San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
In wake of ruin, Feather Falls is spectacle of hope
In Paradise, Oroville and the surrounding region, there’s a saying gathering strength as the year unfolds: “Out of the ashes we will rise.”
The siege started two years ago, February of 2017, at Lake Oroville, where water pouring over the dam ripped a hole in the spillway. At one point, fear that the 770-foot Oroville Dam could fail caused 188,000 people to evacuate in a chaotic traffic jam.
In November, in the wildfire that touched hearts and minds around the world, the Camp Fire swept through nearby Paradise and killed 86 people, destroyed 14,000 homes and displaced more than 50,000 residents. Five friends of mine, including retired Chronicle circulation executive Stephen Gentile, the popular and well-known face of The Chronicle at events, had their homes destroyed but made it out alive.
“I drove by my home today,” Gentile said last week. “Nothing left. Completely gone. I lost everything. But we made it out. We had fire all around us. We were trying to drive out and a telephone pole on fire fell across the road in front of us. We had to drive over it, with flames everywhere, to get out.”
Thousands here have similar stories. In the wake of ruin, Feather Falls, a world-class waterfall with the best viewing deck in California, remains a symbol of what the recent disasters could not touch.
Feather Falls is a 410-foot waterfall set on the edge of wilderness above Lake Oroville. It flows from a pretty stream, Fall River, propelled forward by clean, surging emerald water. It gathers strength through a series of short pools and cascades in boulders, then powers over the brink, down an extended chute, then feathers out in a free fall to a landing site strewn with giant blocks of rock.
Outside of Yosemite, it is the prettiest waterfall in California. It is one of the best day hikes in Northern California, and a small, free campground is located adjacent to the trailhead.
Of the state’s 200 significant waterfalls, Feather Falls has the most dramatic viewing deck. A bridged walkway across a knife-edge ridge leads to a crag, where a viewing deck has been built and is perched on the edge of the canyon rim. You get a full frontal of the falls, top to bottom.
You can also hike above the brink, take a short spur to a boulder near the rim where a cyclone fence keeps you safe, and then peer down the canyon. Another spur from the main trail, just up from the brink on the left, allows you to take a seat along the pools-and-drops as the water surges to the rim.
The hike is best done as a 9.5-mile loop, most of it what I call a “rhythmic stroker,” which takes most about 4 ½ hours on the trail, and another 30 minutes or so, with a trail lunch, at the lookout deck. Many add another mile to venture to the overlook at the brink and back.
The staging area is at an elevation of 2,500 feet, below the snow line of most winter storms. From Oroville, it’s 26.5 miles, where you pass Lake Oroville on the left and rise into Plumas National Forest. As you arrive to the parking area, the trailhead is straight ahead, a restroom is on your right, and the campground is on your back left.
Camp there
The campground has just five sites for tents and small RVs, with a grill and a picnic table provided at each. It is a short walk to the restroom (with chemical toilets). RVs over 16 feet are not advised and trailers can find it very difficult to turn around at the parking area. A water faucet is available for drinking water and cooking, but it is turned off until the chance of freezing weather has passed in the spring, rangers said.
At the trailhead, bearproof trash bins are on your left, and an information billboard with a trail map on your right. If you don’t have a Forest Service map, take a photo of the map on the billboard so you have a picture of the route and all the landmarks along the way.
Feather Falls is a place you will never forget. You will hear the sound of the falls, thundering and echoing in the canyon, before you see it. The view can seem surreal, as if you are in a movie, watching yourself.
The moment can seem perfect. When you consider what this region has been through, maybe it is.