail so many times that I'd grown sick of it. Needed to give it a little break. Well, break's over. Felt the urge to go back...so I went. The goal of the day was to take 'er easy. I've been in an easy mood lately. Liam and I weren't gonna slog our way to the top of the ridge. No way. Too hard. Instead, we planned on visiting White Ledge Camp, a much more mellow kind of destination.
It was a pleasant walk up Sisar Rd. Despite it being almost June, the creek still had a nice flow to it. Certain sections of it possessed 2-3ft deep pools. Good spots for soakin' on a hot summer day. I could tell that a lot of hard work had gone into maintaining the road. It was nice and smooth, devoid of rocks and debris. We passed by a few people enjoying the creek. The creek seemed to be the place to be. It was kinda hot, and the steady grade was beginning to be bothersome. Just before the road curves up and away from the creek, we stopped and soaked our hats and enjoyed the last bit of shade we would get for a while.
We saw nobody farther up Sisar. We took another breather once we got to the junction with the Red Reef trail. The heat wasn't unbearable or miserable—it was just hot enough to be annoying. So we ventured back towards the creek, dunked our heads and relaxed for a minute or two.
A little ways before reaching the camp we heard the falls. And then, all of a sudden, we saw them. Yep, we saw 'em from the trail. I'd never seen them from the trail before, but maybe that's just because I ain't too observant. The creek in this section appears to have been stripped clear of all brush. It stands out like a brown streak in a sea of green chaparral. Perhaps it was impossible to see the falls before the biblical rains earlier this year, but I'm not sure. Regardless, they looked interesting, and if something looks interesting it needs to be checked out.
But first, we needed to achieve our goal. We reached the camp and found it to be in great shape. Again, it was obvious that a lot of hard work had gone into sprucing the place up. There were two spots that made great campsites and all of the fallen trees that blocked the trail had been chopped up and dealt with. It's a nice spot, with plenty of shade, water and solitude. How this place escaped being burnt to a crisp during the Thomas Fire I do not know. But I'm glad it didn't 'cause it's a really great spot.
We backtracked down the trail a little bit and then left it at a random spot and descended towards the creek. There are many ways to reach these falls. Some are easier than others. The easiest is to descend left (or right if you're going up Red Reef) directly above the top of the falls. Once you're at the top it's an easy down climb to the base of the falls. However, having never been to these falls before, we were unsure of the difficulty of this down climb. We brought no ropes so we decided to play it safe and skirt along the side of the hill through mild brush to reach the base.
The falls were stupidly loud. I wondered what they looked like during the rains. Hundreds of thousands of gallons of brown water gushing over the top of the cliff at breakneck speed would have been a sight to see for sure. Now, in late May, they're still pretty impressive. Enough water was falling over the side to create a fine mist at the bottom. I walked up to the base and stood there for a few moments. It was like standing in a shower, a very violent shower. The cold water burned my head and the sound of it bouncing off the rocks drowned out all other noises. Standing at the bottom, Liam and I had to scream to communicate. Bits of green moss clung to the sides of the cliff, and a strange orange slime covered some of the flat and smooth rocks near the base. We found a nice flat spot in the shade, directly adjacent to the falls, and took a nice long lunch break.
We hung around for a little while, enjoying the majesty of these recondite falls. They're unknown to a lot of folks. Don't know why. They ain't too far up the trail and they're right next to a pretty nice campground. Seems like they'd be pretty popular, but I guess not. As the summer drags on I'm sure that they'll become less and less spectacular. Ephemerality. Perhaps that's the reason.
Not wanting to climb back up the semi brushy hillside, we decided to scale the falls. This turned out to be much easier than expected. I ain't no climber, but I'd say that the climbing doesn't exceed that of class 3. It's a short easy scramble to the top of the falls, and from there it's a very easy climb up a nearly brushless hill back to the trail.
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| Top of the falls. Note the lack of brush in the creek bed |
We hit the trail and began the nice walk back to the car. A mountain biker passed us on Sisar Rd, the only one we'd seen all day. There were a lot more people out and about as we neared the start of the road, all of them soaking in the creek. We stopped one final time at the last creek crossing, dunked our heads, and listened to the sound of running water. Sittin' there by the creek offered a chance for reflection. Seeing the falls for the first time was just plain awesome. I never expected them to be so spectacular. Seriously, they were really, really cool. Probably in my top 3. Rose Valley, West Matilija, and White Ledge. Them's some good falls right there. Definitely gonna see 'em again someday.
