Leon Turnbull Photography

On Friday evening I took my son Jadon on a fun hike to Shealor Lake, near Silver Lake. He had asked me earlier in the week if he could go on a hike with me, and I immediately said “absolutely”! He usually does not want to go hiking with me, so I was surprised he wanted to this week, and definitely pleased that he did, but where would be a good place to go? I thought Shealor Lake would be a good option, as it was not overly difficult, and also there is (supposedly) a couple waterfalls there as well. The hike was really really good. There was a nice stiff breeze keeping us on the cool side (though it was 100 degrees in Sacramento), the hike was gorgeous with great views, and the lake itself is very pretty. The waterfall was completely dry however. I was not expecting much, but I thought it would be flowing a little bit at least. I definitely will be returning here next spring. Well we took pictures of the lake then headed back up the hill to our car. I thought we could go on one more little hike to Granite Lake Falls, which I thought might be flowing a bit better. Only barely. That waterfall was just a trickle, not even worth a picture. So all in all, I had a great evening with my son, and a great hike to a beautiful lake, but no waterfalls.

On Saturday, we were not planning to do anything, but when my wife woke up (at 11AM!), she came up with an idea. Let’s all go to Lake Tahoe for the day! Great idea. So after eating lunch at home, we headed up the hill. First off, we went on a short hike to Upper Glen Alpine Falls. It was quite a hot day, even up in the mountains. Gee whiz, I thought we were going to Tahoe to escape the heat! We arrived at the waterfall, which was flowing ok. I like Upper Glen Alpine Falls a lot because it does not need a lot of water in the creek to look nice. There was indeed not a lot of water flowing in the creek, and it was easy to rock hop across to the other side. I’ve never been able to do that before. We relaxed in the shade on the rocks along with another couple that was already there and took some pictures. Then I decided to do something only slightly crazy with my kids. Take a shower under the waterfall! It was actually quite fun, and quite cold. My kids did it also and had a blast. Tara decided to stay dry and miss the fun, but she did take photos of us crazies. After this we went to the beach at Fallen Leaf Lake, where the kids had fun swimming in the lake, and jumping off a big rock that was in the lake. Finally, after dinner, we went over to Eagle Falls for sunset. Even late in the day, there seemed to be a large amount of people at the falls. There were no clouds so I just took photos of the waterfall, which also is on its last legs for the summer, but I scrambled down the cliff to the bottom of the first tier. It was steep and a bit sketchy in places, but I made it down safely, then crossed the creek to take photos. There seemed to be a constant stream of people at the top of the falls, looking over the edge, and taking pictures; waiting patiently … not my favorite thing to do, but thankfully there were no mosquitoes. I went back up on the other (south) side of the creek, which seemed to be much easier (and safer). Fun fun fun at Lake Tahoe with the family on a hot hot day.

The Robbers Fire is currently burning out of control in one of my favorite stomping grounds near Colfax and Foresthill, only about 20 percent contained as I write this. I’m not sure exactly what has burned, but I believe up to six waterfalls may be burning right now: Devils Falls, Shirtail Creek Falls, Mexican Gulch Falls, Indian Creek Falls, Upper/Lower Chamberlain Creek Falls, not to mention the fabulous wildflowers on Windy Point. Once this fire is out, it will be interesting to see what has burned or not. I maintain that forest fires are a healthy and natural thing (though I have heard that this fire may not have started naturally, which is very bad), and among other things they clear out all the brush and undergrowth, which is desperately needed; but of course we certainly pray that no one will lose their homes because of this fire, and they say this could happen if the fire jumps the river, and I also sure don’t want to see that beautiful wildflower area burned up, which would also be sad.

Anyway, back to Horsetail Falls. After shooting the main section of Horsetail Falls I retreated back down the mountain semi quickly because I wanted to get back to Lower Horsetail Falls, which I have only been to once before.

I like that whenever I am here I am always the last one off the mountain. Considering how very busy this trail is during the day it is not so easy to accomplish. It is like a special bond or something I have with this mountain, always being the last one down. Well I did end up being the last one down again but I had to battle it out with some other people this time. I passed up a couple older people coming down from the top of Horsetail firstly (then they passed me when I took a detour to the lower falls). When I arrived at the lower falls there was (very surprisingly) another photographer there shooting the falls. I do not normally see other photographers unless I am in a popular location such as Yosemite. He was in my way so I had to wait for him and he was taking a sweet old time but I waited patiently, and while I waited I thought hard about how I could possibly get down to the lower section of this waterfall. The upper part (shown here) is 35 ft high but there is a lower part as well, which is just as big or bigger. The only way to get to it would be to cross the creek but this is impossible to do when the creek flows strong (which is most of the year). Perhaps in late summer? I’m not sure but I’ll figure out a way. Well all that thought strained my brain but the other photographer finally moved out of the way so I made my way down to creek level and started taking some photos of this cool looking slide. It was a great evening in the Desolation Wilderness.

After work on Friday, I headed up to Lake Tahoe for a quick hike. My goal was Meeks Creek Falls, a new waterfall that I had heard about and wanted to check out.

