Leon Turnbull Photography

We left very early from Rossland to drive back to California. We take it in two days. The first day is about 500 miles to Bend, Oregon where we stay the night and drive the rest on the next day. I left a bit earlier than usual this time (much to the chagrin of my family), because I wanted to stop at Tamanawas Falls by Mt Hood along the way. This side jaunt adds 50 miles to our trip. It was worth it. But it was crazy.

It was overcast all day until we arrived at the trailhead in the afternoon. That’s when the sun came out. Ugh. Hopefully the falls would be in shade by the time we got to it. It is an easy two mile hike to the waterfall. Now when I say easy you should know by now that means difficult. My wife figured that out long ago. Nonetheless I managed to talk my entire family into coming along on the hike. Tara really did not want to come at first. I convinced her it would just be a leisurely family hike to the waterfall. Well it should have been that. It would have been that. Except for one thing I had not considered: ice! The trail was all iced over, making an easy hike into a very difficult and potentially very dangerous hike.

When we came to one spot where the trail started to go uphill on an icy slope, Tara had enough. She does not do ice and her boots have zero traction. The kids decided they wanted to continue on with me. That would have been ok if it did not get any worse. But it did get worse. Nonetheless we trooped on. In hindsight if I had realized how bad it was going to be I surely would not have taken the kids. Going up was not too horrendous but as it got worse my stress level raised exponentially. I had to keep both kids completely safe as well as myself. We went slowly. There were no deathly dropoffs except one and we stayed clear of it. Finally we reached the waterfall. It is a magnificent 100 ft high waterfall in a picturesque snow filled canyon. I did not bring my measuring sticks so I could not determine the exact height of the falls. I also photographed the falls from far back. There was a lot more treacherous ice to negotiate in order to continue any closer and my stress level was already at maximum. I didn’t think I could get right up close anyway so I decided to stay safely back and photograph from a distance.

The hike back was worse. Going downhill on ice is much more dangerous. We were very careful, going very slowly, sometimes sliding on our bums down the path. I would go first then Nekoda and Jadon would come down and I would catch them. I only fell one time and I took Nekoda down with me. Unfortunately that one time was enough to wrench my back out again. Argh. To top it off it was on an easy section, after we had gotten down all the difficult stuff. Jadon fell eight times he said, and again it was all on the easier sections. He was not happy by the end but both kids were real troopers and did awesome on this hike. We had a lot of fun.

There were quite a lot of other hikers out on the trail. Even though it seems the trail is out a long way from anywhere, it is a popular one. Most people turned back because of the ice and did not go all the way to the waterfall. However on our way back down we saw one family coming up the trail. They were coming up a particularly icy section. They had two kids, one boy about Nekoda’s age (8), and one little girl who was much younger. She was wearing rubber boots with no traction, and I could tell she had been crying. The father was not doing anything to help her up the icy section. (I was holding Nekoda’s hand the entire time to make sure she did not fall, especially on the icy parts). I told the mom it gets much more icy and dangerous up ahead. She ignored me completely. It was already getting quite late, and would be getting dark soon. The kids and I made it back to the car about 30-40 minutes before sunset. I knew exactly what I was doing on this hike and I knew my kids capabilities and I knew they were safe on this hike and I knew the time and I knew that we would be back well before dark. However, these people had no clue. If they continued to the waterfall as it seemed they were going to do, they would be certainly hiking back in the dark down an extremely icy trail and completely unprepared for the terrain. They (and especially the little girl) should not have been out there. It is just very stupid. Ok, end rant. Enjoy the photo.

Still no rain in California. But I still have faith. It is coming.

Some people think there is no water anywhere in California, but that is just not true. You do need to be looking in the right places, however. Hence my hike this weekend to the Little North Fork of the Middle Fork Feather River. Or LNFMFFR for short. Or LiNoFoMiFoFeR if you want to get a little silly. I like silly. I knew that this river would have some water in it, though I did not know how much. I was not expecting much, but I knew the waterfalls would flowing somewhat at least.

