University Falls

University Falls (aka Pilot Creek Falls) is a series of swimming holes outside the small town of Quintette, near Georgetown, CA. Although these falls are known to pretty much all of the locals, my first time hearing about this place was just last week when I joined a Meetup group who hiked up this weekend. This hike was fun because getting down to the river from the highway was a quick 2.5-3 miles downhill where you come out to find 4 sloping waterfalls cascading one after another into consecutive pools. I didn't get a chance to bring my camera with me on this one but I did bring my SCUBA mask and snorkel. Bringing those turned out to be quite useful because twice I had to retrieve glasses of people who had let them slip into the depths of the pools. Not only that but while I was checking out the 4th pool I found a digital camera and was able to rescue some pictures to show you off of the memory card:

The dates on these picture were from the 20th of last month so that camera had been down there for over 2 weeks. Kudos to SanDisk for making an indestructible flash card. Secretly I had hoped that the final photos would be of someone going over the falls or a group of people posing for a picture while a giant bear loomed in the backdrop. Sadly, it seems the camera merely slipped away while its owner was hopping rocks around the falls.
The granite at the site is smooth and makes for some great slides to ride into the pool. I suggest bringing some durable shorts as many were walking home with some worn out seats. Further downstream is some potential routes for you rock climbers & top ropers.

*DISCLAIMER* Although the waterfall itself is on public land, the trail leading to the falls crosses private property, owned by UC Berkeley and other private landowners (hence the name, University Falls). With so many people now coming to these falls, there is a serious environmental problem here. In addition to this, the water slides are quite dangerous, and people have died here. Please be respectful and do not trespass.

Intersting way to Meetup

Yesterday I had my first experience with an online resource called Meetup.com. Meetup is an online community and social networking site with one big difference from most of the others. The goal of this site is to get people with like interests to 'meet up' real world and enjoy whatever those interests may be.


This seemed intriguing to me because I am always looking for new adventures and opportunities for exploration. As you may have guessed I created my profile and immediately joined 6 local (Sacramento/Nor Cal) hiking, backpacking, rock climbing, and adventure groups. Last night was my first Meetup and it was surprisingly simple. I arrived at the preset spot at the preset time, saw other people with hiking gear and walked up for the "Are you with Meetup?". They were, and off we went. I got in some good training lugging around my heavy bag for the night.
Although I focus on the outdoors aspect of utilizing Meetup.com, they have a limitless amount of other Meetups for various topics and interests. Everything from groups to talk about quantum mechanics, to groups for chihuahua owners. If you have an interest you would like to share, chances are there are people out there. For now, I myself am going to stick to the adventure groups which seem to be a great way to increase the frequency of my outings.

Design and Focus, Thompology 2.0

As you can see Thompology.com has a new look. This is to comply with new XHTML standards, give the site a better visual feel, and allow better navigation within the site. I will continue to edit the layout until I am satisfied (which may be never) so stayed tuned for updates. Along with the new look I am going to begin to focus and refine my area of blogging. Most of my posts now are about Travel and Exploration so it is easy to decide that will be my focus. Look for new posts about Locations, Gear, Stories, as well as tips and of course the pictures and video that help you all escape with me to these great places.
In case you are wondering what you are looking at: The Header picture for Thompology.com is a picture I took near Elkton Oregon before racing the Funky Chicken National Hare Scramble.
I'm looking forward to expanding the site and features, as well as posting more adventures.
Coming soon:
- Rock Creek - Hike and SCUBA
- Folsom - Hike
- West Coast Abalone Diving