I arrived at the trailhead in good order and headed out. A couple with some dogs had just started out on a short hike there as well, and one of the dogs was clearly very old, as he was just hobbling along trying to keep up with everyone else. I asked how old the dog was, and the lady said 14 years old. Wow, that is old, but the dog was out in the wilderness and having fun. I like to see that. Anyway, I passed the old mutt by quickly, and continued on. One thing I was not expecting at all: mosquitoes! They were already out in force and biting me. I could not believe it, as it is only May 11. They should not be out so early in the season. Argh! Fortunately, I had bug juice with me, and once I put that on they left me alone.

It is a short and easy two miles to the waterfall, and the creek was flowing strong from snowmelt. When you arrive at the top of the waterfall, it does not look at first glance to be a very big one. The creek makes a straight drop off some big rocks for 21 ft. down, then continues in a very long and steep slide. If you were here in the summer when the creek is just trickling, you would think the waterfall is only 21 ft. high, but the rest of the cascade must certainly be considered part of the waterfall. That makes the entire falls 85 ft. in height. The part pictured above is the upper section, which is 51 ft. I also went down to the lower section as well and photographed it too. After this, it seems the creek levels out for a short distance, but then it looks like there might be another significant drop further down; however, it was getting late and I did not have time to explore downstream. I will have to save that for another day.

As I biked down Fallen Leaf Lake Road I came upon this scene as the almost full moon was setting behind Mt. Tallac with a stellar reflection in the lake. Well, it was not a waterfall so I did not stop. Yeah, right. I could not not stop and take a shot of this glorious scene. The little bit of clouds coloring just prior to sunrise also added to the beautiful scene.

This was a semi half planned shot, actually. I knew the moon would be setting behind the mountains at sunrise, and I was thinking of shooting it as I hiked up to Glen Alpine Falls, but I was thinking of shooting from a different location, not behind Tallac. The scene at Tallac did not occur to me beforehand, though it should have because it is a much more magnificent scene then the one I had in mind. Well, it was a gorgeous morning indeed.

This week is looking pretty good. By the end of it, we could have 4 or 5 feet of snow in Tahoe, and double that in northern California maybe. About time, I say.

But four feet of snow is nowhere near enough. As I drove up to Tahoe on Saturday, looking for some snow to play in, I did not find very much. At Kyburz, where that huge snow measuring stick is that goes up to 12 feet high (you know what I mean, if you have driven by it), it was measuring a big whopping zero. I essentially did not see any snow until 6500 ft. elevation. I was initially hoping to find a nice snowy waterfall, and I was beginning to wonder if I would find any snow at the falls at all.

Upper Glen Alpine Falls was my destination. I was here in the winter a couple seasons ago, and it was completely buried in the snow and could not be seen at all. I was pretty sure that would not be the case this time around. The road on Fallen Leaf Road is gated two miles in during the winter, so that means you have to hike the remaining three miles along the road, and then it is an additional mile to the falls. I did not want to hike that three miles, so I brought my bike along, which would make that section go by very quickly. My calculations showed that the sun would be hitting the falls very early, around 7AM (30 minutes after sunrise), so I tried to arrive very early. It was still dark, but it was 15 minutes later than I wanted to be. I packed everything onto my bike as quickly as possible and set off down the road. I purposely left my snowshoes in the car, as I did not think they would be necessary with so little snow. It was 20 degrees outside, but I was warm and toasty in the brand new winter jacket (and much needed) I just bought on sale at REI.

Along the road, I noticed that the almost full moon was setting beside Mt. Tallac with a beautiful reflection in Fallen Leaf Lake. Well, I just had to stop to take a picture of that! (and I will share that photo soon). That took another 15 minutes, and it was now almost sunrise. I would have very little time to play with but I figured I could still get to the waterfall in time. At the end of the road, I locked up my bike to a tree, changed into my winter boots, and set off up the path. There was a beaten track through the snow from other people all the way to the Desolation Wilderness trailhead (the spot where you would drive to in the summer), so the going was very easy. But at the trailhead, the tracks stopped there. No one had gone any further up the trail, so I had to beat my own path. It was only a half mile to the falls from here, and should be easy because there was not much snow, right? Well, it started off easily enough, but as I got further in, the snow got deeper. It was now 3 to 4 feet deep in places, and softer as well, not hard packed. Maybe I should have brought my snow shoes after all! Indeed I should have, but I just trudged through the snow, more slowly now, but I kept going steadily enough. It was not very far to the falls.

As I approached the waterfall, I could see the sun was already on it. It was only 7AM, but I was already too late. But God does provide! I made my way down to the bottom of the falls, and as I did so, clouds rolled over in front of the sun. I now had plenty of time to photograph the waterfall. Thank you Lord! It was an awesome morning at Upper Glen Alpine Falls. The snow around the waterfall was really nice, and it was flowing a lot more than it was when I was here in the Fall. That is because all that snow we received last week is already melting. I took my time, enjoyed the view of the waterfall, then hiked back down to photograph the lower falls. The bike ride back to the car was much more tiring, as it is more uphill; I am sure out of biking shape. I was quite tired by the time I got back to the car. Time to go get some breakfast in Tahoe. Phew.