Leon Turnbull Photography

Well this was certainly a fine and pleasant surprise. And not exactly what I had planned either. Or rather not at all what I had planned.

My objective for Friday evening was to go back to Fordyce Falls. PG&E still has Fordyce Creek cranking out at 450 cfs. I’m sure any day they will turn off the faucet, so I wanted to get out there before that happens. Unfortunately there just happens to be a little forest fire in the area. A big one, actually. The American Fire is raging in the North Fork American River Canyon near Foresthill. Fordyce Creek is up near the top of the pass at Yuba Gap, so it is not exactly in the same area but the smoke is hovering over the pass. It was really quite a sight to see driving up I-80. There is a huge mushroom cloud ominously stretching out across the sky. The light is strange, and the color is remarkable. The hike to Fordyce Creek begins at Fuller Lake which is on the edge of the cloud, so I would be hiking right into that looming disaster. I really felt it would be unwise to make an 8 mile hike through all that smoke. It did not seem too bad at Fuller Lake, but to hike 8 miles through the midst of it would be extremely unhealthy. It would probably be like smoking 10 packs of cigarettes all at once. I’m not a smoker, not even for a waterfall. I decided to go back.

But I wanted to do something. After all, I drove all the way up here. I thought maybe I could go for a hike back in the Colfax area. I remembered this waterfall I had heard about on Osita Creek, so I looked up the directions on my iPhone. It is an easy hike, the weather was very warm, and the bugs were obnoxious. I had absolutely zero thoughts of seeing a waterfall here. I was certain the creek would be bone dry, I was only wanting to scout it out for the winter. Essentially, wasting time because I needed to go on at least one short hike.

I had read that this waterfall was only 20 ft. high and that it was man-made. This is the main reason I had never been here before. I had no desires to see any small, man-made waterfall. Boring. Well, I had three fine surprises in one: the creek was flowing half decently of all things, it is much more than 20 ft. high, and it is *not* a man-made waterfall. I did not bring my measuring stick so I am not sure exactly how high it is. Normally I always carry my tape measure (I mean, laser rangefinder) but this time I was not planning to go to any new waterfall and I was trying to save as much weight as possible for a 8 mile hike to Fordyce Creek. Bummer. I estimate though that this waterfall is at least 35 ft. high, perhaps closer to 40 ft. That is about twice the height I had read. Usually when someone says a waterfall is 20 ft. high, it is much less than that. This time it was the opposite. Weirdness indeed. Also, I was happy to find it is not man-made at all. It does flow through a man-made tunnel under the canal at the top of the falls which is unfortunate and detracts from the beauty, but it is still a natural waterfall. As for the flow, I was just shocked to see it so decent in this dry year. Still though, it will be much better to see it in the winter, and I for one will surely be back here.

The fog was a sweet and unexpected surprise. After going to Munson Creek Falls, I had fully expected that by the time we got up here to Bridge Creek, this area would be in full on sunlight. I was not planning to get any more decent photos on this day after Munson. When we arrived and I realized the light was still good, I had to stop and take as much advantage of it as I could. Thank you Lord for keeping the good light for us!

We first went across the road to the Upper Bridge Creek Falls, then went down to the Lower Falls which drops pretty much right into the Wilson River. Neither of the two falls are all that impressive really, and this lower one is half man-made, in that it flows through a pipe under the highway. I cut off the top of the photo right at the edge so you would not have to see the pipe or highway. It is an easy stroll down to the river. Jadon and I were ahead of my wife and Nekoda. When I got down there, I realized the best vantage point would be on the other side of the river. This meant I needed to cross said river. Which meant I needed my water shoes. I zipped on back up the trail to the car to get them. That is where I found my wife and second child sitting, waiting. Lame! Aren’t you two going to go down to see the waterfall? No, you can’t get to it, she said. What are you talking about, how could you possibly know that? I can tell from the bridge, she said. Ugh! There is a good view of the falls at the bottom of the trail! You need to go down there! Well, finally she relented and went down to see it. In the meantime, I found that crossing the river, well, was not difficult at all, but was indeed a lot deeper than it looked to be. The water rose up to my thighs, getting my pants slightly on the damp side. Nonetheless, I made it across without incident and set up shop to take my photos.

I went back to Horsetail Falls again after work on Friday. It is the only waterfall around here that is still flowing decent. This is what I like to do in the summer, … go to Horsetail Falls. It sure seems I go here a lot anyway. Well, I guess it is a pretty sweet waterfall. Heh heh.

The weather was a lot cooler than when I came here a few weeks ago with my son. Twenty degrees cooler, actually. 63 degrees when I started the hike. Now that is sweet. The water flow, however, seemed quite a bit down since the last time. It is still quite nice though, especially considering everything else is bone dry. In fact, I may even come back again in a couple weeks.

