While it is “off-season” for the waterfalls in San Diego County, I took a quick overnight trip to the Three Sisters falls with my father over the weekend.  We decided to take this trip at the last minute, and I called the Palomar Ranger Station to secure permits on Friday afternoon.  The Rangers were very helpful, and I had my permit faxed to me at the last minute.  We arrived at the trailhead at the intersection of Boulder Creek Road and Cedar Creek Road, threw on our backpacks and were off hiking down the old mining road that marks the start of the trail.

We hiked with the setting sun, crossing through “Sheep Camp Creek”:  an impressive creekbed thick with knurled old oaks, and ominous looking Poison Oak .  We arrived at a low spot between two hills, and got our first good look at the falls across a deep canyon.   The light was fading fast, so we donned our headlamps, and continued down the trail.  The description of the trail in Afoot and Afield in San Diego County indicated that it gets very steep in the last portion of the canyon.  We were moving with caution going down into the canyon, when it just got too steep to hike safely with full packs via our dim headlamps, and we make the decision to retreat back to the saddle where we had identified a good campsite.

In camp we set up in the dark, prepared instant noodles and peppermint tea with my new alcohol stove, and enjoyed the plethora of stars in the moonless evening.  The shooting stars, and the highflying airplanes in the distance provided us with more entertainment than any evening I have ever spent in front of the television.  We retired to our sleeping bags much later than either of us intended.

The morning greeted up with drippy layer of dew covering our bivies, and the view of the falls obscured by a fog bank being pushed into the canyon bottom.  After a quick breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, we packed our daypacks with a few essentials, and stashed the majority of our gear in some bushes and headed off to the falls.  Climbing into the canyon bottom was accomplished mostly by scrambling down rocks (justifying our decision not to try it the previous night).  The canyon bottom was covered in oaks and boulders, and we climbed towards the falls stopping often to enjoy the placid pools of water specked throughout the riverbed.  When we arrived to the falls, there was just a trickle of water spilling down rocks, yet it was defiantly worth the effort.

We spent a great deal of time relaxing and admiring the peaceful view before heading back out the trail in the mid-day sun, picking up  our gear, and rejoining the bustle of humanity of which we had not seen a soul since leaving the day before.