Ford Falls | Natureloverswalks

January 30, 2020January 30, 2020

Ford Falls REAL Jan 2020

I was told that to get to the “real” Ford Falls, I “JUST” had to follow the Ford River down until I got to the falls. Now, if you know anything at all about this area, you will know that contours fill the map around these falls: it is very, very steep, and very rugged, with unmapped cliffs all over the place, and scoparia in between. I would personally find the word “just” to be inappropriate. But maybe this time I was mistaken. Perhaps it is not as formidable as it seems. Only one way of finding out. Hm. Maybe curiosity will one day kill this cat.
I was nervous going solo in such territory (which I treat with absolute respect), so made sure I not only had my PLB, but also lined up a friend who was primed to call SES should I not be out by 6.30. I didn’t trust my informant sufficiently to believe this would be a piece of cake, especially when his particular words mean that I doubt he has actually been there himself.

I set out from home at 2.30. I thought that meant about one hour driving in each direction, and one hour by foot to and back from the falls. Alas, the car trip took a tad longer than an hour, which then made me feel under time pressure for the foot part. Off I hurried. At first things went pretty well. The rocks were only mildly slippery, but I was not visible from the road, and the rocks are quite angled, with big drops between them, so I moved with enormous caution.
As I feared or suspected, after a few hundred metres, it became impossible to actually follow the river. Steep cliffs dropped into its waters from both sides, and I was forced back up the hill, and into swathes of thick scoparia as I wended my way forward. Higher and higher I went. Time went by. To my amazement, I then found a cairn. But where had it come from? Where was it going? I scouted around for the next cairn, but failed to find it. Its presence made me feel that I should try to go back down to the river at this stage. I tried a couple of options, but they were all too dangerous. My gps said I had arrived, so I hoped that the waterfall below me (pictured) that I was gazing at was Ford Falls REAL, photographed it, and cleared out. As you can see from my route, I just scaled the contours straight up, as I decided shorter was better at this stage of the afternoon. (It was much better, and faster!) I had been lower than this photo, as you can see from my route, but that spot gave the best view.
I drove home feeling utterly overdosed with adrenalin. I got in phone range on the way down Jacobs Ladder, so was able to let my backstop know I was out safely, even if I was drowning in an epinephrine bath.

August 4, 2019August 4, 2019

Ford Falls 2109

From the first moment I saw the position of Ford Falls on the map, I knew I wanted to “bag” them (as the saying goes) in winter, with snow and ice all around. Today I had my wish.

Now, I should be all set up for this, as I have an AWD and a set of chains, but putting on chains had always been Bruce’s job, so I felt a little insecure doing this alone, and prancing around on icy rocks is also better done in pairs than solo, so I contacted my friend Steve, who said he’d love to come. It was on.
The trip up was uneventful; the ranger happily let us through seeing’s we had chains on board, and up I drove. It was a balmy minus one at this stage.
Up on top, Jacob’s Ladder neatly behind us for a while, we searched for a spot from which we could attack these falls. Near the lookout, scoparia bushes were in thick armies. We got back in the car and went a bit further, nearer to the path up Legges Tor. There was a suitable spot to abandon the car, so we did so and tried again. No route yelled at us, but we chose a lead I liked the look of and followed it. Ha ha. After maybe ten steps there was a gap in the snow, and underneath was the path I had been searching for.

Elated, we followed it until it dumped us at a pile of rocks, from which we were then left to do a kind of monkey-cum-crab dance across the rocks until we were where we wanted to be, photographically speaking. Unfortunately, Steve slipped on the ice and his hand hurt for the rest of the excursion, but no limbs got broken. I had spikes and spiders for us both, but neither of us bothered to put them on.
We stayed a while, as it was so beautiful there amongst the ice crystals and shining glassy stalactites. You could have skated on the ice below the falls (if you knew how) it was so thick.

The path, when not buried in snow, is probably clearly visible from the “car park” of its origins. This spot is not official, but there is probably room for two or three cars. The ground opposite has also been cleared a tiny bit. It’s maybe 2/3 rds’ of the way along between the lookout and the Legges Tor path. The waterfall is higher than shown on the map, more at the start of where the gorge begins.
I hope that helps. For us, it was time to go and visit Joy Falls as well before lunch. These are also on the slopes of Lomond, but a further drive around than I was expecting. We did fit in both falls before having lunch by the car in the forest and setting out for home.