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Mist Falls: April 23, 2016

7.6 Miles +800ft



This was the hike to begin my 2016 hiking season, a warm-up hike if  you will. This also happened to be the opening weekend of Hwy 180 down to Cedar Grove and Road's End. We got to the park entrance a little after 8 and made it down to the trailhead by 9. I was carrying my pack with ~30 lbs for training, while the others were just carrying day packs. The 2 mile slog down the DG highway wasn't bad at all; it was cool enough to make it bearable, and the 3/4 of an inch of rain the day before packed all the sand down. 40 minutes later we found ourselves at the convergence of Bubbs and the Kings River. Contrary to my trip to Rae Lakes last summer, we turned north up the Kings, halfway to our destination. another 20 minutes and we started gradually climbing up the canyon, overlooking the mighty river. Turning up a switchback we got a great look at the Sphinx and the snow covered North side. 





After a short picture break we kept on to the falls. The last time I'd been here was August when flows were much lower. We could tell why it was called Mist Falls, and quickly found a spot in the sun to eat lunch. 


After a quick lunch we headed back to the truck, and started to see more and more hikers. Coming up we had only seen 2-3 other hikers, but now coming down we saw 20+. I guess quite a few others had the same idea as we did. Making it back to the truck at 1:15 really surprised me. We now had the whole afternoon free. There was no one against Hume Lake milkshakes on the way back, so off we went. A milkshake was the best way to end the first real hike of the season.

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