Leon Turnbull Photography

I do not usually cross into Nevada to search for waterfalls, but when I do, I find one. Kidding. But seriously, if there are two waterfalls that I want to see that are the same distance from my home, one in CA and one in NV, I will choose to go to the CA waterfall. Why so, captain? Well it is because I want to be considered the guru of California waterfalls (or whatever you want to call me – pick a name – it doesn’t have to be a nice one), and there are just so many waterfalls still left to see in California, so I concentrate on going to see the CA waterfalls as much as I can, in order to continue to build up my bagged list in CA. But every so often, I feel like venturing into Nevada, and thus was the case this weekend.

Waterfall season is done in California (and Nevada), but I thought perhaps this one in the Mt Rose Wilderness might still be suitable, since it is a high elevation waterfall. Not great, but at least decent. So after work on Friday, I took my son Jadon and drove up the hill, eventually crossing into that other state.

I thought this was a very easy hike. It is only 2.5 miles with minimal elevation gain. Jadon did not feel the same way. He said it was a “moderate” hike. My family knows by now to always up the difficulty level from what I say it is, by one more level. They are not stupid. Easy is really moderate. Moderate is really strenuous. Strenuous is really just kill me now. I’m not sure, though, why Jadon thought this hike was “moderate”. Perhaps it was the high elevation. Pretty much the entire hike is above 9000 ft., so that could be a factor, but since it is mostly flat-ish, I did not think it to be an issue at all. Perhaps it was just his lazy, teenage mindset. That’s more likely. Anyhow, it was a good hike to the falls. It was definitely flowing “decent”, though I was hoping for a bit more water.

My tripod head broke again, making it very difficult to take photos. I had said I fixed it, and that I was the man, and avoiding having to purchase a new $200 head. Well, I guess I am not the man any longer. I could not fix it again. The screws were still tight, and I could not tighten them any more, but it is still broken. So I am definitely going to need to buy a new one now. Bummer. I tried to take photos as best as I could.

On the way down, we ran into not one but two large groups going up the mountain (to the top of Mt Rose). It was already almost sunset. It would be dark long before they got to the top. Usually I am always the last one off the mountain, but not today. At first I thought it was just a bunch of unprepared kids going up to have a party or something and not thinking about how they would come back down in the dark, but then a couple adults came trailing along behind them. They said they were going to the top to see the full moon rise, and hike down in the dark. Ok then, well that sounds like a very cool thing to do, however I’m pretty sure they did not make it to the top in time to see the moonrise. I would definitely like to go to the top sometime to be there at sunrise or sunset. That would be awesome, but not today. I was hoping to get a nice sunset view of Lake Tahoe from up on the ridge, but we could not even see the lake! It was so hazy in the valley from the fires in California, that you could not see anything down in the valley. There was a bit of nice color, and I did take a couple shots, but I don’t think I got anything very interesting. We arrived back at the car just after dark and made the long drive home. We had a good hike in the other state. 

I think this was the third hardest hike I’ve ever done, after Wabena Falls, and another hike I did in British Columbia a few years ago. It was all worth it.

The elusive and mysterious waterfalls on the north side of Mount Shasta have had me pulling my hair out for awhile now. Whenever I drive by Whitney Creek on Hwy 97, it is always dry. It does not seem to matter when. Spring, Summer, Winter, whatever. In the spring it is dry. Why? You would think there would be some snow melt on this creek in a good year (which we had this year). It was dry this spring, but the actuality is that these waterfalls do flow in the summer, and when I drove by on our trip to Canada, I found that Whitney Creek had water in it. Finally. Three weeks later I came back.

The plan was to hike up to Coquette Falls. It is 2300 ft. elevation gain in about 3 miles. Ugh. Cough. Phhttt. What was I thinking? I literally almost did not make it. There was not a trail the entire way, and I came to a very brushy area, which was so bad, I almost turned back. My legs got scratched up ridiculously, but I determined to persevere, and eventually came to a road, which got me up the rest of the way. The hike up was relentless. With about 300 ft. (in elevation) to go, I could not continue any further. I was done. But I could not stop now, I was too close. I kept going. Ten steps up, rest, and repeat. It took over 3 hours to get up this viewpoint of Bolam Creek Falls, 82 ft. high. It is a glorious spot, with incredible views of Shasta and Shastina, rarely seen from this angle, and far away down into the valley is Lake Shastina.

When I arrived, the waterfall was in shade (as expected), but the rest of the area was not (as expected). I found a little tree that was blocking the sun, and I setup shop there to take photos. It would have been nice to have my big lens, but that would have been ridiculous to lug that heavy thing up the mountain. I most certainly would not have made it if I had been carrying it. There was not much in the way of clouds, but I waited until one little one passed in front of the sun, which helped manage the lighting on the scene. I waited quite a while more, but no other clouds presented themselves to help me (that was not very nice of them). I tried to eat food, but I could not eat much. I was too spent from the hike to even eat, except an apple, my pudding, and half of my sandwich.

