We had arrived at camp mid-afternoon, and by the time we had finished setup and "lunch" (at a very european time), it was nearly 4pm. Being May, there was still lots of daylight left, and Arn and the others were keen to fill the hours with some sort of activity. We decided to undertake a short hike to a nearby attraction - High Falls.
High Falls is a scenic waterfall along a branch of the Barron River that connects lower Stratton Lake to High Falls Lake. There is a loosely-defined, un-marked hiking path that leads from the upper end of High Falls Lake - near our campsite - to the falls. We used our canoes to cross over from our campsite to the hike's starting point, and made our way uphill through the woods towards the falls, following the course of the rushing Barron River.
The total distance from hike start to the first view of the falls is quite short - perhaps half a kilometer at most. The falls are the lowest part of a series of cascades and flumes along a section of the river, and looked quite impressive with the strong flow of springtime.
courtesy AHyndman
Charging through the bush
We fought our way around the bouldery and brushy banks of the river, crossing rushing side streams, angling towards the falls. The others did not join me when I found the ideal spot to take in the falls up close and personal - instead, they had continued above the falls, heading for a well known swimming spot known as "The Slide". Although there was no swimming to be had in the cold waters of early spring, they still wanted to visit it.
courtesy AHyndman
Gosia and the water slide
After finishing with my waterfall photos and rejoining with the others, we started our way back to the canoes. Along the way, I stopped for a few more shots of High Falls, from an advantageous viewpoint across the small pond at the waterfall's base.
In short order we were back at the canoes, and a further five minutes of paddling brought us back to our campsite. Dave, Emma and Gosia stayed out on the lake in their canoe, wandering back and forth as they filtered a large water bag of water for the night's drinking and cooking needs.
