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10 Heath Falls
Heath Falls is the first of several waterfalls along the beautiful North Fork American River. It is an incredibly lovely 45 ft. plunge, nestled back in a scenic gorge. When the river is high in the spring, Heath Falls is spectacular. Later in the summer, the falls will still be worth making the long trek down to visit.
Access to Heath Falls is rather difficult to say the least. It is accessible off the very long Palisade Creek Trail at Soda Springs, which leads 7 miles down to the North Fork American River. The first thing to note is that the road leading to the trailhead will not be open until rather late in the spring. In a normal snow year, it will be accessible around early to mid-June. In 2005 (an above average year), it was not open until July. This late season access creates a few problems: (1) the river is highest in May, so the waterfalls will not be as spectacular when the trail is finally open (but the falls will still be great if you go as soon as possible after the road is clear of snow), (2) the mosquitoes come out in force by June, and they are pretty much unavoidable on the Palisade Creek Trail, and may indeed be intolerable, and (3) of course, the weather will be much hotter later in the summer.
The Palisade Creek Trail begins easily enough, starting from the Cascade Lakes, which is a popular camping/fishing destination. There were quite a few cars parked at the trailhead when I was here on a Saturday in July, but we saw no one on the trail the entire day. Beautiful views of the lakes are seen from the trail, plus towering Devil’s Peak on the right. After a mile or so, the trail enters a rocky granite area, and becomes very indistinct. If you are paying close attention, the trail is marked with cairns, but it is very easy to lose the trail. I somehow got off trail here, and it took awhile to get back on the right track. After this granite area, the trail becomes much easier to follow. Much of the trail is very rocky, which is hard on the old feet. My feet were absolutely killing me by the time I got back to the car at the end of the day. As for mosquitoes, when I was here in early July, they were (surprisingly) not too bad. I was lathered with repellent, which probably helped keep them away, but I found the horseflies to be more bothersome than the mosquitoes.
At about the 5.5 mile mark, the trail (finally) reaches a bridge crossing Palisade Creek. The Heath Falls Overlook trail is a short distance beyond this point (about 0.1 miles). The overlook trail is not marked and is quite difficult to spot. There is a sign posted on a tree “Heath Falls, American River”, but it is only visible after turning off the main trail. The Overlook Trail itself is indistinct and difficult to follow in areas, especially at the beginning. This trail leads about 1 mile down to a viewpoint of Heath Falls. The viewpoint of the waterfall is quite obscured by trees, as you can see from the photo above. This is a shame because it would be a super view of Heath Falls, if it were clear. Do not attempt to scramble down these steep cliffs to get a better view, as it would be extremely dangerous to do so. The Overlook Trail does, however, continue on a short distance to a point where it is easier to scramble down to the base of the falls. It is not an easy scramble and not recommended for children or those who are uneasy about steep scrambling, but it brings you down to the riverside, and a fantastic close-up of Heath Falls. This is really the only way to experience Heath Falls in its glory. It was truly astounding. I am not entirely sure if access to the base of Heath Falls is considered trespassing. The land around this area is on private property owned by The Cedars at Soda Springs, but there were no signs forbidding access to the falls’ base, so it may or may not be all right. Use your own good judgement. But beware, if you are caught trespassing, you will be arrested. The trail actually does continue upriver to the Cedars and up to Soda Springs, but you would be trespassing for certain if you continued on the trail. This is really a shame that this old trail is now closed to the public, as it would offer a super alternative route to Heath Falls. Also, there is another big waterfall in the Heath Springs Gorge above Heath Falls. But access to it is also on the private property and definitely would be trespassing.
The actual height of Heath Falls is in a bit of a dispute. I consider myself to be a pretty good estimator of waterfall heights, and I figured Heath Falls to be on the lower side in the range of 35 to 45 ft. high. My brother-in-law, however, was thinking more in the line of 45 to 55 ft. high or more. Others have mentioned to me also that they think it is much higher than 30ish feet. I have my doubts but I will compromise and say it is 45 ft. high.
On an interesting note, we saw a kayak (possibly broken) down at the base of Heath Falls up on the shore line. It is amazing to think that kayakers would actually go over this huge waterfall in this narrow gorge and live to tell about it, but we have actually seen video of this feat being performed (but it seems as though one kayaker at least wasn't so lucky). Wow.
One very important thing to note is that this trail is quite a bit longer than some other sources indicate, in particular Brown’s California Waterfalls book. She indicates the trail is 4.5 miles to the Palisade Creek bridge, and only another 0.5 miles to the Heath Falls overlook (10 miles round-trip). My GPS, however, told me that it is really 5.5 miles from the trailhead to the bridge, and the overlook trail is a full 1.0 miles to the viewpoint (plus another quarter mile if you continue to the base of Heath Falls). This makes for a total hike of 13.5 miles. It took about 2 hours to hike from the trailhead to the Palisade Creek bridge, 2 hours to hike to Heath Falls then back to the main trail (including spending quite awhile enjoying the falls), and then 3 hours from the Palisade Creek trail back up to the car.
Once you clamber back up to the main Palisade Creek Trail from Heath Falls, you will have to consider if you want to continue down the trail to the North Fork American River and to Palisade Falls (another steep 1.5 miles down). I was quite tired from the short scramble down to the base of Heath Falls, and it is still a steep 5.5 mile hike back up the trail. But I did go down to Palisade Falls, and it is highly recommended to do so if you are up for it. This made for almost a 17 mile hike in one day, the most I’ve ever done and probably too much for most people. A good alternative, though, would be to camp down at Palisade Falls.
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Other waterfalls nearby:
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