Leon Turnbull Photography

It may not look it but this waterfall is about 30 feet high. It is all about the angle, my friends. And for this shot, the angle was extreme. I have been wanting to return to this waterfall viewpoint for some time now. When I was first here seven years ago, I did not get a very good photo. According to my notes, there was literally no place on the edge of the cliff to set up my tripod so I had to hand hold the camera, and in addition to that the view was obscured by trees/brush. UGLY. Since that time, however, I went down to the top of the waterfall (I could not get down to the bottom), and when I looked up to the top of the cliff it seemed to me there was a very nice ledge to take photos from. Why couldn’t I get a decent photo the first time? I decided to return and try again. Probably I would have the same issue. We would see.

We had our first winter storm this past week and more was on the way this weekend. I was expecting to find 8 inches of snow on the ground which would make the drive in a bit challenging if not impossible, but I figured I would try it. As it turned out, there was only 3-4 inches of snow. It was easy to drive but I took it slow. I did not want to end up in the ditch. Or off the cliff. I got to the trailhead and began my hike up the road through the snow. No one had been up there. Except the deer. Would there be snow down at the waterfall? Would it be too treacherous to get down? I had rope and I had my spikes. I did not need either. Even though it is a big 700 ft. descent it is not difficult to get down to the viewpoint above the waterfall. The snow disappeared along the way down and the route was not slippery. I arrived at the infamous cliff edge, the exact same spot I was at before. This time, I found that I was able to get down onto a ledge overlooking the waterfall and it was a perfect spot to set up my tripod. I must have been too scared to get down onto this crazy ledge the last time. It was a bit hairy no doubt: it is only about a 100 ft. drop off the cliff to the bottom, but this time I got my shot. GOOD.

After taking my photos, I tried looking for a way down to the bottom of the canyon. Again, in my notes from last time, I said there was absolutely no way to get down the cliffs. I don’t know what I was thinking. I found a perfect way to get down all the way to the river. Rope may be needed or not. I did not actually go all the way down. I did not feel like doing it because of a big winter storm that was on its way. Once down I would have had to wade up the very cold river to get to the waterfall. I had time, I suppose, but I just did not feel like it today. I will definitely be back but it will probably have to wait until next summer now.

I climbed back up the mountain and then back to the car. Usually I see quite a few hunters in this area but today I saw absolutely no one … except for a couple people that were driving down the road in their two sports cars. Ummm, can you say stupid? Driving down a snowy and icy road in your sports cars with no winter tires or chains. BAD. They were parked on the side when I passed them. I asked if they needed help as I wasn’t sure if they were stuck or not. They did not need help, thankfully, but I would not be surprised if they didn’t make it back out. Such was my fabulous day in Tahoe National Forest.

 

 

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I was last here five years ago but did not get to the lower falls. The lower falls is quite a bit away from the other waterfalls so I would have needed an extra day to go to it. I considered it at the time but I was just too tired. I vowed to return. Then the Creek Fire happened in 2020, which literally devastated the entire area. Many of the trails are still closed, and the Isberg and Cora trails only just re-opened this summer. It was finally time to go see the Lower North Fork San Joaquin River Falls.

It is a very long 5 hour drive to the Isberg trailhead but I was on the trail by 10AM. I expected the hike to be fairly easy and I should be at camp by 2PM. Yeah right, but it should be a good test for me. I have not backpacked in 3 months and have done very little hiking. I am still way overweight from the summer, but I have been working out a lot and I felt strong.

There were quite a few cars at the trailhead. It was surprising considering how far out of the way this trailhead is. Even so, I only saw a couple day hikers on the first day. I saw zero people on the second day.

A couple interesting things: Firstly, I noticed there was a lot of water flowing in all the creeks. When I was here 5 years ago (a wet year), they were all dry or mostly dry. I certainly was expecting them to be dry this year, indeed I was worried they would ALL be dry and I might even have problems getting water to drink from the big creek. There had been some recent rain but I honestly did not think it had rained very much here. Yet even the trail was muddy in quite a few places. They must have received more rain than I had thought.

Secondly, the devastation: it was massive. The entire canyon was scorched. I felt like I was on a barren planet. When I got off the Isberg trail onto the Cora trail I was expecting to encounter a lot of blowdowns. That was not the case, however. The trail had been completely cleared by the NFS. This was a good thing. Perhaps this is why it took so long to re-open the trails and why many trails are still closed. They don’t want to re-open them until they have cleared them. Compare to the Dixie Fire and Caldor Fire from last year. The trails there are all (mostly) re-opened already (and certainly not cleared yet). The trails in Stanislaus NF could be closed many more years if they are going to wait until they are all cleared. I don’t think that is a good thing, but at least they are actively working on clearing them. Unlike at Yosemite National Park, where they have let the trails go to rot after a fire many years ago. (I’m still upset about that – if you can’t tell – ugh).

