Leon Turnbull Photography

I was not planning to go to this waterfall. After Donner Lake sunrise, I had plans to go find a different waterfall, a new one. But Bowman Lake Rd. was closed due to snow. That was a bummer. I had to turn around. But this waterfall on the same road was accessible with a bit of work. I figured I would go see it, so it wasn’t a total loss for the day. The PG+E Discovery Centre was closed, but I could park along the road and walk into it. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground. I probably should have had my snow shoes, but I trudged through the snow, and eventually made it to the big huge, 10 ft. high waterfall on Bear River.

It is certainly not a spectacular waterfall by any means. And it is pretty darn small. It is also difficult to photograph because of a lot of debris around the base of the falls. In order to get this photo, I had to stand in the middle of the creek (or actually, I guess it is a river!). I was able to make it out in the middle without getting my feet too horribly wet, but it was definitely a bit tricky to do so, and I had to be pretty careful not to slip in the drink. But it was the only decent place to photograph the falls. I’m still not overly happy with the photo, more snow and ice would’ve been nice for one thing. But oh well, it’s something I guess.

The last time I was at Donner Lake for sunrise, I was treated to the most amazing sunrise I have ever witnessed. I wanted to go back and try it in the snow, but how could one ever top that previous encounter? Well, I can’t. Not this time at least. In fact, the weather forecast wasn’t looking too good, and I wondered if I should even try. I was hoping for at least some clouds, but when I woke up in the morning, the weather report said clear in Truckee. But light fog. Light fog, hmmm. Well, that might be cool if there is fog over the lake. So off I went to Donner Lake in search of light fog, and hopefully a few clouds as well. Well, there were no clouds to be had when I arrived at Donner Lake. No spectacular sunrises on the horizon. But there was fog over the lake, and it indeed was pretty cool looking. I waited around for the sun to come up. It did take quite a while for it to come up over the mountains, but it wasn’t very cold out fortunately (but we sure need some more snow here).

If you remember, I recently had a post entitled “Canadians”, which was photos of some Canada Geese that I found, which actually swam right up to me as I was sitting by the river. I had at least one friend complain to me about shooting “foreigners” instead of good old American birds (even though, technically, those geese were probably living in the U.S. permanently on their “green cards”). Okay friend, you know who you are, here’s a photo of a true blue American for you: an American Coot. And it was pretty cool, because this duck-like bird swam right up to where I was sitting by the marsh too, so I was able to get some really good close-ups of it. I figure he was either stupid or fearless, because he paid no attention to me at all, as if I was not there at all. Yet all his other friends stayed well away from me the entire time I was there.Well he may be stupid, but he sure is a pretty guy, don’t you think.

I love this shot. It’s another one from my local marsh. Whenever I’ve been down there, I’ve seen this GBH, and usually the Great Egret as well. They don’t usually let you get too close to them. Indeed, this heron had his eye on me the entire time, it seemed he was watching me even when I was on the other side of the marsh. There is a walkway up above the marsh that let me get above and closer to the heron. I walked up there slowly to a railing that let me get fairly close to him. He was eyeing me the whole time but didn’t seem to mind me up there. I took some shots, then continued a littler further to get even closer to him. I stood there taking some shots and watching him up close through my viewfinder. As I was watching him, he just turned his head slightly towards me to get a better look at me. Click. Oooh, the intensity of his stare is just neck tingling. I guess you just had to be there with me to fully appreciate it. But that is why I love this image.

Here’s another one:

Silver Falls is a hidden gem deep within Eldorado Natl. Forest, a beautiful 41 ft. waterfall on Otter Creek. But it is not so easy to get to. It is a long drive on unplowed dirt forest roads, and I was wondering if I’d be able to get there in the winter. Well, as it turned out there was no snow on the roads. But plenty of mud, due to snow that was melting. My SUV was in desperate need of a bath after this drive. The hike itself is a strenuous one, pretty easy getting down to the falls, but not so easy getting back up. The elevation loss is 1300 ft. over 1.5 miles. It is a huffer for sure. But I was prepared for that, because I had done this hike before. My dog had not done this hike before, though. She had no problems with the hike, but did pick up a couple ticks along the way. Once down at the falls, I wanted to get across the creek to shoot the falls from the other side. I had brought my water shoes along, but when I got down there, I brilliantly figured that I could save time and just rock hop across the creek. Ahh, no. Upon my attempt at doing such a feat, I planted both feet firmly in the creek. My hiking boots and socks were now soaking wet, and I had a tough climb out of the canyon ahead of me. Not a good thing. Thus, I ended up taking my boots off and putting on my water shoes. Across the creek I went. Took my photos of the waterfall. Back across the creek. Sat down to put my socks and hiking boots back on. Worrying that I was touching poison oak in doing so (fortunately, not!) Then back up the trail, huffing all the way. A good hike indeed.