About Whisky Falls (Whiskey Falls)
Whisky Falls (I’ve also seen it spelled Whiskey Falls) was one of those waterfalls that we thought would be a breeze to visit because it didn’t require any hiking to see. Yet for one reason or another, in all the years that we’ve been in the area passing through Oakhurst on the way to Yosemite National Park, not once had we made a visit to this waterfall. Our earliest opportunity was back in 1999 when Julie and I were travel newbies and wound up staying at a campsite at nearby Bass Lake after naively rocking up to Yosemite on a Memorial Day weekend without advanced reservations. Of course back then, we didn’t know Whisky Falls existed as we didn’t start bagging waterfalls until the following year that fateful day when Julie brought home a book by Ann Marie Brown
As for the waterfall itself, it was diminutive though it has been said to have a cumulative drop of 40ft over a couple of tiers on rounded granite slabs. With it being so easy to visit (once we found out how to access it by car), we looked for ways to extend our visit as roadside waterfalls often tended to be too easy to visit and hence become less interesting. And in doing so, I figured out that there was a little alcove behind the falls, where I was able to crouch into it from the side of the creek and get that unusual view of Whisky Falls from its backside. Meanwhile, Mom took off her shoes and felt the cold water of the creek to offset the pretty high temperatures during our July visit. Speaking of July, as you can see in the photo at the top of this page, our visit seemed to have occurred under fairly low flow conditions. I’ve read that this creek tended to flow year round, but its visual impact was probably best during the late Spring and early Summer months (May to June) when there would be much more water going over the falls. Even though Whisky Falls was pretty remote, we definitely weren’t the only people here as it was practically next to the Whiskey Falls Campground. That said, this place definitely felt much quieter and intimate for a roadside waterfall, and we enjoyed our 30 minutes spent here.
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Autumn Ridge Road WASHED OUT June 18, 2017 7:08 pm - Autumn Ridge Road to Whiskey Falls is washed out. You have to reach it from the Mammoth Pool Road or up Beashore Road. ...Read MoreNearest Waterfalls