There is supposed to be a 30 footer on this river. Somewhere. I am more confused now about where it might be, or if it might be. I found a trail on my National Forest map going down to the river, though it is not on my Topo map, nor is it listed anywhere on the National Forest website or elsewhere. I thought it might be one of those old trails that no longer exists, and as such did not have much hope of finding it, but it seemed to me if I could find this trail down to the LiNoFoMiFoFeR, and once there, work my way downstream a short distance, I would find the waterfalls. I found the trail. It was actually a well marked trail and it seemed a well traveled and easy to follow trail, and it went right down to the river exactly where I thought it would. I found much evidence of an old mining operation down at the river, including the very interesting remains of an old mining bridge over the river. The trail is called the Sky High trail. Actually I lied. It is listed on the NF website, but I did not notice it because of the name of the trail: the name does not intuitively indicate you are hiking down to the Little North Fork river.

Another bonus: the river was flowing very very well. Much stronger than I would have thought possible. Why? I am not really sure but I think it might be snow melt that is happening since it has been so warm recently. Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise.

However, working my way downstream from here was totally out of the question. Steep cliffs lined both sides of the river. Going downstream was not possible. However again, there was a small waterfall right here, and this was actually one of the waterfalls I was looking for or so I thought, which I had initially figured would be much further downstream. The kayakers call this one Jaroslav’s Drop or something, but now it gets even more confusing because the kayakers say this waterfall is 30-40 ft. high. It is only 12 ft. high at tops! Although I was certain at the time that this was what was called Jaroslav’s Drop, now I am not so certain. I think there still might be a 30 footer on this creek. Somewhere. But where? If it is downstream, it will not be possible to get to it. Upstream the terrain seems too flat and unlikely for any waterfalls. It is a mystery, and more research will be required to find it. But I will be back again someday for sure. And perhaps quite soon.

We got back at it a couple days after Bear Creek, and next up was Beaver Falls, another one I really like going to. Tara came with me again. This was surprising, especially since I almost did her in at Bear Creek. She’s amazing.

Beaver Falls is a very easy hike. One mike along the rail road tracks. Very flat. No problem. Right? Not so much when there is snow on the ground. It was deep enough to make that easy mike hike quite difficult. We should’ve had snow shoes. We did not. Tara was cursing me once again.

The bears seemed to like the snow, however. We saw a few of their prints, including some from cubs that seemed to be playing along the railroad tracks. Aren’t they supposed to be sleeping in January? It is just so darn warm out, even the bears don’t know what to do. Did you hear about the one that was on the Lake Tahoe ski hill recently with all the skiers? Crazy.

Once at the top of the waterfall it is a steep and potentially deadly descent to the bottom. Tara wisely chose to stay at the top and wait. Actually, it is not that difficult. Even the bears went down to the bottom. Only the very last part down to creek level is particularly steep and there is not much in the way of hand holds, but I slid my way down safely.

Beaver Falls was rockin with snow melt. It is odd that Bear Creek was at a lower flow and Beaver Falls was at such a high flow. At this time of year, Beaver Falls should be low and iced over, but the warm weather has caused the snow to melt early, and Beaver Falls was going off crazy! This also made it especially difficult, actually impossible, to get right up close to the waterfall. The creek bed was coming right up to the side, and the snow cover over it was extremely sketchy. If you sink through that snow into the creek, you are in big doo-doo. But with the cliff blocking the view, you cannot otherwise even see the waterfall without getting into the middle of the creek. That is a big dilemma. I managed to make my way out onto a slippery rock and pluck my tripod as far out into the creek as I could reach it to take this photo. I got my boots slightly wet, but they are waterproof, so no damage done.

