After turning south on Maxwell Scenic Drive and going just a little over three miles there is an unmarked dirt road to the left (if you see the ruins of a ranch on your right, you’ve gone too far). If you’re careful, you can drive a low clearance car on the dirt road. At the end of this road is a large “dip” and a hill at the top of which you can park. I actually took a shovel and filled in the dip so that I could drive over it (a patch that may not have long survived).
This is the route to the trail into Cattail Falls. During a good rain Cattail Falls is an 80-foot flowing waterfall ending in a pool of water (that remains even during the times when water isn’t flowing). The site isn’t all that visually interesting when the water isn’t flowing—and it wasn’t when I was there.
It’s a short hike that is relatively easy, during part of which the southwest view is pictured above. In the setting sun, the rolling terrain reflects a saturation of colors that is difficult to photograph without the camera doing a digital color shift altering what is perceivable in person. But make no mistake about it, for a few moments in the evening this place is almost like standing in a landscape painted by Claude Monet.
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Unless otherwise noted the image was corrected to offset color shift and balance. This restores black (shadows), white (highlights) and neutral gray (neutral mid-tones).
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