Holy Jim Falls Attempt...

So I have MLK day off every year, and I usually forget we even have it off and I never make plans for the long weekend.  This year I wanted to at least get out and do an adventure day of.  I figured my friend Cesar would have it off since he also works for a school so we made plans to do a hike.

I've also been wanting to find new areas to hike/explore.  I'm surrounded by beautiful nature and don't venture out past my little Peters Canyon box very often.  So I hunted around and had a few options for us depending how we felt day of.  I also wanted to take my new camera out for some play time.

We landed on Holy Jim Falls.  It's supposed to be a bout a 3 mile hike round trip.  There's also supposed to be a pretty waterfall somewhere. What I also noticed was the note saying if you want to drive the dirt road to get there it's recommended to have a 4 wheel drive , I also didn't realize how far it was.  I for some reason thought maybe we could just walk it?  Ooooops.

We parked at the front thinking the walk in wouldn't be that long.  Wrong.  It's about 4 miles or more in we found out.  The bummer is the main portion is just a dirt road with not much to look at.  Plus the vehicles that are driving it kick up a nice big dust cloud as they drive by.  We were in good spirits though.  He's a bit hungover and I forgot to pack some snacks so my stomach started growling.  The sun was out and it was a gorgeous day and I also forgot sunblock.  So - this trip was a learning trip.  I'll know what to do next time. 

Lessons Learned:
1 - Prepare better.  Have your backpack full of snacks, water, sun block, etc.
2 - Leave earlier.  It's actually a bit farther up the road than I thought.  It's not just up Chapman, it's a bit of a drive.  So leave early.
3 - If you don't want a long ass walk then find someone with a vehicle that can drive the dirt road.  The part we turned around at had a little parking area and then a 2 mile walk to where the trail started - this would be a good place to begin.
4 - Make a day of it.

We still had a really nice time.   And below are my photos.  It took us about an hour and a half to get to where we decided to turn back around and about an hour to walk back.  So we got a nice good walk in.  Plus beautiful day.  Plus beautiful landscape once you get in the hills a bit.  Plus got a little bit of camera play.  Plus good company!

A random memorial for someone named Matt Moore :(

Cesar

This was the moment it was so silent.  I love moments like that.  You could hear a pin drop miles away.

Our little spot we stopped at to decide how much farther we should go.

Playing with the camera

New profile pic

Not a bad selfie with my giant camera

This was the point we realized how much farther we had.  We would normally keep going had we been better prepared and planned to make a whole day of it but we turned back here.

I joked this was the only waterfall we were going to get today.

These trees had a purplish hew. So pretty!

Reminded me of stars

I was futzing around with my action setting.  Lots to learn.

All in all it was a fun day.  We grabbed lunch afterwards.  I love spending time outdoors and finding new places.  Even though we didn't make our destination and I was a bit disappointed I didn't know where anything it was, there was still that adventure feeling.  I look forward to doing this much more!