Leon Turnbull Photography

Does this winter weather seem familiar to you? It seems to me that it is shaping up to be exactly like last year, just like the last three awful years. Deja vu. We had a good start to the winter in December (just like last year in November), then completely nothing in January this year (just like last year), and the long range forecast now looks extremely bleak as well. El Nino was a bust. No show. We did not even get a weak one. With a weak El Nino, at least we would have a chance for more precipitation, at least somewhere closer to average. The neutral ENSO conditions we have now are exactly like we have had the last three years, for which our average precipitation has been well less than 60 percent of average. The news I just heard regarding the weather conditions for the rest of this winter was horrid. It was so horrible, I do not even want to share it with you. That is because it just cannot be true. I refuse to believe it.

I am tired of the awful weather we have had, four straight years of it. I am tired of waiting patiently for the weather to change for the better, but then it never does. I am especially tired of trying to figure out what waterfalls will be flowing and which ones will not be flowing. At this time of year, ALL the waterfalls should be flowing, and flowing very well.

Case in point, this weekend: Serena Creek. I had no idea if the creek would have water or not. The creek is dammed at the lake and goes dry in the summer. The creek will only have water in it if the lake is full, and I did not know if it was full yet or not. It should be full of course, but we are in a drought, and it seemed more likely that it would not be spilling. I had a backup plan of course. I always have a backup plan. Well, I arrived at the trailhead in the dark, and I could hear the water spilling over the dam. The creek had water, and the waterfall would be flowing. I was good to go on this hike.

Well, with the major potential issue now in the back pocket, I had more dilemmas to deal with. Should I wear my winter jacket or my lighter jacket? Should I wear my winter boots (which were warmer and waterproof) or my hiking boots (for more traction)? Should I take my snow shoes or not? Would I be able to even get down to the falls at this time of year, or would it be too icy and dangerous? First world problems, I guess, but I hate that term so I am not saying it (did I just say it?). I decided to wear my winter jacket because it was less than 30 degrees. Good choice. I decided to wear my winter boots and keep my little toes-ies warm. Good choice. I decided to take my snow shoes. Also a good choice as I ended up using them – I probably could have gotten by without them but it would have been much more difficult.

It was still dark when I started. I had just bought a new light for my bike, which is a very bright one. I needed it for biking to work in the mornings, but since it was so expensive, I wanted to see if it would work for hiking as well because it is much brighter than my hiking headlamp. I could not figure out any way to wear it on my head with a head mount. It just would not work, but I managed to use the mount and attach it to my hiking pole. It was a bit weird, hiking with the light on my pole, but it did work, and it was certainly much brighter than my regular headlamp. I think the experiment was a success.

The hike begins along the road which is popular in the winter with snow shoers and cross country skiers, and people just taking their dogs for a walk. I was surprised to see someone had driven down the road in the deep-ish snow. Seems pretty crazy to me, but I guess it made the hike for me a bit easier because I could walk in the tire tracks. It was also very icy. That could be a bad sign, as I figured it might be a bit cliffy when I got to the waterfall. Eventually, I had to get off the road and make my way down to the creek. This is when I put on my snow shoes, and it made for an easy trek down to the creek. The snow, however, disappeared when I got down to the cliffs above the falls. That was good, I suppose, because it allowed me to get down to the bottom of the falls without much difficulty or danger, but I was hoping to get photos of an icy waterfall.

Serena Creek Falls is a gorgeous 80 ft. waterfall in multiple tiers. The surrounding landscape and rocky terrain and the waterfall itself were uncannily similar to Little Robinsons Valley Falls, which I was just at a month or so ago. There is a small upper falls, followed by a nice cascade, and then a gorgeous drop in a fan shaped falls. Exactly like Little Robinsons. Deja vu, again. It is obvious many people go down here, but it seems that only the locals know about this waterfall (before now). I had heard of Serena Creek Falls for the first time only last year. When I tried to come to it last spring, however, the creek was completely dry. It should have been fine, but the stupid drought nullified that. Well lets try again this January, and this time I had success. The big difference between this one and Little Robinsons however, is that there is a lower falls here. I did not know about this lower falls, and no one has previously documented this lower falls; I am the first to do so. I suspected there might be one, however, so after shooting the upper falls, I continued exploring downstream. Before long I came to the top of the lower falls, hidden behind the cliffs, but a path led down to the bottom where I found this beauty. I liked this one much better than the upper falls. It was completely gorgeous. Both waterfalls I measured to be exactly 80 ft. high. Go figure. It was an amazing and happy day at Soda Springs.