I went to the bottom of the falls again, which is a very cool spot, no doubt my favorite little spot at this waterfall. I have been here before and gotten decent shots, so basically this time around I was just playing around. I was going for some super long exposures of the water. This one here is a 60 second exposure. I did longer ones too, but this was my favorite shot. My wife probably hates it. She doesn’t like the silky waterfalls that I like to do (which I almost always do in my photos) – so this one is probably light years over the top for her. As for me, I think it is very dreamy, but I also found that I don’t really have the patience for these super long exposures. Waiting around for two minutes per shot, whilst standing in the very cold water, umm, not exactly super exciting. Ah well, it does create a cool effect on the water. I guess I can handle it once in awhile.

On the second morning of our Oregon camping trip, I woke the rest of the family to go hiking. Much to their chagrin. I’m sure they would rather sleep in then get up so darn awful early. But I wanted them all to at least see some waterfalls with me, especially this one: Munson Creek Falls.

At 319 feet high, Munson Creek Falls is the tallest waterfall in the Oregon coast range. We arrived at the trailhead very early in the morning, which as it turns out was not all that necessary. The fog was a nice touch of surprise. Don’t tell my family I did not have to get them up so early. No one was up and around except the mosquitoes. I gathered up the troops at the trailhead and we set off quickly to the falls in hopes that the mosquitoes would not follow us to the waterfall. It seemed to work. The mosquitoes did not seem to be biting when we arrived at the waterfall viewpoint. This allowed me to take some time to photograph it. Unfortunately there is not much of a viewpoint, as there is a lot of tree branches and logs in the way, and it is not possible to get any closer to the waterfall. It is still a magnificent cascade.

I think I actually found a road that is worse than Bowman Lake Road. I know, I know, it is hard to believe, and I hate to admit it really, but yeah it does exist. Have you ever driven the road to Fordyce Lake? Well, just don’t, ok. Trust the waterfall guy.

I had never been up to Fordyce Lake before, though I have hiked Fordyce Creek from the bottom, but not all the way up to the lake. It is something like 10 miles one way, so it would be a tad crazy to go all that way to the lake in one day. I am crazy though, but not to do that hike. This week, the powers that be pumped up the volume from the Fordyce Lake dam. It was spitting out at 440 cubic feet per second, which is quite high and rather odd considering it is a drought year. I watched the gauge like a hawk all week long, and I was certain the tap would be shut off before the weekend. Please stay on, please stay on. Friday finally rolled around, and the dam was still cranking out the water. Sweet news!

After work I made the drive up I-80 to Cisco Grove and bounced onto the dirt road going to Fordyce Lake. It is 7 miles to the lake, and the road starts off bumpy and just gets worse from there. It is also a popular road. There was a heckuva lot of traffic on this crazy road, and they all seemed to be zipping up the road at outrageous speeds (ie. much faster than me). I even saw regular cars driving up the road. They weren’t zipping mind you, but it is definitely outrageous to drive up this road in a small car. About a mile before the lake, the road starts going downhill, and gets much worse. Monster ruts. Big rocks. As I started driving down, I realized this was going to be bad. At that point, I did not think I could back up the hill, and I certainly could not turn around. I thought maybe I could go on, and it seemed I had no choice. Big mistake. Within moments, I bottomed out the SUV. I was stuck, and stuck good. I could not go backwards now, that is for sure. There was no one else around. What happened to all that traffic I saw? Where did they all go? Were their little cars swallowed up in one of the ruts? For awhile, I was thinking I might be stuck there all night. Well, it was not too long before some guys in a big truck came up the road from the lake below. They were able to push me out of the rut and once out, I backed up the hill to the top without difficulty and parked. Whew! I realized later that it is actually a good thing I got stuck where I did. If I had managed to get down to the bottom of the road, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to drive back up later that night (when no one would be around to help). Even some trucks I saw afterwards were having troubles going up this hill, including the guys who helped me. I think sometimes God helps us out even in our stupidity, and this was certainly one of those times for me.

Anyway, it was now much later than I anticipated and I still had to walk a mile to the lake. I had grand plans of hiking down the creek quite a distance from the dam but it was too late for that now. I decided on just going to the first waterfall on the creek, Eraserhead Falls, which is the main one I wanted to see anyway. I cut off the main road onto a OHV trail which went down to the creek near the waterfall. There were jeepers down there at the bottom playing around on the big ruts and big rocks. Unfortunately for me, they were right near the waterfall. So my peace and quiet at the falls was ruined by the sounds of the jeepers. They weren’t doing anything wrong, it is an official OHV trail, but it is just a bummer they had to be right there where I wanted to be and at that time. Go home people, this is my waterfall.

Well actually, it is not much of a waterfall to be precise about the matter. It is more of a rapid than a waterfall, and although it may look not too shabby in this photo, it is actually a pretty shallow descent, and not all that impressive. It is a long rapid for sure, but only 20 feet in actual height. I suppose it is the biggest falls on this creek though, the others are all well under 20 ft high. Anyway, I would really like to tell you that I will never ever drive that road again up to Fordyce Lake. It was a nightmare and a half. However … I discovered a new waterfall while I was here, and although it was not flowing much, it is a big one, and I definitely will need to come back here in the spring sometime to see it when it is gushing. So brave the road again, I will.