Field trip: Burstarse Falls @ Castle Crags State Park

I was really excited about the hike to Burstarse Falls, because it was a waterfall I had never seen. Not in guide books nor on websites.
While the hike was not overly strenuous, it was long (about 9 miles round trip) and uphill. The worst part was at the very beginning, hiking uphill on a field of rocks the size of footballs. And, of course, that portion was also at the end of the trek, at the end of the day, going downhill -- which was even worse!

The trail passes Popcorn Springs and then crosses Burstarse Creek. If you continue on the trail, hiking uphill, you will come to a cross-canyon view of water flowing off granite, an upper portion of the fall (left photo). Some guidebooks suggest that if you continue on the trail, go straight when you come to a hairpin turn (to the left). I would not recommend that as it seemed very steep and on very loose rock. We choose this spot to have lunch, which is much safer!
There is another small creek in this area, Ugly Creek, which had very little water and resembled its name.

After lunch we went back down the trail and scrambled up Burstarse Creek to see a few of the falls that way. There were some large boulders to scale so we didn't go too far. Not much of a problem crawling up, but going down could be tricky. At each pool there were a few sunbathers, so I didn't spend much time taking photos. It would be nice to go further upstream, to the spot below the drop of the upper falls, but don't know if that is physically possible. It seemed beyond my comfort zone.

These photos were taken in May, which may be the earliest one can hit this trail due to snow. It would be nice to see the upper fall when (or if) there is more water.
The hike was a lot of fun and quite memorable. I've never seen so many lizards or (nonpoisonous) snakes on a trail.