It’s our most favorite season of the year: Autumn; and the nearest location to our place is of course Bishop, which is around 6 hours driving. Actually this year we were planning to go to Cedar City, Utah but then we heard that it’s peaking at Bishop so we changed our plan in the last minute. It’s peaking at North Lake and South Lake, Rock Creek Lake but other areas at lower elevation is still green. Maybe in the next 2 weeks it’ll peak there.
William was so excited as usual about the trip, but he did not like Travelodge, “It’s a motel, not hotel!”.
– It’s a small city, there’s no resorts here. I said.
– Why? he asked.
– Because people come to this town for hiking and fishing , not to relax.
– Bishop is a bad city, it only has motels not hotels! – He kept saying that.
This time we had his Grandpa Thieu Bui (Tim’s Dad) to go with us. He wanted to see yellow leaves. We did not think that he’d have trouble breathing in high elevation area but he did. First afternoon we went to North Lake, he had trouble breathing ; and worse, he left his ventilator at the hotel so we gave him William’s ventilator (which we always carry with us along with EpiPen everywhere we go) and then we had to leave right away.
We primed William the night before that we’d go hiking; and to my surprise, he was ok with it.
It was a cloudy day which is perfect for hiking. The “Hiking Trail Bonita Falls” is in San Bernadino National Forest, which is about 1 hr driving from Santa Ana. We arrived to the parking area around 10:00 AM; and there were a few parking spaces left. Actually there’s no designated parking lot: we parked along the road and then walked to the 2 green portable restrooms where there’s a little trail to get down.
Once we’re down, we’d have to cross a little creek: there are some tree trunks and rocks lying across the creek so if you don’t to get wet, you can walk on these. William walked on it fine; he was scared at first but kept walking and made it to the other side with Tim; I was so scared that it took me so long to cross it; William was waiting for me at the other end and handed out the wood stick toward me so that I could grab it. Thank you for trying to help, my little boy! 🙂
There’s rocks every where; there’s no established trail! The worse part is that there’s no sign at all. We kept walking on the rocks and asked people for directions when we saw someone. We walked so slow that a few groups of people could easily passed by us, leaving us alone by ourselves. We thought about giving up a few times. William looked tired but he did not complain or cry/whine at all. He was so good today.
“It’s a hidden trail to go up to waterfall, keep to the left” – the man said. So we kept to the left and kept walking, still have no idea how far we needed to go because there’s no signs; the only signs we saw along the way are the paints that people sprayed on the rocks; there were some arrows pointing up. When we were about to give up, we saw some people coming down from what looks like a trail to our left far ahead; “That must be the way to the waterfall” – I told William. So instead of going back to the car, we aimed to that trail. And finally we got there!
We love this log
William is walking with the stick found by the creek
Broken tree along the way
The mark of beginning of the trail to waterfall
But, it’s not it! it’s the beginning of the trail to go UP to the waterfall: it’s an up hill which is full of more rocks! We walked slowly, took breaks often and drank water; at one point William wanted to go back to the car; then suddenly there it is, we heard the sound of the water! So we encouraged him to keep walking and finally we found it. It’s just simply beautiful!
William tried to get near to the waterfall, he enjoyed sitting on the rocks and looking at the water; we took some pictures and short video clips. It’s a small area so when it was started to get crowded, we decided to leave.
The way back of course is faster because now we know the way; but it was so windy that William asked for his jacket.
We crossed that little creek again to get to the other side; but this time we did not care if our feet got wet!
“William, did you like the hike and waterfall?” – I asked. “Yes” – he replied softly.
I’m glad that he’s starting to like hiking and being outdoor. Last year we went to the Malibu state park, he ran back to the car as fast as he could when he saw a small butterfly!
