Leon Turnbull Photography

First stop on our trip to Canada for Christmas vacation: Palouse Falls in eastern Washington. Nothing really special about this photo. The light was not great when we arrived, and so I did not take much time here and I did not seek out great compositions of the waterfall. I already have some really good shots of this waterfall with amazing light, so mainly I just wanted to come here to see this 186 ft high beauty again. It is only about 20 miles out of our way on our trip to BC.

Our trip to Canada this year started out with a bang. A bang of a winter storm, I mean. Usually we would travel up I-5 through the Mt. Shasta area and then through central Oregon. However, this year our trip co-incided with a whopper of a winter storm coming through northern California. The Shasta area was forecast to receive 13 feet of snow over a 3 day period, and we would be traveling right through it. Yes I did say 13 feet! I am not sure how much they actually received, but I know the Tahoe area got about 8 feet over that same weekend. I figured I-5 would be closed for sure and it would be pointless or suicide to attempt to drive up there that weekend. I decided on an alternate route, driving through Reno NV instead. It was only about 70 miles longer, but actually it probably took the exact same amount of time to travel this route then it would to go the other way due to the conditions. The only difficult spot would be traveling over the Donner Summit on the I-80, but we did receive a bit of help from God as well, as He delayed the storm hitting the Tahoe area (just for us, I am sure).

The storm did not start to barrage the Tahoe area until Friday afternoon, though it was scheduled to start much earlier Friday morning. We got up at 2AM on Saturday morning, I checked the road conditions, and we headed out. There was chain control over I-80 as expected, but we had no troubles making it over the Donner pass with our four wheel drive vehicle. There was lots of snow to be sure, but the sailing was smooth as silver. Yet we found out later, only a few hours after we passed, they closed the I-80 for the rest of that day. If that storm had started on time as scheduled, we would not have made it through.

The rest of that day was only slightly eventful, and it did involve driving through a sand storm in eastern Oregon. I must say, I have never experienced anything like that before. My wife Tara was driving at the time, and visibility was extremely low. It was interesting to say the least, but we made it through, driving through five states that day before stopping to rest at Richland WA for the night. Order of business in Richland is always to hit Chuck E Cheese for dinner. Not my choice of course. Not my wife’s choice. I guess you can figure out who picks dinner in our family when we are in Richland WA.

The next morning we drive through eastern Washington and on up to British Columbia. It is a much shorter day, and we have time to take it easy. For my wife, that means stopping to shop in Spokane. For me, it means stopping at Palouse Falls. The weather forecast called for cloudy skies, but it was rather sunny when we arrived. We walked around the park a bit, and finally the clouds came in slightly to cover the sun somewhat, allowing me to get at least a halfway decent shot of this amazing waterfall. Ok, Leon is happy. Now let’s get to Spokane to make Tara happy as well. It was a good start to our trip.

Here is one more view of North Fork Falls in the snow. Which do you like better?

We are getting a huge storm this weekend here in northern California. Up to 8 feet of snow over the weekend in the Tahoe area, up to 14 feet in the Shasta area. This storm will bombard us right through almost to Christmas Day. It is going to be crazy crazy!

This past weekend I headed up into the mountains arriving in Emigrant Gap early in the morning. There was fresh snow on the road but only a few inches, so the road was still fine to drive. My plan was not to return to North Fork Falls. However, I just could not resist. I said a couple weeks ago that I would love to shoot this waterfall in the snow. Indeed, I have been wanting to shoot this waterfall in the snow for a couple years now. The timing this weekend was just perfect. With another storm coming on Sunday, the road to North Fork Falls will be snowed in now until spring. There will be no more opportunities this year. I had to go to North Fork Falls, and it was absolutely stunning.

I parked along the road and hiked the short half mile through the snow to the waterfall. Once at the falls, there is a very steep descent down to the river. It is difficult to do this when the ground is dry, but when there is snow on the ground, it is certainly a bit dangerous. I did not intend to go all the way down to the river (like I did last time), I just wanted to go down to a certain viewpoint, which is easier to do, but still potentially treacherous with snow on the ground. I used my rope again to make the descent to be certain of no difficulties. This was actually the third time this month I had to use my rope (twice at this waterfall). Once down at the overlook, I was totally inspired by the beauty of the scene. Fresh snow all around me. It was incredible. Unfortunately, my cable release decided to stop working so I had to use my camera timer to take my photos. It worked out all right, but a cable release is so much better to use.

I was a bit longer at North Fork Falls than I intended, but figured I still had time to do the other hike. I wanted to try to get to East Fork Falls, a waterfall that is hidden in a remote canyon on the East Fork of the North Fork of the American River. I am not sure the best way to get to this waterfall, but I definitely picked the wrong route. I hiked two miles up a dirt logging road (which was not dirt because it was covered with fresh snow). It was a gorgeous hike through the snow. There were plenty of fresh animal tracks all around: deer, bobcat, coyote, squirrel, rabbit and probably some others too. These all must have been from that same morning, because it had snowed the previous day, yet I did not see any of these animals (except one squirrel). After hiking two miles, things get difficult. Somehow you need to scramble down the cliff to the river. It is about 1000 ft. straight down, very cliffy, and with the snow on the ground, potentially very dangerous. I was thinking that I would not even try it. However, I came to a clear cut area, and I could hear what may have been a waterfall or the waterfall down at the river. I thought I was too far downstream to be close enough to “the” waterfall, but there may have been “a” waterfall down there. I decided to go down through the clear cut area. It was steep, and very difficult, and I had to be extra careful because I did not want to twist my ankle again, which would have been very easy to do with all the mess from the clear cut. I made it down successfully, but I did not see any waterfall. I decided to go upstream some more, however the route got too cliffy. I realized I was still very far downstream from the waterfall, and there was no way I could make it by the cliffs. So I retreated and found a different route back up. The loggers must have cut a path down the mountain for some purpose (perhaps to get down or their equipment down more easily). It was not a trail, but it was a path that just went straight down the mountain, no messing around at all. I thought it would be easier to go back up this path. But 1000 ft. straight up in less than half a mile is brutal to say the least. By the time I finally got back to the road, I was completely wiped out. I rested on the road for quite a while before hiking back to the car (thankfully, the hike back on the road was mostly downhill, so that part was easy at least). It was a gorgeous day and I was very pleased I finally saw North Fork Falls in the snow.

