Leon Turnbull Photography

Big Carson Falls has been a mystery for a long time. Too long. Ever since I first read a vague 1 line passage in Annmarie Brown’s waterfall book, I have wondered about this one and where it could possibly be. Is it on Big Carson Creek? That would be logical. Or is it on some unnamed and mysterious hidden side creek? Of course it would be that, but where? She also mentioned a 14 mile hike to get to it. That sure puts a damper on things. 

Well it took me a while to figure out where It was, but I did do it. I had help from some people, especially friend of waterfallswest Michael who was able to get me precise coordinates and also found a short route to it. Four miles instead of 14 miles. Now that is progress. Nonetheless, I did not get out to it for so long because of the stupid drough. but this year, finally, we have some rain.

It is a tough climb up the mountain, however. Huff and puff 600 feet to the top of a ridge, then down 600 feet to the bottom. Then do it all in reverse. I found the falls, and it is very pretty, 56 feet high in total. Unfortunately the top of it was in the sun when I arrived, so I took my photos as best I could, having to cut out the harsh top. It is now topless.

Back up on the trail, I found a spot in the sun to rest and eat my lunch. While having a peaceful meal and engrossed in finishing calculations of the falls’ height, I got scared up by a mountain biker.  At first I thought it might have been a mountain lion, he was rather loud. He was trying to bike across the creek, which was only about ankle deep, but he didn’t make it across successfully. Insert loud splash here. Then he started walking his bike slowly, very slowly up that 600 foot hill. I was certain that I would easily catch up to him once I have finished my lunch, and I almost did in fact, but just before I caught up to him he got back on his bike and started riding again. He must’ve been embarrassed that he was going to be passed by a hiker. I give him kudos for beating me to the top, I did not think that he would. I did meet him at the top though. The first thing  I saw was his mountain bike laying on the ground but he was nowhere around. Where did he go? Did he throw himself  off the cliff in exasperation? then I saw him resting on a rock nearby. In Agony. Ah well it is all downhill from here.

I have always wanted to visit Canyon Creek Falls when it is at crazy flow. All guns blazing. Off the charts bonkers. Check one off the bucket list now.

On Friday the big Pineapple Express rolled on through northern California, whetting all our appetites (literally). We received 5.6 inches of rain in the Sierra foothills. Unfortunately, the snow levels were really high this time, so that means the snow was melting on top of the rain. That raises the river levels exponentially. On Friday night, the North Fork American River peaked at a whopping 20,000 cubic feet per second (in other words, a lot) – it was under 1000 before the rain started. When I woke up on Saturday, it was still at 19,000 but dropping fast. I scooted on up the hill as fast as allowed by the law, and arrived at the trailhead by sunrise.

It is a fairly easy hike, but there are some steep parts. With the ground saturated and wet, it was very slippery and muddy. I fell one time, getting my clothes thoroughly mud baked. After that, I was extra careful on the steep parts. I did not want to put my back out again. Also, I did not want to slide right off a cliff. That would not be out of the question, if I was not paying attention. I paid attention.

Arriving at the viewpoint … and WOW. This is the absolute best I have ever seen the Big Waterfall, which is 144 ft. high. The view of the North Fork American River was stunning, the river was roaring below me, unnamed waterfalls cascading down every mountain. It is difficult to know exactly what the river level was at because there is a delay from the time it takes for the water to reach the gauge at the North Fork Dam, but I believe it was in the range 16,000 to 18,000 cfs. Last time I was here, it was around 6000 to 7000 cfs, so that means Canyon Creek had about 2 to 3 times the flow as last time. Absolutely amazing. If you have never been to this viewpoint before, you need to add it onto your list too.

So now … what about the rain and snow situation and El Nino? It is the end of January and we are halfway done with winter. After this latest storm we finished January at 122% of average rainfall. The snowpack is 117%of average for Central Sierra, 120% for the North, and 107% of average for the Southern Sierra. Folsom Lake is at 54% capacity (average for this time of year), Shasta is 52% and Oroville is 43% – and these will rise more this week from the rest of the rain runoff. So that is all good, right? Or is it?

Certainly it is good when compared to the last four years. I’m not going to complain. However, everyone is talking about El Nino this and El Nino that, but what are the facts? The fact is we have only had 1 or 2 El Nino storms all this winter. Almost all the storms we have had have come from the Pacific Northwest. Not that it is a bad thing, but southern California has been very dry thus far and I certainly would have expected (and hoped) that by the end of January this super strong El Nino would have had a much bigger impact than it has, and we would have even more rain than we have had up to now. What about February? That nasty old ridge is building in this week, and the long range forecast is indicating that we are going to have a dry February, at least for the first couple of weeks. So even though we are above average for now, by the middle of February we will probably be back below average. They are already talking about releasing water from Folsom reservoir. That would be a huge mistake if they do that now. Bottom line … we need to keep praying for rain and an end to this ugly drought.

It has been a long time since I have been waterfallin in the Bay Area. Why? Well the drought of course, that is the reason. It’s a long drive to see dry waterfalls and for the last four years that is pretty much what they have been. Well I figured it was time to return and go to the ocean as well. What better day to do it then my birthday? My wife now hates me for going to the ocean without her. I did invite her to come along though.

