We started our hike at about noon because we knew we were planning to camp overnight. The parking lot was packed at the Feather Falls trailhead. It is Memorial Day weekend.
I pride myself on my southern accent and I use it quite often. My husband dared me to speak to everyone we saw with my "Hi! How ya'll doing? Did ya'll enjoy the hike?" I got big smiles and some puzzled looks as if I was speaking in another language altogether. There were tons of people coming out as we were going on. One thing I noticed they all had in common? Tiny water bottles, red faces, and sweat pouring down their faces. We were asked many times, "how much further?" We gave them exact mileage to the parking lot and one older lady with a cane and a chair said "stop it. You're lying!" No lady we weren't lying.
The FF hike is a moderate to strenuous hike that is about 7 miles from the parking lot to the area above the falls. It's very very recommended that if you take this hike to Feather Falls you should start early in the morning, bring your lunch (carry out your trash please) and bring no less than 3 liters of water or a sterilizer set up like the steri pen to replenish your dwindling supply. There is not any potable water to drink so plan ahead. We used our steri pen to clean our water we got from the river and poured it in to our hydration packs for the journey back out. There's a sign that says FF TRAIL is sponsored by the Feather Falls casino, which if that's the case they might want to organize a trail clean up day. It's overgrown in a lot of places and avoiding the endless poison oak is hard unless you have trekking poles to push the plant out of your path.
Also, my complaint today is for the ladies who hike. After you tinkle is it really necessary to wipe and leave your toilet paper right there for all to see? No it isn't. I never use toilet paper. I shake myself off and just keep going. I carry a shovel for those cat holes I may need to dig one day. At the spot we camped at there were toilet paper piles all over by where we had to get our water. Eww. You brought it. You take it back out. Why do we have to look at your mess? It's rude and thoughtless.
We went lighter with our base weight this time. 20 lbs. We were both able to shed 10 lbs by taking way less stuff. We used a stuff sack and a carabiner and para cord for our bear bag. We carried two empty water bottles to use for the steri pen. Our tent and two footprints. One for our tent and one for us to lay our gear out on and for us to sit on while eating or laying there looking up at the stars. There was a fire ring and I have a campfire permit for the rest of the year. Collecting wood was where it got tricky because the wood was across the river. My husband swam across to collect wood.
It was a fun overnighter. I recommend doing it.
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