Leon Turnbull Photography

Wow. What a find this one was. Happy Valentine’s Day to me!

I actually wasn’t even planning to go here. As I was falling asleep on Friday night I changed my mind to come here instead of my original plan. I figured the other one would be a waste of time with probably not even any waterfalls. Good choice Leon. I love it when a plan comes together.

The trail (logging road) starts at about 7000 ft. There was snow on the ground but not much, so I figured I wouldn’t need my snowshoes. Of course there should be 8 feet of snow right now, not six inches. Sigh. As I descended there seemed to be a bit more snow but it was hard and easy to walk on. Actually it was completely icy in places which made the steeper parts a bit treacherous to walk on. I wish I had brought a sled. That would have been fun. Instead, I just walked along very gingerly, hoping I would not slip on the ice and slide 100 ft. down the mountain. I didn’t, but there were a couple “almosts”.

The last part of the hike is off the road with a big descent down to the river. It was steep but a piece of cake really. No snow. No treacherous terrain. When I got to the river all I could say was WOW.

I arrived first at the upper sections of the waterfall – Middle Fork Cosumnes River Falls (shown here). You can see this upper part on Google Earth but it doesn’t look all that big. I wasn’t expecting to find much here at all, a 30 ft high falls at most. What I found was a 322 ft high falls. Yes you heard that right. These upper two tiers are 200 ft. high, with two more tiers below (120 ft.). It is all one gigantic waterfall. Of course, you cannot see all four tiers in one shot. But that is all right. I spent a long time here taking many photos from all sorts of angles and spots. I could not get right to the edge of the water, as it was too treacherous. One bad slip and I would be at the very bottom of the falls (in pieces). Who knew this waterfall was here? No one that I know of. It is not documented anywhere, yet it is such a major waterfall. Needless to say it was a tough climb back up the mountain, over a thousand feet back to the car, but it was well worth the money. I saw two more waterfalls as well today (more to come about that later).

My wife thought I should name this Valentine’s Falls because I found it on Valentine’s Day (and the name Middle Fork Cosumnes River Falls is just way too boring – those are her words, not mine). Valentine’s Falls sounds good to me. Does it sound good to everyone else?