On Wednesday we had 9 people come out to hike from the Box Canyon dam at Lake Siskiyou to Ney Springs and Faery Falls and in Dunsmuir to Hedge Creek Falls. We had perfect weather with a sunny sky and a temperature of 55°.

We started at the dam on Barr Road and then crossed over to Ney Springs Road. We headed up the dirt road amongst the tall trees. When we got to the unnamed road to Box Canyon overlook, I decided to skip that since there really wasn't anything of interest to see when we went last year. We continued up the road until we got to the parking lot for Faery Falls.

We headed up the trail and could smell the sulphur coming from the spring. There was a path down towards the river that led to the spring. “Ney Spring was discovered by John Ney in 1887. A once world-renowned health resort in the 19th century, Ney Springs featured facilities for up to fifty guests, several outbuildings, and a wooden bridge system providing creek access. The resort has since been overtaken by nature and all that remains are moss-covered walls with a spigot that still runs and an old cistern that still gurgles with silica-rich spring water. The water has a pH of 11.6 and a silica content of 4,000 parts per million, the highest values known to occur in natural ground waters. For reference, a mineral spring is generally defined as one that contains a reading of 400 parts/million of total dissolved solids. Ney Springs contains 10 times that!.

We went back up the trail and then explored a stone wall covered in moss.

We continued up the trail and then another trail down towards the river and came to the bottom of Faery Falls. The water flow was good and we enjoyed the mist that sprayed up from it.

We then headed back up and then back down the rocky trail. Just before coming back to the trail down to Ney Springs, we headed upward and to the left along an old road. When we got to Ney Springs Road, we continued on it and down to Barr Road. We walked across the bridge over the dam and could see the spillway and Box Canyon. We then returned to our cars and we had hiked 5 miles and had 567 feet of gain.

We then got in our cars and headed back to I5 and drove south to exit 732 in Dunsmuir. The parking area is right off the freeway exit. It was now 64°. We took our lunch at the big picnic bench. From there, we headed down the trail to Hedge Creek Falls. We were able to walk behind it and to the other side. We continued down the trail to a lookout and could see the Sacramento River. Then we went down and could see where Hedge Creek meets the Sacramento. We headed back up to our cars. We had hiked 0.87 of a mile and had 158 feet of elevation gain.

There is a sign near the trailhead that shows the plans for continuing the trail to Mossbrae Falls. I have never ventured there since the access right now is going along railroad tracks and that seemed too dangerous. Hopefully this gets finished soon.

Francie