Chocolate Falls (Grand Falls): 12.27.19
This is definitely worth going off the beaten path for. To get to this waterfall, you must drive through one of the Native American reservations. Finding the main trail was hard, but then finding the small unmarked detour to take that takes you deeper into the reservation was not easy, but not impossible. We used Google Maps for this trip. Taking the small road guides you through the desert and then it opens up into a vast plain. We saw several wild horses running across the plains. At this moment, I found myself becoming nostalgic for a period of time of which I never experienced. I found myself yearning to get on a wild horse and run through the plains with them. Something freeing and limitless about this idea; not sure if it is purely an American ideal, but certainly to "just be" can be universally felt by most if not all, whether they be previous generations or current, modern humans.
Once we drove through the plains, we came to some pretty significantly uneven ground. Ergo, I recommend that this journey be taken with a truck, four wheel drive, or a Jeep of some variety. As we continued, Google Maps was especially crucial. We were driving on this road for about an hour or hour and a half. In part, it took so long because it needed to be navigated with care due to the unevenness of the landscape, deep veins, and really sandy areas. Eventually, we got to what we thought was our destination. It was cool, but we got a sense that we were still not in the right spot, despite seeing (from our current) what appeared to be a giant hole in the ground. So, we drove closer. We found it!. We parked on the top part of the Chocolate Falls. We then drove down and parked across from the falls. Remember, we were visiting the falls in winter, but I can only imagine the impact these falls would have when in full swing. Nonetheless, it was incredibly impressive and easy to see how the falls got their name. I highly recommend this chance to explore these beautiful, hidden, and semi-hard to find falls.
Keep detouring!
