Oak Glen

There is a quiet glen in southern Cal named Oak Glen. If you would like to play the role of a tourist and drive through apple country, this is a good place to come.

Not long ago I was told of a 100' waterfall that can be accessed from the glen, located only about a mile away from where the vehicle can be parked. On November 23, 2007, I struck out to find this fall, but what I found was a 20' fall. The next time I met with the person who told me of the fall, I was told that the waterfall I found was only the first of seven falls. Hmm...why wasn't I told about the seven falls before I struck out on the hike?

I didn't get back to the canyon to look for the rest of the waterfalls until April 19, 2008, due mainly to the winter snowfalls and iced in conditions. We have been having wonderfully warm weather lately so I gave the canyon another attempt, however I only reached the third waterfall this time. The steeply vertical walls of the canyon prevented me from continuing further from the third fall, but I saw an area back down the creekbed where I figured I could ascend the canyon wall and then go around the fall. This assumption turned out to be a mistake after I ascended about 150' of loose shale, only to find myself on top of a pinnacle. From the top, there was no where else to go except for back down another vertical face. I decided to call it a day for this trip and then return again after conferring with my friend for further info.

One item of note that was rather cool at the third waterfall: there was a huge chunk of ice, basically a glacier, in the creek bed. This glacier will eventually melt as the sun gets higher in the sky with summer coming on.