Leon Turnbull Photography

Well from the last two storms we had 9.5 inches of rain in the Northern Sierra Nevada foothills. The snow levels were high, however. Bad news for skiers but good news for waterfall hunters. It is unfortunate though, because we desperately need that snow pack. Nonetheless, an interesting window opened this weekend. In particular for me, Foresthill Rd would have no snow on it.

I thought long and hard about one waterfall in particular: 462 ft. high New York Canyon Falls, my all-time favourite waterfall. I would love to see that one up close at full blast. This could be a unique and very rare opportunity. Since the rain fell on Wednesday, Thursday would have been the best day for waterfallin’. However, I just could not take a day off work this week. That left Saturday. By that time, the North Fork American River was down to under 1000 cfs. I was really hoping that another inch of rain Friday night would fall, bringing up the river again but the river was down even more when I woke up on Saturday. It seemed as though it did not rain an inch overnight as it was supposed to do.

So I made the executive decision to try a different hike: Little Robinsons Valley. I have wanted to check this one out as well and it seemed like a good opportunity. It was cold and blustery and foggy and still raining when I started my hike early in the morning from Robinson Flat. Sounds like a perfect day to be out hiking. And it was. A short hike down the trail, then head off through the mud and brush towards the creek. There was lots of water everywhere. In the creek, on the trail, off the trail. The creek was running hard when I arrived. Could I get down safely to the bottom of the falls? It was surprisingly not difficult, though definitely a bit tricky because of the slick wet rocks. I was careful though, and I made it right to the base of the falls. I am very surprised (yet again) that no one seems to have known about this waterfall, especially since it is so close to Robinson Flat campground and really quite easy to get to. Of course, in the summer the creek will be dry. But right now it was awesome. There are three waterfalls here, though I would consider them all as a single tiered waterfall 109 ft. high. This final drop is 48 ft. I have more pictures of this one to come. It is an amazingly beautiful area, and there were waterfalls coming off the mountain from unnamed and unmarked side streams. It was magnificent.

As it turned out, I think New York Canyon would have been awesome after all. I suppose I should have gone there instead, but Little Robinsons Valley was pretty darn incredible too. Anyway, I have other “secret” plans for NYC later. Wink wink.