This is an old post and since this was posted things have changed. The falls are on private property and due to the actions of many you are no longer welcome here. Your car will be towed and I'm sure law enforcement of some sort will be involved.
Hello everyone, I'm writing about our little jaunt we took on Sunday the 17th. We were inspired by a Facebook post a family member made a few days back. The post was about these really cool slide/falls that were 12 miles east of Georgetown.
If you Google University Falls (a.k.a. Pilot Creek Falls) you will find all kinds of reviews and directions on how to find this gem. I looked at several sites to make sure I had my facts straight. I even text myself directions because I knew I would most likely have no cell phone reception in this area and it came in handy.
Directions to the Yellow gate.
Hwy 50:
From the Hwy #49 / #50 junction in Placerville, drive north on Hwy 49 for 0.7 miles to Hwy #193. Turn right and drive 14.4 miles to Georgetown. Turn right on Main St. (Wentworth Springs Rd.) and drive 11.8 miles to Quintette. The gate will be the 2nd yellow gate you will see after Georgetown. As you enter the small town of Quintette you will see the yellow gate on the left. If the parking area at the gate area is full you can continue around the corner and park on the right side of the road. We also saw some people also parking on the right just before the Fire/Forestry Station.
Hwy 80:
Take the CA-49 exit, EXIT 119B, toward GRASS VALLEY/PLACERVILLE.
Turn RIGHT onto CA-193/CA-49.
Turn LEFT onto CA-193/CA-49/LINCOLN WAY.
Turn LEFT onto HIGH ST/CA-193/CA-49. Continue to follow CA-193/CA-49.
Turn RIGHT onto CA-49/CA-193/COLOMA RD.
Turn LEFT onto CA-193/GEORGETOWN RD. Continue to follow CA-193.
Turn LEFT onto MAIN ST. (Wentworth Springs Road) Continue 11.8 to Quintette.
Directions from the Yellow gate to the falls.
Start walking down the dirt road. At 0.6 miles, turn left at the fork (onto Forest Road 12N67B). The trail that went right had brush blocking a little ways down the road. At 1.5 miles, at the end of a clear cut area, continue following the road to the right (don't continue straight here). This clear cut area had signs of someone making a fire just recently. The road continues down hill until you reach a flume. Go right, keeping the flume on your right. At about 2.4 miles, you will see an unsigned but very obvious spur trail on the left heading down to the creek. Actually at this point you should see a hand made sign with an arrow pointing to the right, do not go right. Go left DOWN the trail. If the sign is not there for some reason there is also two rocks sticking out of the ground at the entrance to this trail. You will know you have gone the wrong way if you come to a group of boulders that block the passage of vehicles. As you go down the path about 100' or so you will bear right and continue downwards. The trail gets steep at this point. On your way down you will come across an upside down vehicle on your left. I have no idea how any vehicle managed to get down this far. Once at the creek, head downstream until you reach the top of the falls. You will pass another 4x4 on your right. I believe it's an old K-5 Blazer. To get to the falls you will have to cross the creek.You have arrived! Overall I believe the hike down is about 3 miles long.
As we crossed the creek the view was over whelming. I cannot imagine being the first person to come across this place and how they felt. I looked for signs that indians may have used the area but I didn't see anything obvious. Wow, were there a lot of people here on this day. In the future I will try to come during the week to avoid the crowd. As you look down the falls you can see the first three of the four pools. From what I've read online it appears that using the 4th pool would not be a good idea. This is due to the fact that this pool has only vertical sides and you can only get out by rope. Unfortunately someones 24 year old son died at this location. It was not due to partying or acting foolishly, he just lost his footing, slipped and fell. So on that note please be very careful down here. Safety should always come first. There is only one way out and if someone gets hurt it may be a while before help comes.
The water was very cold when we were there and I expect that it will only warm up just a bit in late summer. But it didn't seem to bother many of the folks down here, there were all kinds of people sliding into the pools only to scramble back up to do it again. We didn't brave the falls during our visit, we actually hung out up by the Blazer and built a damn and some cairns in the water. The sun felt so good lying on the rocks. Next time we will plan to spend a whole day here and make sure we're arrive early enough to stake out a good place to relax for the day. Oh, and we saw many people bring their dogs here as well so it is for sure a dog friendly spot. So bring your sunscreen, bug spray, plenty of water, bathing suit, shorts to wear over suit while sliding (rocks are tough on suits) and some vittles to snack on. And did I mention bug spray? There are plenty of videos on YouTube if you care to see people having fun going down the slides.
I believe during the first weekend of August ourselves and some of my family and friends will be camping locally at Stumpy Meadows. I think there will be a good chance that we will return to this spectacular spot! Maybe we'll see you then.
Uncle Leo
Copy and paste the URL below for a map of the location.
Quintette: http://g.co/maps/3wpq
The land around the falls are privately owned, and the route down to the falls is also private. Recreation is not managed and the impacts have prompted a closure of the area. You may be towed or cited. Save yourself the hassle and choose another destination.
Posted by: local in the know | 09/19/2012 at 02:02 PM
Hi Jeremy, good question. As for hike, sure no problem. As for the falls themselves I would not recommend it. The water is still moving very fast and cold. As we all know this year we've received a lot of snow. Due to this extra water many of the places we normally go to we've decided to wait until mid to late August to visit our favorite spots. My children are very strong swimmers but I've had to put off some of our "normal" swim spots until later this season. There is a spot we used to frequent often 10-15 miles out of Nevada City. Take Hwy80 east to Hwy49 north towards Grass Valley. When you pass Nevada City you will see that Hwy 49 will go off to your left and Hwy 20 continues on the road you've been on. Go left towards Downieville on Hwy 49. Follow the road for a while you will come to the big South Yuba Bridge. There are hiking spots and swim holes here but the water is very dangerous right now. Go past this spot and I think the next bridge you go over(less than 5 miles)if you look down to your right you will see the spot. There is parking immediately on your right down a little road. Parking can be very limited. The water tends to run a tad slower and there's a little stream that flows into the river as well. Oh, there's even a rope swing in very slow moving water.
Hope this helps.
Posted by: Uncle Leo | 08/01/2011 at 07:08 PM
Hi love the posts. Question. Would university falls be ok for an adventurous 4 year old. Or is it too intense.
Posted by: Jeremy Altman | 08/01/2011 at 04:59 PM