She didn’t want to get up at the crazy hour that I left. Yet even though I left so early, traffic was absolutely awful. It was 5:30 AM and the road was all backed up when I got over there. What the hey? Who goes to work at 5:30am? This essentially put me 30 minutes late when I arrived at the trailhead, and timing would be critical for low tide.

I hiked up to the first waterfall. It was flowing very subpar, and I was quite disappointed. These waterfalls by all accounts should have been a lot better. The second waterfall that I wanted to see was not even possible. The waves were already crashing against the cliffs. It was already past the low tide point, it would’ve been incredibly risky for me to continue. I decided to turn around and go to the third waterfall Arroyo Hondo Falls (pictured here). This is a smaller one but rather interesting. I did find it very difficult to photograph, as I could not find any good angle. I wish I had a 10 foot ladder to stand up on to take a photo of this one, but no ladder was handy and there was nothing else I could elevate myself on. There is a strange looking shack right beside this waterfall on the beach, and tied down to the side of the cliff. Why is it here? There were all sorts of signs and bottles and other knickknacks inside it. Very weird and very interesting. Also very upsetting that there was a ton of garbage all along the beach washed up by the tide mostly, and far too much to even consider picking up. Is that just the way things are now on the beaches of California? It really perturbs me, and in fact it was rather disgusting and kinda ruined the hike.

Well anyhow, despite the garbage, it was a good birthday morning so far but it was time to get back to the car and drive to my second hike. Stay tuned.

Here’s another new one I found last weekend, one of two more new waterfalls. I have been busy this year. It is just a small roadside falls. Nothing spectacular. It is 24 ft. high. I think my photo makes it seem prettier than it really is in person. I am not trying to brag or anything – although I am the world’s most awesome waterfall photographer. Kidding!

I did not have much time because I had to get to church, but I have been wanting to check out this one particular area after it has rained a lot. Yet even with the rain, and with nearby Rock Creek thundering, I found some creeks that were completely dry, and ones like this had sub-par flow. It was a bit mystifying. See my website if you would like to learn more about these new waterfalls:

http://www.waterfallswest.com/index.php#recent

(as opposed to Beer and Whiskey)

Here is one more brand new discovery for ya. That’s two in one weekend (I am referring to MLK weekend, and in case you are wondering why this post is a week late, don’t – haha). Not too shabby anyway. This falls is in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Surprise. I bet you thought there were no other waterfalls at Whiskeytown, didn’t you? Wait, didn’t I just say that same thing in my last post?

A big huge storm rolled in on Sunday so that day was pretty much shot for hiking. By Monday morning the storm was done and I headed out, up to Whiskeytown for what should have been a fairly short hike. It never works out that way with the waterfall madman. You should know that by now.

The hike started out very pleasant. The weather was about perfect, following on the heels of the latest of the storms, the sun trying to break through the clouds. The trail led across a major stream (which I had to wade across – it was freezing cold but my feet were toasty in my wet socks), then it climbed up and up alongside the stream. The sound of the fast rushing creek was music to my drought stricken ears, and I’m sure that is what put me in such a good mood. Then the trail ended. Well so much for my pleasant hike. The route was very overgrown as I headed down down and down. Eventually the terrain just became too steep to continue, surprisingly too steep. I had to give up on that effort this time, but all was not done for my day just yet.

Remember a few years ago when a ranger “discovered” Whiskeytown Falls? It was a major news item, international news in fact. But why? What is the big deal about finding a new waterfall? How many waterfalls have I discovered in the last few years? Lots! And how many of them made big news? None! And here is a brand-new one in the same park! Will it make international news? Of course not. Well this one is not as spectacular as Whiskeytown Falls of course, but it is a really nice one nonetheless.

And there are other undiscovered waterfalls at Whiskeytown as well, I am sure of that. After my first hike failed, I decided to explore this other Creek, which is actually quite a major Creek, though it is unnamed. There was, unfortunately, quite a lot of poison oak, but I made my way down to the creek, and worked my way up stream. In short order I could see a waterfall. I had to go through a lot of oak, crawl over a huge log, and carefully make my way up along the steep side of the creek bed. I finally arrived at the falls. It is a pretty one, 36 feet high. I guess you could say that it is unfortunate that log is cutting off the top of it, but on the other hand, I think the log gives quite a bit of character to the waterfall (kinda like Lion Slide Falls, for example). So it’s not too bad at all. I would have liked to explore more, but I was poison oaked out, not to mention quite tired.

As I hiked back up the trail, I came across a deer coming down towards me. It saw me clearly, but instead of running away like deer usually do, it kept coming for me, straight for me. It totally freaked me out. What did it think it was doing? I am a human! We kill deer and eat them for breakfast! Well, not me personally. I even backed off a bit, to give it more space to pass me, otherwise it would’ve passed within a couple feet of me. It came to within less than 10 feet of me, then decided to go off the path and up into the woods away from me. Whoa that was crazy. First killer cows, and now killer deer? What is the world coming to?