While I was down at the bottom, a train came by on the railroad tracks. The railroad goes right over the waterfall, and you can see the bridge from the bottom. I took video of it passing by overhead. Stay tuned for that Waterfall Madman adventure (I am SOOOO behind in my videos). Then on the hike back to the car, the same train came back and we had to boogie over to the side and wait for it to pass us. The conductor waved at us as he went by. In all the times I have been there before, I have never seen a train. In fact, I thought the tracks were out of commission, as I think I heard that from someone. Obviously not.

We just returned from a very nice and much needed week long vacation to Canada to visit my family. It’s always nice to go up there to play in the snow and partake of great food (thanks Mom and the Colander). I always seem to gain ten pounds when I go home to Canada. Nonetheless I still do get lots of exercise.

My new favorite waterfall up there is Bear Creek Falls. I found it last year, a gorgeous 63 ft high falls hidden in a difficult and remote canyon but yet it is so very close to the city. This year I wanted to bring my wife Tara along. I told her it was short and easy. Well I thought I remembered it being fairly easy anyway. Except for the very steep descent, traversing the dangerous cliffs, and battling through the difficult brush. Doesn’t that sound easy to you? Well for some reason my wife didn’t think so. She made it to the waterfall however. And she didn’t throw me off the cliff in exasperation either. Bonus.

There was more snow on the ground this time and also more snow covering the waterfall. This is odd because BC is also in a drought this year. Well maybe not a drought but they are well below average in snowfall this year. It is awfully sad in the entire northwest. Poor California is in the worst shape of all of them. So I’m not really sure why there seemed to be more snow at Bear Creek Falls (yet less water flow in the creek). I think the snow made the hike even harder than last time. Sorry Tara.

I was able to get a bit closer to the waterfall this time by treading over the ice to get up to the big log crossing in front of the falls (see last year’s photo on my website). All the while I was sure hoping the snow would not give under my feet. That would’ve been bad, but the snow held up and I got my photo. It was a very enjoyable winter day.

In search of a new waterfall in northern California. I had read reports from kayakers of waterfalls on Patterson Creek, indeed the description was so precise that I was absolutely certain of finding a 30 ft waterfall on this creek.

I arrived at the trailhead at dawn. There was a huge cat with a big fluffy tail running around. Except that it did not move anything like a cat. It was jumping around, and zipping back and forth, up and down, like a cat possessed. Cats do not move like that. That is because it was not a cat, I realized! It was a fisher! Wow, I have never seen a fisher in the wild before. Neato mosquito. It was still too dark to take any pictures, but I grabbed my Go Pro video camera hoping to get some footage of the little monster. But for some odd reason, when I turned it on, it was on the camera setting, not the video setting, so I thought I was taking video but I was not! Oh that just figures.

Well after the fisher disappeared up the mountain, I started on my hike. There was snow on the ground, and it was very hard packed, which made for a fun hike. But a long one and a tough one. It should have been only 3 miles to the creek confluence of the north and main forks of Patterson, but it was 4 miles at least, and along the way the road led up a steep mountain I had to climb up. All this happened awhile ago at Christmas when my back was still recovering. Going on a tough hike like this was really stretching it for my back.

I arrived at the confluence which is where the waterfall should be. No waterfall. I descended to the north fork of the creek, crossed it, and ascended the ridge between the two creeks, thinking the waterfall would be right on the other side of the ridge. No waterfall. I continued up the ridge as far as I could possibly go, which was quite a distance. No waterfall. This did not make any sense. There definitely should have been a waterfall here. The kayaker’s description was very precise, and now I realize: very wrong! Well that was a big bummer. I think there actually are waterfalls on Patterson Creek, but much further up. It would have been at least two more miles one way on the road in order to get up to them, and my back was already well past its limit. There is no way I could have continued any further. So I hiked back to the car. Very bummed.

It is a very very long drive up to Patterson Creek in the northern part of the state, and all for nothing. Well, not quite all for nothing. I stopped at Shackleford Falls on the way back. It was about noon but still in shade, as I knew it would be. It was not flowing as beautifully as it was the last time I was here, but it was certainly a very nice consolation prize after a very long hike.