Freezing McCloud Falls

Crossing McCloud Falls off of my bucket list was definitely much more of an adventure than I thought it would be!

As we got into higher elevations, we started seeing snow! The road has at least a foot of snow on it with one main set of tire treads leading off into the trees. We all get there in tact, including the car.

There are three different sections of the falls called the Upper Falls, Middle Falls and Lower Falls. We wanted to go to the Upper Falls because we thought they would be the largest. They didn't disappoint.

There were a few sections of railing that we could look over to watch the first set of falls.

It was incredibly beautiful. The water was brilliant blue with the white snow and green tree background. I could have stood at the railing and watched the water for hours, but the hike got better as we continued.

We started to hike down to the bottom of the falls which was really pretty because we started hiking along the tops of the trees and progressively got lower till we were at water level. The hike itself was a little sketchy because the snow was slippery and I wasn't wearing proper boots.

Once we were at the bottom, we saw largest falls. They roared so loud it was hard to hear each other.

After climbing around on the frozen rocks, we got back on the trail. I noticed something I had never seen before, the trees were smoking. I'm still not sure why they were, but I tried to capture it on film. I assume it was mist or water slowly evaporating off the tress in the sunlight, but I am not a professional.

We didn't continue on the trail for very much longer because we wanted to make it back to the main road before the sun went down. Driving in the dark through the snow would have been terrifying.

Luckily, we got back to the car with the sun still out. Then, we drove the two hours back home. Our day adventure was worth it. I'm super happy we got to see McCloud, but I recommend checking the weather conditions first.