The view of the North Fork American River from the Canyon Creek Falls viewpoint is simply stellar. It is of course my favorite river on this planet. On this morning the river was raging at around 7000 cubic feet per second. By Sunday afternoon, it actually got up to 30,000 cfs. Wow, I wish I would have gotten out to see it then. If it was clear, you can see Lovers Leap from here, which also has some waterfalls on it, if they are flowing. You can also see some ephemeral falls at the top center of this photo, and in the lower left, the main Canyon Creek trail going down towards the river. It is a very awesome view.

My friend Rob likes to call me the waterfall madman, for some reason or other. I don’t know why. Well I suppose I am a bit crazy sometimes. Like this weekend, for instance.

My adventure today took me back to Clipper Creek in Auburn, and this time was indeed crazier than the last time I was here, about 2 years ago. My goal was Upper Clipper Creek Falls, oh humbala, is it even possible? I was about to find out.

I started hiking in the dark from the Confluence (by the way, what is up with the $10 paid parking here now? Ugh!). The first mile is easy smeasy, climbing up on a wide dirt road, under the Foresthill Bridge, the tallest bridge in California (hoping nothing drops on my head as they do construction up there), then to the first crossing at Clarks Pool. I kinda thought this creek would be very difficult to cross because of all the recent rain, but the creek was actually really low, so it was easy to rock hop across it.

After Clarks Pool, things get rather interesting. The “trail” continues for another mile all the way to Clipper Creek. The trail is quite overgrown, with a ton of poison oak, and of course, ticks. If you wait too late to come here, say February or March, you may as well just jump off that Foresthill Bridge instead. Your fate will be much the same. The trail will be infested with ticks and seriously deadly (or deadly serious – or both). By coming in December, I thought to avoid such deathliness. The ticks should NOT be out yet in December … Well, the ticks WERE out already in December. I saw probably a couple thousand of them along the trail, hanging off the branches (well, maybe not that many). I was constantly brushing them off the branches with my hiking pole so they wouldn’t leap onto me and crawl up my private parts or who knows where. I only picked up 3 or 4 on my body, and got them off before they were able to bite me, so I managed all right, but another month and you can just forget it. Write your last will before you come. And as for the poison oak? Well, that is just not avoidable at all, though I did try, especially to not touch it with my hands. I scrubbed myself raw with Tecnu when I got back home, and I can only hope it is enough to keep me from getting the itch.

I took a different route than the last time I was here. There seem to be quite a few “trails” along the ridge over to Clipper Creek. This in itself is weird, because I just can’t imagine anyone (except for crazies like myself) who would do this hike. In fact, I have serious doubts that anyone else went over to Clipper Creek in the last 2 years since I was there last. Yet there are these old trails. The one I went on followed a much lower contour than the one I took the last time. I don’t know that it was any better. There was still a lot of oak. And there were also quite a few scary drop-offs which I did not like one bit. It took quite a while. Finally I got to Clipper Creek.

It is only about a quarter mile to the upper falls, but it is much brushier from this point. More brush. More oak. More ticks. I was not sure I would be able to make it at all. And yet … there was a trail to follow. Of course it was overgrown. I worked my way up to a side stream coming down from the left which I had to cross. It looked like there was a waterfall on this creek as well, but I did not stop to investigate. I crossed and continued up Clipper Creek. I made it. The upper falls was exactly where I predicted it would be. The slope was very steep so I could not get down to creek level and I had to photograph it from the side of the hill very carefully, hoping the ground would not give way and send me tumbling off the cliff (to my wife if she is reading this: I am kidding!). But it was a steep slope. The upper falls is only 22 ft. high. I expected around 40 or 50 ft. I am not sure but my gut tells me that it may continue around the corner but I could not get past the cliff to see it.

I was really hoping to photograph the lower falls afterwards, but it took a lot longer to get to the upper falls than I thought it would. By the time I got back down, the lower falls was in sun, so I just skipped it (I have photographed it before so it was no biggie). On the hike back out, I tried to take the higher contour that I took last time. Somehow, however, I got on another “trail”, this one leading on a contour much much higher. It seemed to just keep climbing higher and higher, trying to pass above the cliffs. I just kept following it because the trail was not hard to follow, but it was a tougher route. Finally it seemed to just come to a dead end, when I was almost back to Clarks Pool. It was fine all the way, and now it is going to end? What the hey? I decided to just go straight down hill to the main trail, hoping it was not too brushy to get down. I made it. It was definitely a crazy day, but I am sure happy I found the upper falls on Clipper Creek.