Racehorse Falls

"He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills."

October 6 was a school field trip for the 6-8th grades, fossil hunting and observing the geology at Racehorse Creek and Falls.  We had intended to go to Slide Mountain above the creek, but discovered that the Forest Service had closed the road.  We did hike to the base of the mountain but because it was a very wet day went no further, though we saw a lot of fossils there, mostly leaves, ferns and parts of palm fronds in shale and sandstone.

At Racehorse Creek a little later we discovered that last winter had changed things considerably.  The large pool at the base of the falls was nearly gone and the creek had changed its course making it much easier to get to the falls.  A lot more fossils had also been uncovered by the changes and we found some beauties, one of which is pictured here.  There were also a lot of mushrooms and fungi but the kids did not seem especially interested in those.

The falls have several tiers but these are visible only from a distance.  They are named for the outline of a horse's head at the side of the falls, just visible in the first photo.  Whoever named these falls must have been into racing since there is another smaller falls further upstream named Triple Crown Falls.  There is also an upper Racehorse Falls with around a 20 foot drop, but we did not hike in to them, since that requires some fairly serious bushwacking.

the falls

the creek

Western Toad (found by one of the girls)

fossils

Orange Peel Fungus

Orange Jelly Fungus

unidentified mushrooms

Big-leaf Maple