On the first Saturday of November, I headed out to take a hike on a trail I hadn’t been on since before the Carr Fire: the Brandy Creek Falls Trail. This is an area I used to hike in the early 1980s, before there was an established trail, by utilizing old logging roads made during the huge clearcuts, just before Whiskeytown became a National Recreation Area (NRA).
While you can start at a parking lot on Kennedy Memorial Drive near Brandy Creek Beach, making the hike about 7 miles round trip, I continued driving all the way out to the trailhead (another ~4 miles) for a 4-mile round-trip hike. The dirt road to the trailhead is in good condition and my Camry was able make it with ease. The road dead-ends at the trailhead.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the fire hadn’t burned the area too extensively, at least not in areas within 200 feet above the creek. A previous beneficial fire had cleared some of the area sometime around 2008.
The trail is only 1.4 miles to the upper falls; however, I made a side trip on an old logging road that I used to hike (until it slid into Brandy Creek in a landslide), adding more distance to my hike.
From the trailhead, the trail follows an old logging road with an overstory of conifers and big-leaf maple trees. A lot of the trail was previously a mixed-conifer forest, with sections under a closed canopy of tanoaks. Now it is a more open canopy as many trees have died, especially the tanoaks.
Along much of the trail, you can see Brandy Creek down a steep canyon or cliffs. Just a third-mile in is a foot bridge over a side creek with red willow, white alder, honeysuckle, giant chain fern, creek dogwood, and elk-clover among the hydrophytic plants in the creek.
Photo taken November 2, 2024, by David Ledger.
Then the trail starts an uphill climb with a few welcome level spots. Little was blooming on the trail, but you could identify many plants by the leaves, stems, or remaining fruits. In the genus Rubus, Himalayan blackberry, California blackberry, and white-stemmed raspberry are common.
Chain ferns are abundant along the many springs, and narrow-leaved sword ferns are found in the understory and along the trail.
This trail is fairly popular, but there weren’t too many people for a Saturday—perhaps five hikers and five on mountain bikes. This would be an excellent easy hike for someone seeking solitude if done during the middle of the week, but do note: the trail does not quite reach the upper falls due to needed repairs. Whiskeytown NRA usually closes this trail for the winter, so now would be the time to take this hike. ~David Ledger
Photo taken November 2, 2024, by David Ledger.