I could see that Coquette Falls was completely dry, so I did not go up any further. I seriously could not go any further anyway. My legs would rebel. Sadly, I think Coquette is dead. The glacier is not melting into that drainage any longer, there is not enough flow left from the glacier melt. I really wish I could have seen it when it was still going. Does anyone know Dr. Who’s phone number? The other waterfalls on this side of Shasta are dying as well. Bolam still has decent flow in the summer, however, but how long does it have left? I’d like to come back up here in the future and explore further, but that would be nuts. Of course, I said the same thing after I first went to Wabena Falls, then I went back to it. At least it was all downhill back to the car.

I got my daughter up early yet once again, she is a real trooper. We drove up the mountains in Bend to go on this very easy hike on Fall Creek.

It was extremely cold up on the mountain that early in the morning. I even had to put on my long pants, the first time I have had to do that this summer.

The waterfall is only 24 feet high, but it puts out a heck of a lot of mist. No joke. There was literally no place I could take a photo of this falls easily due to the mist. I tried my best, but I had to shoot from further back than I wanted to. It is definitely a fun little waterfall.

My tripod ball head also broke. I do not understand what happened but it would not stay stable. That makes it difficult to take photos. I tried putting first aid tape around it (it was all I had!), but that did not work anyway. Well what can you do. Argh. Thankfully, I was able to fix it when I got back home (and not using tape!). I thought I might have to fork out $200 for a new one. I am the man. The waterfall madman.

I managed to get most of the gang up at 5AM to go to this waterfall. My daughter, my mother, my brother-in-law Lynal, and even my niece Hannah. I was surprised they all wanted to come.

This is a very easy waterfall to get to, right beside the road. It is a bit surprising that they had not been here before since they live so close to it. If I lived here, I would be going to this one and all the others in the area at least once a year. But my family? Why have they not been to any of these great waterfalls so close to them? I have failed them. Sigh.

Along the way, we saw a bear and an elk. Elk are as common in Cranbrook as deer are in most other places.  The bear was cool. I find it interesting that my daughter saw zero bears in Alaska, but did see one in Canada. Canada wins! Canada also wins in hockey. Just saying.

Bull River is dam controlled, but I knew that they were currently releasing water from the dam. However, the website said the current flow was 1200 ft.³ per second and this is definitely not 1200. It seems more like about half that amount, or less. The rest of it must be going into the powerhouse. Oh well. At least it is flowing decently well.

The waterfall is right under the bridge pretty much, so that makes it a bit difficult to see. You can get right to the cliff edge, but no you can’t. It is very treacherous here, and although I inched my way out to the edge of the cliff, as close as I possibly dared to go, I still cannot see the bottom of the waterfall. From the bridge, however, I climbed up on the railing, and I was able to see the entire waterfall and take a photo of it. From this extreme angle, it makes the waterfall seem much smaller than it really is. It is actually 44 ft. high. That is your guaranteed measurement, and if you are in the area, why not come to see it? Don’t wait for 10 years to see it, like my family did. Sigh.

We got up super early in the morning (3AM) to drive to Cranbrook to visit my sister. On the way of course, we stopped for a waterfall. I can’t believe I talked my mom into getting up that early. Nekoda is like, whatever, she’ll just sleep in the car anyway. She pretty  much slept the entire trip from California to Canada.

Priest River Falls is a very gorgeous waterfall (Priest River / Morning Worship – get it? ha ha) way out in the middle of nowhere. I’m not exaggerating about the nowhere part. It is not to be confused with the Priest River Falls in Idaho. Actually, that one is called Upper Priest River Falls even though it’s downstream from this one. Makes perfect sense, right? The two falls are quite close together but you cannot hike from one to the other because you would be crossing the border. I really think there should be a cross border trail between the two waterfalls. That would be super cool. Ah well.

Anyhow, we drove as far as we could and then could drive no further as we came to a river crossing. We had to walk from here, and that meant wading across the river. Nekoda and I went first quickly. I did not have much time to get to the falls before the sun was on it. I really did not think my mother was going to wade across that very cold river so we just left her there. I did leave arrows for her in case she did decide to come.

We arrived at the overlook to the waterfall. It was very nice, but partially obscured. There was a very very steep trail going down to the bottom. I got out my rope, and Nekoda and I started to descend. However, it got too steep and dangerous, and much too slippery because the ground was wet from rain and the tree roots were slick as ice. It was too crazy even for me so I just took photos from the overlook. Nearby, Nekoda discovered the spot where the local cougar likes to eat his breakfast, along with all the leftover bones. She was very confused why they were there until I explained. The explanation did not give her any comfort.

Meanwhile, my mother showed up at the overlook to see the waterfall. She did make it after all, and she did not even notice the lovely arrows I left for her on the ground.  Nonetheless she found the falls, though her feet were cold for the rest of the morning from wading across that river. But it was all worth it. It is a very beautiful 58 foot high waterfall, and very rarely seen since it is so far out from civilization.