On a clear, crisp, December day following a series of torrential rainstorms hitting California, Dick Fraschetti and Geno hit the Codfish Creek Trail on the North Fork of the American River in search of early season waterfalls.

The Codfish Creek Trail is an easy 3-mile hike following an old mining route downstream from the Ponderosa Way Bridge in the canyon below Colfax.

Several small cascading streams and waterfalls were encountered on the trail enroute to the main falls on Codfish Creek. The trail meanders through a thick forest of live oaks, ponderosa and digger pines, manzanita, madrone, bay trees and toyon berry shrubs. Funny looking fungi, moss, and lichen covered the wet trunks, branches and boulders found along the trail.

The day was good for birding. The twosome spotted and identified 9 species of birds -- Hutton's Vireos, American Dippers, Black Phoebes, Northern Flickers, Red Tail Hawks, Steller and Scrub Jays, a Merganser Duck, and Belted Kingfisher. High on the top of a tall ponderosa pine tree, a flock of small hawk-like birds were spotted but could not be identified. Could it have been a migrating flock of Swainson's Hawks, or Ospreys, or Merlins. The twosome were perplexed.

The trail ends at the base of Codfish Creek Falls which drops about 100 feet in a series of cascading steps. The stream was running at full force and the roar was deafening.