Leon Turnbull Photography

Ash Creek Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls dropping off majestic Mt. Shasta. It is approximately 330 feet high, and an amazing sight especially with the mountain as a backdrop. Getting to the waterfall, though, is no picnic.

I knew of a couple possible different routes to the waterfall, neither of them very easy. I was looking for an easier route, and I thought I had found one. Indeed, via my new route, it seemed that I could drive to within a mile of the falls, then make an easy trek up the ridge to the viewpoint. I had everything mapped out and ready to go. I made the long drive up from Red Bluff and got to my road, upon which I found that the road was blocked by a fallen tree. Doh! Oh man, did I drive all the way up here for nothing? I got out my maps again, looking for another route. And I found one. This road would take me within a couple miles of the falls. But again, as I got to the road, I found it blocked by more fallen trees. Doh again! Well, as it was, I was within 3 miles from the falls already. What if I just walked up this road to its end, then try to make my way up the canyon to the falls? Time was running out in the day if I wanted to get there and back before dark, but I figured I would have enough time to do it. Maybe.

The first part was easy. Just walk up the logging road to its end. After that, things got a bit tricky. It was not particularly difficult to hike through the forest, up the ridge alongside Ash Creek Canyon. But there were no trails, and it took some time trouncing through the forest. But I was making pretty good time nonetheless. Then I came to what seemed like a dead end. The canyon walls came to a convergence on the elevation level that I was on. In order to continue, I would have to climb up a very steep ridge to get onto the next level above me. However, I thought I had run out of time, and I seriously considered turning back as it was getting rather late in the day. But I decided to give it a try. I had 30 minutes to get up this ridge and over to the falls before I figured I should turn around. Getting up the ridge was steep, but it was not as difficult as I anticipated, and once at the top, it was less than a mile of semi-easy trekking to get to the viewpoint. So I made it. And I was very pleased that I made it. It is certainly a magnificent waterfall, even from such a distance away. If I had more time, I think I could have gotten a lot closer to the waterfall, and I also would have liked to stay here for sunset. But I sure did not want to hike back down through the forest in the dark by myself. So I quickly took my pictures, then retreated back down to the car, arriving just before dark.

Here is a closeup shot of the falls with my 100-400mm lens.

This one is from last month. On this particular day, I managed to talk my son to come hiking with me. This is a small miracle in itself as he usually doesn’t like coming with me. I had to pick something relatively easy, so I chose Caples Creek Falls at Kirkwood. I wanted to go back there for two reasons: I noticed that Caples Creek was flowing pretty good when I was up at Kyburz a couple weeks earlier, and I also wanted to explore Caples Creek more downstream from the falls as I think there might be more waterfalls.

Caples Creek Falls is just a small little waterfall, really not very interesting. That big log hanging down the middle of the falls makes it even a bit ugly. While there, I was considering if I could possibly remove it, but it looked to be lodged in there pretty darn well.  The creek was also significantly down from when I saw it a couple weeks ago, making me think that waterfall season in California is officially over now. Considering it is August, that is actually very good. We had a great waterfall season this year, thanks to the above average snow pack we had last year. Now I just pray that this coming winter will be just as good.

Jadon and I did explore a bit downstream. We found a trail, but it was highly overgrown. Jadon was not happy about this and complained most of the way. There is one nice cascade just down from the main falls, and  I think it would be definitely worth photographing (if the creek flow was a lot higher). I did not get downstream as far as I had hoped though, because it was getting too late. The trail was a lot more slow going than I anticipated and we had run out of time (and I knew Jadon had enough anyway). So back up the trail we went, stopping at the main falls so I could take my photos, then back up up up the trail to our vehicle. I think Jadon had some fun hiking with his old man.

Here is a huge waterfall for you. It was so big I could not even measure it with my laser rangefinder. I guess it must be 1000 ft. high at least. Or is that 1000 millimeters? Since I have moved down to the USA, I have forgotten all my metric. Ah well.

Anyway, huge waterfalls aside, this is definitely a very pretty little spot I found along the North Fork of the North Fork American River. I did not get to where I wanted to go today, and was not even going to take any photos, but I happened upon this scene and could not pass it up. The river is just so beautiful and amazingly green.

Although I did not get where I intended, I did get a good hike in this morning. It was my first hike since my surgery more than 2 weeks ago, and I am happy to say it went great and I am back in the groove (for hiking). It is a pretty tough climb out of the canyon, so it was definitely a good test for me.

I have been curious lately about what would be considered the “most photographed” waterfalls in California.  Obviously, Yosemite Falls would certainly be number one (and it was, by a very long shot). But I have heard people say McWay Falls and Eagle Falls are right up there in the number two or three position. Well, I decided to try to determine this. But how could one possibly find this out?

Well, here is my highly unscientific method. I browsed through the search listings on Flickr, which is the top photographer’s posting site on the web. The listings on Flickr should give (in my mind) an average estimation of reality. So with a bit of work, I came up with a very rough idea about the order. There were a few surprises. I thought Bridalveil would be number two, and I did think McWay and Eagle would be further up the list then they were. Alamere Falls was definitely a huge surprise.

So without further ado, here are the top 10 photographed waterfalls in all of California:

1. Yosemite Falls

2. Vernal Falls

3. Bridalveil Falls

4. Nevada Falls

5. Burney Falls

6. Alamere Falls

7. McWay Falls

8. Eagle Falls

9. Horsetail Falls (Yosemite)

10. Feather Falls

Here’s another one from Lundy Canyon. This is a lovely triple falls, 85 ft. high in total. To get to this spot, I had to cross the creek above the first fall, then scramble down to this spot. There were a lot of wildflowers in bloom on this side, as you can see, but I couldn’t really get a good composition that I liked. I had to shoot from higher up to get the best view, and thus the wildflowers were further away than what I would have preferred. And it is too bad the creek doesn’t have a lot more flow in it as well. But it is still a very pretty scene for sure.