We all met up at the Sutton General Store to pile into 2 vehicles, supposedly capable of driving to the actual trailhead for Eska Falls. Michele's car was quite capable, but the other one quickly determined that it was not. I was in that car, so our little group of Valley Wanderers had to walk the extra 1 1/2 miles to the trailhead while the others got to bounce along over the rocks in Michele's big truck. Only Erin waited for us at the trailhead, but we all caught up with the others before reaching the 1-mile marker. The trail starts out quite gentle as it switches back and forth and gradually climbs up along the long ridge where it finally tops out on a nice rocky plateau. Since there were 4 other very large dogs with our group, and most folks were ahead, I kept Bella on her leash until we reached the wide-open plateau above tree line. There, Bella joined the other dogs in running up and down the mountainsides chasing ground squirrels and each other. We could now see Eska Falls in the distance, between the towering mountains, Eska Mountain and Granite Mountain. Eska Creek plunges straight off the ridge that connects these 2 peaks. It's very beautiful back there, but sadly, the ATV trails really mess up the natural beauty of the area. They are convenient because they lead the way to the falls, but there are far too many of them and they mostly disturb the landscape. But we made good use of them for several miles making our way to the base of the falls. Bella must have traveled 3 times the distance of the humans because she kept running ahead to join the leader then racing back to check on me. She rarely stayed exactly on the trails either, instead racing up and down and back and forth from trail to trail. We all finally reached the beautiful waterfall and found comfortable seats among the rocks to have our lunch break. About half of the group decided to climb up the steep narrow trail that leads through the moss, tundra, and boulders up to the plateau and long valley above the falls. I sensed that the trail was most likely originally formed by either Mountain Goats or Dall Sheep because it was really straight up the steep mountainside. We had to cross a couple of giant boulder fields, to get to the grassy areas above the rocks. We had spectacular views of the valley below and the surrounding peaks from up there. On the way down, I fell on a small creek crossing and dunked half of my body into the creek. Now I have bruises on my right leg to match the ones on my left leg from my last few hikes. The folks ahead of me were struggling to get over a huge gap in some gigantic boulders. Bella passed by them and jumped fearlessly from one boulder to the other. I didn't think much of it until I got to that spot and saw the giant chasm between those two rocks. It was amazing to think that little dog would leap across such a huge gap. She is totally fearless. Once back down close to the base of the falls we joined some of the rest of the group. A few had moved on and we found them down lower engaged in blueberry picking. Bella followed right behind me all the way back to the car we had left near the spot where the paved road ends. We hiked a total of 12.4 miles with an elevation gain of just under 3000 feet. I'm quite exhausted but so glad I was able to visit this lovely place once again. I'd like to explore the area above the falls in more detail someday. You can trek for miles and miles through those spectacular mountains.
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