Leon Turnbull Photography

This is a sunset we saw at the Monterey coast. It was nothing very spectacular. In fact, it really bombed. This was the most color that I witnessed and it did not last very long. At first though, the sunset seemed quite promising. We were going back to our motel from the day’s outing, and the clouds looked not too bad, so I suggested to my wife that we go down to the beach for sunset. She was all game for that of course. So while the kids played on the beach, I was off to take pictures. I decided to walk up on the dunes overlooking the beach and ocean and settled on this spot. Another photographer had this plan also, and he also agreed with me that the sunset bombed that night. Oh well.

In the meantime, my wife and kids found about a “million” dead jellyfish on the beach. I did not see them as I was up on the dunes, but she said it was very odd. It was also around this day that a large number of fish had washed up on shore south of here. And interestingly enough, this was the day before the big earthquake in Japan. Was this all a coincidence? I wonder.

We found these harbor seals hanging out on the rocks at Point Lobos State Reserve, near Monterey. They kept looking up at us as we peered down at them, no doubt wondering why we were looking at them for so long. It was interesting because there were quite a few people in the area, but we were the only ones that were watching the seals. There was even an old lady sitting back on a chair looking at the ocean, but oblivious to the presence of the seals below. I had the strong feeling while we were at the coast that things like seals, sea lions, and cormorants, etc. are so common over there that the people just say, yeah whatever, another seal, what’s the big deal? For us inlanders, though, seeing animals like this is cool. It is not like we get to see them very much in Sacramento. 🙂

Now that I am working again, Saturday is essentially the only day of the week that I can go out waterfallin. So … I really wanted to get out this Saturday even though it was supposed to be raining. I did not sleep well on Friday night, and I really did not want to wake up on Saturday morning. In fact, I turned my alarm off, thinking that I would not get up. But at 5AM, I was up to use the bathroom, and I just decided to get up and go anyway. Oh, but I think I should have gone back to bed.

It was raining as I drove down the freeway to the Bay area, and that makes driving on the freeway more difficult (especially when everyone else seems to be going so much faster than is safe for the conditions). But as I got to Danville, it was not raining, in fact, it looked like the sun would come out. But I knew that would not last, with more rain coming that morning. My first stop was Las Trampas Regional Park, where I was looking for a certain waterfall there. I had the right co-ordinates, and I found the trail leading up to the falls, but all I found was a small 10 foot high waterfall. I was very disappointed, as I was expecting and hoping for something at least 20 ft. high. A 10 footer is not even worthy to put on my website. Then it started raining again. I felt like just driving back home and not going on to my second destination. But I had driven all the way out here, I figured it would be dumb to not go to the other waterfall.

My second destination was in Mt. Diablo State Park. Sycamore Creek Falls. The unknown waterfall in Mt. Diablo State Park. I think most everyone knows of the falls on Donner Creek, but very few know of this other one. I had actually tried to find this particular waterfall earlier this season, but the creek was completely dry at that time. It is a very small little creek. But today I knew it would be flowing. I arrived at the entrance kiosk, and talked to the lady there a bit. I told her I was going to hike down to Sycamore Creek. She asked me what was down there. I told her a waterfall. She was shocked! A waterfall! Are you kidding me? It seems that not even the park employees know about this waterfall. I told her that if I found it, I will stop on my way out and show her my pictures. I did that, and she was very pleased, saying that it looked like a great waterfall, even nicer than the ones on Donner Creek (I’m not sure about that myself, but it is certainly a very nice little waterfall).

The hike down to the falls was pretty easy. It was raining the entire time down and back. Rain makes it hard to take photographs, but I managed. The hard part was actually getting to the falls. Once you get down there, you need to go off the main trail, a steep descent down to the creek. It would not be difficult if the ground was dry, but with the rain, it was slippery and muddy, and that made for a treacherous descent down to the creek. Then I had to rock hop across the creek (which was not easy either, considering that the creek was flowing strong), then work my way up on the other side of the creek to the falls, through some bushes (and poison oak), then climb up on a slippery rock to get a view looking down at the falls (which was also tricky). Was it all worth it? Yes, I do think so. Despite the rain and difficult conditions, it was a pretty waterfall, and although I was sure tired afterwards, I did feel like I had a great outing on this Saturday morning.

More info on Sycamore Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=550

This one was surprisingly a nice little waterfall. I was not expecting to find very much of anything here. The trail from the road is really short, but it is not exactly easy. I had to literally take off my backpack and crawl under a big log across the trail on my belly, right beside a steep dropoff. Then after this, there is a very steep descent to get down to the creek level (short, but difficult). Once down at the creek, I just worked my way up to the falls. There was a second creek coming in here which had a pretty nice cascade on it as well, and with a bit more water it would be a nice photo opportunity as well. But I headed up the bottom of the falls on Redwood Gulch Creek. I quickly realized that I needed to get right in the middle of the creek to photograph it. I did not have my water shoes with me, so I went barefoot, but it was not too difficult and not too cold. My wife thought the water at Salmon Creek was freezing. I laughed at her (sorry, dear), because it definitely was NOT cold. I have been in freezing cold water before from snow melt, but the creeks here at the coast were downright balmy in comparison. Anyway, I enjoyed my time here at Redwood Gulch. The waterfall is not a big one, but it is a pretty one.

More info on Redwood Gulch Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=1515

We are just back from spending the week at the coast, in the Monterey area. It will be my last vacation for awhile as I am starting a new job next week, and we had a great time. The weather was good. We saw plenty of wildlife. We had plenty of beach time. And we saw a few waterfalls as well.

We took one day and drove down the Big Sur coastline to go waterfall hunting. The weather report had indicated it was going to be a cloudy morning, and I was thus hoping to see quite a few waterfalls in good lighting conditions. I got the family up very bright and early, and it was overcast in Monterey. A very good sign. But by the time we got down to Big Sur, the clouds had broken up. I could see that it was going to be a very sunny day along the coast, and I would not be able to see all the waterfalls I wanted to see. In fact, I figured I would only get to about one before the sun started wreaking havoc on my waterfall photos. The first stop was Limekiln State Park, but the gate was closed (it did not open until 8AM). Doh. Next stop, Salmon Creek Falls. Salmon Creek Falls is a spectacular 90 ft. drop and the creek was flowing very strongly. Too strongly, in fact, to get right up to the base of the falls. We tried to get as far as possible up to the falls, and we had fun rock hopping up the creek, but we could not get even near the waterfall. I then tried on the other side of the creek, and actually found a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the waterfall right in front of it. I was pleased and I figured it would be the only waterfall I saw in good lighting conditions that day (not so, however).

This is also the first waterfall I got to shoot with my new camera. I purchased the Canon 5D Mark II just in time for our trip to the coast. I have been wanting to purchase this camera for about 6 months as my old 5D has been on life support all this time, but without a job I was holding out on getting it. Now I was finally able to get it, and I am very happy with the purchase thus far. Salmon Creek Falls was a very good first waterfall tryout for the new camera.

More info on Salmon Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=289