It was much harder getting down to the river than I expected. I really thought it was going to be a cakewalk except for maybe one small section. It was difficult and steep and rocky and brushy. I made it down to the river at 3PM, one hour longer than anticipated. I found a nice spot to camp at the top of the waterfall, made my dinner, then went down to see the falls afterwards.

Lower North Fork San Joaquin River Falls is a gorgeous 51 ft. high plunge into a big, beautiful, magnificent pool. It is a stunning oasis in the middle of the devastated canyon and well worth seeing. I took many photos and enjoyed the waterfall immensely.

I returned to camp. It was still early so I relaxed on the rocks by the river (where there were no gnats). After I was attacked by a water spider, I decided to retreat to my tent and then watched a movie before bed. It was a warm night and I slept fairly well beside the sound of the rushing river.

I got up early, made my breakfast and coffee, and was on the trail by 7:30am. I found an easier way back out of the canyon, which saved a bit of time (well, slightly easier – it was still a tough 2000 ft. climb). I was back at my vehicle by 12PM, and home by 5PM. It was a fantastic, short weekend in Ansel Adams Wilderness.

 

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This is Middle Cherry Creek Falls, 36 ft. high. Where I camped for the night. A very beautiful place!

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It rained most of the night. It was still raining when I got up and continued to rain throughout the morning. So what did the weather forecasters say about this? TWENTY percent chance of showers on Sunday. I think one site might have said 40 percent chance of showers but the others said nothing like that at all. WHAT AN EPIC FAIL. Showers is one thing. I expected I might have a little bit of off and on showers and so I did bring my rain jacket. This was constant rain all night and morning. Light rain. But still rain nonetheless. Not showers. I did not bring my rain pants or my gloves. I dearly wished I had brought these two items. If I had then the hike back out would have been much more pleasant in the light rain. Instead it was miserable. You can call me an idiot for not being prepared enough, I don’t mind. I should have known better. It is a 1500 ft. climb out of the canyon with no trail and a lot of brush. The brush was wet from all the rain and so I was a soaking dog long before I finally got to the top and back on the trail.

I was extremely happy that I saw all the waterfalls on the previous day. I certainly would not have wanted to go to any of the falls in the morning in the rain. I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee hiding under a tree sheltered from the elements. The photo shown here is Lower Cherry Creek Falls, 51 ft. high.

Once back on the trail at the top of the ridge it is a 4 mile hike back to the car. Unfortunately there is still a lot of brush overgrowing onto the trail. It is not a problem if the brush is dry but of course it was not dry. It was also still raining. It was too miserable to stop so I hiked the entire 4 miles without stopping. It is all downhill though so that was good. I got back to my car and turned up the heat to warm myself up. I drove straight home. I did not stop for pizza this time but I did get a triple western burger at Carls when I got back. It was a good trip down into the Cherry Bomb gorge in the amazing Emigrant Wilderness.

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My sleeping bag zipper busted in the middle of the night. Toasted. Kaput. The temperature was less than 40 degrees and I had no sleeping bag. Well thankfully I had my sleeping bag liner with me and I put the useless sleeping bag over me like a blanket so I was not cold. Now for my trip next week I am going to have to use my summer sleeping bag (hint: it is not summer).

I wanted to sleep in a bit but I was awake at 6AM anyway. I made breakfast and coffee, took some more photos of the waterfall and was on the trail by 7:15AM.

I did not see any animals on this trip but I did see quite a few animal tracks in the snow: bear, coyote, and some absolutely huge cat prints that could only be from a mountain lion. All the tracks were fresh. So where did that mountain lion go? He is probably watching me from somewhere close by. Hmmm …. lunch time …

On the road back to where I was parked I came across an interesting sight: a big truck was stuck in the snow. You would not think that someone with such a big truck could get stuck but there it was. They had already tried pushing it out to no avail so I could be of no help to him but thankfully his friend was already on his way to rescue him. I continued on my merry way and arrived back at my car a short while later. Maybe it was a good thing I did not attempt to get past that snow patch the previous day. It was a fabulous couple days in the Desolation Wilderness.

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