A Rose by Any Other Name

A Rose by Any Other Name
            Waterfalls. The thought of hiking to a waterfall on Mt. Tam stirs my heart, but the logistics can be challenging.
            To get my family of four to one of the treasured waterfall spots this vacation break, I needed to find a time when all four of us were free, and it had to NOT be one of the main holidays when everyone under the sun is doing an annual hike, making for too many cars on windy Marin mountain roads and trailheads with scarce parking.
            As I skimmed an online map for ideas, I spotted an unfamiliar waterfall name. “Helen Markt Falls” was noted right near Cataract Falls. My autistic son and I had been there several times with a hiking buddy, and I’d always wanted to take my husband and older son there.
            What was this other falls? It didn’t appear on any of the three paper maps of Mt. Tam I checked. I’d already written about Cataract Falls—twice—but this made for an excuse to go and do another photo shoot, especially knowing the water levels would be up after recent rains.
            A hiker had posted a photo online saying she wasn’t sure if she was at Helen Markt Falls or Cataract Falls. How confusing could it be? Sure enough, we got in range of the spot marked Helen Markt Falls on the online map and heard a rush of water. Through trees and bushes, we could see the start of a fast-running waterfall, and I knew this was still a way from the main Cataract Falls I was familiar with. Was this it? It all seemed to flow into one long waterfall.
            We enjoyed the hike, especially getting down to the lower end of Cataract Falls proper and seeing how powerfully the water was flowing. I wasn’t sure where my photos of Helen Markt Falls ended and Cataract started, but the point was to have seen the falls in full flow for the first time in the many years I’d been visiting.
            Back at home, I dug around for the little bit of information available on Helen Markt Falls to find a source saying that Helen Markt Falls constitutes the first four cascades of the full Cataract Falls complex of nine cascades. Whatever the name, Cataract Trail and the falls and creek make for a satisfying hike.
            This week’s Hike Notes, Helen Markt Falls and Cataract Falls, take readers on the mossy, woodsy Cataract Trail along Cataract Creek with a dramatic view of one of Mt. Tam’s tallest waterfalls.
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New this week:
Hike Notes 214: Helen Markt Falls and Cataract Falls