Hike with Ranger Dave by Sarah

In Happy Camp, California, we met the ranger and helped him with pulling plants that are invasive species to California.  The day before we had pulled the mustard seed plant.  We decided as a group to raft and kayak down the Klamath River with Ranger Dave and helped pull another kind of invasive species.  Ranger Dave told us about a really cool waterfall up a creek and we all decided to hike towards it.

When we got to the confluence of the creek and the river, we got out of our boats and began to hike.  About 300 yards into our hike, we found out we had to cross the very fast and cold creek.  One of our instructors, Dan, aka Lt. Dan, gave us a lesson on how to cross a creek properly.  We all found a partner or two, grabbed onto their PFDs and waded across the creek while rotating in a circle.

Once on the other side, we had to walk along the creek where the gravel was really loose and rocks were constantly rolling down.  Ranger Dave was in the front making and following the trail as we followed like a herd of sheep.   We climbed rocks and logs, getting scraped by thorns and wading through the water and then climbing back up slippery rocks to the trail.  At one point in our hike, we saw a rattlesnake and quite a few of us freaked out and hurried past it as quickly as possible. 

A ways further upstream, we had to cross the creek again.  Ranger Dave went out half way and came back because the water was too fast.  Two of our instructors, Dan and Sam (who were going to kayak the creek) set up safety, a throw bag to a tree on the other side so we had a line we could use to get across.

When most of us were across, Ranger Dave told us to follow him, and he set off up the creek.  We didn't hear what he said because he spoke so softly, and the creek was so loud.  We realized that we should have followed Dave instead of waiting for the instructors to cross, so we all started walking in the direction we saw Dave go, looking for him.  We had to stop at a rock wall that we couldn't get around or go over.  We took a few pictures and waited for Dave, who made it to our waterfall only to find out our swimming hole was too fast.  He came back with pictures and our instructors decided that it was too late in the day to continue because we still had about two miles of river to continue and we needed to drive to the Cal Salmon to set up our camp.  Hiking out was almost as cool as walking in towards the waterfall in my opinion.  The creek was harder to cross and the snake was still there.

We got to the takeout and loaded our trailer with hopes of getting our dinner at Wendy's, which we did not receive, and headed tp the Cal Salmon River.