Russian Gulch State Park Waterfall Shortcut

I first heard about a faster way to the waterfall in Russian Gulch State Park years ago, but never tried it, because who needs a shortcut when the long way is so beautiful? Yes, the “official” hike to the falls along the Fern Canyon Trail is miles-long, but they are miles well-spent walking under towering redwoods with lush ferns and a flowing river at your feet.

Also, the details I had about the shortcut were quite vague, so it wasn’t until I learned from a knowledgeable source exactly how to find and follow the shortcut that I decided to finally try it when I recently found myself near the park, but without enough time to walk several miles to the falls and back.

Of course, as is my way every time I go somewhere new, I took a wrong turn and got lost. Not because the directions were bad, but because I didn’t follow them.

And those directions? Well, they start with finding Mendocino County Road 409, which is a well-marked turn off of Highway 1 near Big River, just south of the village of Mendocino. You then follow that road for a few miles until you see all the cars parked near the entrance to the Horse Camp inside Russian Gulch State Park.

Finding the signs for the Horse Camp is key, though you can’t park near them, because you need to start your walk in that direction, which is not the way I first headed. No, I started walking on the opposite side of the road, very nearly getting myself lost in the forest after following some bumpy mountain bike paths into the trees before deciding I should head back.

But if you park in one of the turnouts and instead follow the signs to the Horse Camp, your path is clearly marked and you will soon find proper park signs directing you to the East Trail, then the Falls Loop Trail and the waterfall, which was indeed reached by a much shorter walk than the previous hikes I had taken to see it.

And while any walk in a redwood forest is wonderful, and anytime you get to hear and see a flowing waterfall is glorious, I can’t really recommend taking this shortcut to see the Russian Gulch waterfall.

Why? First, I believe that much of the pleasure of hiking to waterfalls is the anticipation, the walking for miles to finally reach your reward, which you then definitely feel you have deserved after such a long journey. But I did not feel I deserved the waterfall after the shortcut, even though I had gotten lost after taking a wrong turn in the beginning.

Second, the shortcut ends with a very steep and precarious trek down the hillside that is very much like the path the waterfall takes. And while that path is great for water, it’s not great for humans, especially not those right behind me: a family of four that included a dad leading a large dog on a leash, so he had only one arm free to help convince the mom carrying a baby that she would not slip and fall on the very slick rock “stairs” behind the waterfall. If that doesn’t sound like a fun family outing, I can assure you it didn’t look like fun, either, and I’m fairly sure the foursome ended up turning around instead of completing their descent.

But I made it down the hill alongside the water without incident or injury, and did enjoy the new views of the waterfall I got while “sneaking up” behind it.

However, another woman I encountered enjoying the waterfall had hiked the long way to see it, and her face glowed with the satisfaction of earning those great views, while mine did not. In fact, I even felt a little guilty.

So next time, I will park in the main entrance, even though that will require me to pay a fee, and I will hike the several miles back and forth to see the waterfall, fully confident that the added “hardships” will be worth it. Because with so much of our lives now spent submerged in the warm waters of constant gratification, sometimes you need to lift your head from the lulling bath and force your face into the bracing cold before you find air that’s really worth breathing.