Leon Turnbull Photography

I made it! After years of trying I finally made it! I am talking about the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park, which is probably THE major waterfall area of California and ONLY major area that I had not yet visited. Five major waterfalls (as well as many others) in a single 9 mile (1 way) hike. It has been on my list for years, though I have made prior attempts to go here. Two years ago, I had everything all planned and ready to go, but then I got a hernia just a couple weeks before the trip. Last year, I had a back injury and I was not be able to make such a long hike. This year I did not think I would be able to make it because of the very low snowpack, thus making the window of opportunity (when the falls would be flowing well) very short. The most important thing for me in going here was the weather. If the weather is sunny, it would be pointless because I also want good conditions for taking photographs, and that means overcast weather, which is extremely rare or non-existent in the spring in California. It is not worth the effort (for me) to hike all the way down here and only be able to take crappy photos in crappy (sunny) weather. So as May wound down, it did not look like I would be making it this year. But then Memorial Day weekend came around, and I see that a storm system has found its way into northern California, calling for cloudy conditions and snow. Friday looked to be the best day to go, and as it magically and mysteriously turned out, our company had given us all the day off on Friday. It was not really magical or mysterious, and neither was the perfect weather conditions which just happened to turn up on this one single day off that I had this spring. This was clearly all God’s doing yet again.

So as soon as I learned about the non-magical and non-mysterious weather change, I also changed my plans and decided to make the trip over to Yosemite. I would be doing this all in one long day hike, not an overnight backpacking trip (which would have been the proper way of doing things). I totally underestimated this hike. It is in theory an 8 mile one way hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Waterwheel Falls, with a 1900 foot elevation loss. Not exactly. It is really 8.75 miles, and that is just to the top of Waterwheel Falls, but you need to go to the bottom of it for best viewing, and that adds another 300 ft. and another half mile, plus another half mile to Lower Waterwheel Falls. So my total hike was 9.6 miles one way with a 2200 ft. elevation loss along the way, not to mention that this hike is at high elevation, which makes it twice as difficult. I was dead tired before I even got to Waterwheel Falls, and I still had to go all the way back up in the same day. It took 6 hours to make it down to Waterwheel Falls (that includes the many stops I made along the way for photography), and it would take more than 7 hours to hike back up. It is a good thing I started out so early.

I left the house at about 2AM, and arrived at the trailhead at 5:30AM. The skies were completely clear, but I had faith that would change by the time I got down to Waterwheel Falls. The only wildlife I saw was a coyote as I drove through the park. I have seen a surprising amount of coyotes this year; I have seen one on almost every hike I have taken this spring, so I knew it was a good sign when I saw one again. Tara says the coyote must be my spirit animal this year. Maybe she is right. Despite the clear skies, it was an absolutely fabulous morning for a hike as I started through Tuolumne Meadows. Cold, crisp, and beautiful. The river was flowing with quite a bit of water, perhaps a bit more than I expected (though in actuality, it is better to see all these waterfalls with about twice as much flow). The first five miles or so of the hike is mostly flat, and believe me that is a good thing (when you are dead tired on the return trip). Once you get to the first of the five major waterfalls, however, things change, and you begin the big descent, losing 2000 ft. over the course of the next 4 miles. The clouds were already starting to roll in when I got to Tuolumne Falls but not quite. My plan was to photograph the major waterfalls on my way down as long as the light was good. Tuolumne was still in shade, so I stopped there, but White Cascade was in the sun so I left that for the climb back out; however, by the time I got down to California Falls, the clouds had rolled over completely.

When I got down to the bottom of Waterwheel Falls, it started to snow, lightly at first. I did not mind the snow at all, it is a lot better than rain. It was cold, but I had enough warm clothes for the hike. I did not, however, have any extra warm clothes back in the car. I would regret that later. Waterwheel Falls is the biggest of all the falls on the Tuolumne River, an incredibly fantastic cascade of 314 ft. in height. The namesake waterwheels of this cascade are much more prominent at higher flows, and this is why I mentioned above that it is best to see these waterfalls at higher flows, but you can still see them in my photo here. I was standing right at the edge of the roaring river, being very careful not to slip on the slick rocks and go tumbling into the swift river. There was a lot of mist from the falls, making it a challenge to photograph. Indeed I found it very challenging to photograph all of these waterfalls on this river. There was just a lot of water flow, they are very misty, and they are all very wide and big.

After making a quick visit to the Lower Waterwheel Falls, it was time to make the long trip back up to the top. I started at 11:45AM and eventually got back to the car at 7PM. As I said, I was already tired before I began the ascent, however I certainly had no other option but to continue on the hike back up. I just took it very slow, and began counting the waterfalls I had to climb back to the top of … one, two, three, four, five. I had many blisters on my feet, my legs were cramping, my body was screaming from the lack of water and food. I always have a hard time eating/drinking on long hikes. I had enough food and water with me, but my body would not consume it. I took long rests along the way, trying to regain some energy from food and rest. Finally, I made it up to the top of all the waterfalls, but I still had five miles to hike. As I mentioned, it was a very good thing these last miles were flat. It also started to snow more heavily, and it was sticking. There were two or three inches on the ground by the time I got back to the car. I did not think this was a big deal, but as it turned out it sure was.

I arrived back at my car. I was looking forward to stopping at Pizza Factory in Groveland before driving back home. However … I was about to be undone (AGAIN) by the Yosemite rangers. Yes folks, the Tioga Pass road was closed. The rangers stopped me as I began driving back. Yes, it was only two inches of snow that had fallen, and yes the Tioga Pass road was now closed. Are you kidding me?? Well, they told me that the snow plow was coming and the road would be re-open within the hour, and that I should go back to Tuolumne Lodge and wait there. Okay then, that is exactly what I did. I went to the lodge, had some dinner there, and figured the road would be open by the time I was done. By the time I was finished eating, however, the lady at the lodge gave me the bad news. The road was closed for the night (in both directions!). I was stuck there overnight, with no extra warm clothes, or camping gear for sleeping. I think she gave me some mis-information, however; after talking to another ranger the next day, I had the impression that they would have let me out that night. But I had no idea about that, and so I forked out the money for a room in the lodge (and fortunately they had some available on this long holiday weekend). It is really not much of a room, it is just more like a big tent with no electricity and no heat. They do have a wood burning fireplace, though, and I started a fire right away. It took awhile, but it eventually warmed up the tent, and I kept it going all night long. I slept awful. You would think that after such a long and tiring hike, I would sleep like a baby, but no sir, I did not sleep much at all.

It also snowed more during the night. When I got up in the morning, the conditions were worse. There was no way the road would be open yet. The lady at the lodge did not hear anything, so I decided to just start driving. There were no signs, no road blocks, no indications the road was closed, so I kept going. It seemed the road was open after all, even though the conditions were probably worse than the previous night. I stopped along the way at two roadside waterfalls. At first, I saw no one else driving along the road, but as I neared the end of it, there were a truckload of vehicles coming from the other direction. That was strange. Did they just open the road then at the other end? I got to the end of the road, and then I met the ranger there who was blocking the way from my continuance. He seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see him, but after talking with me, he let me through the gate. The road was actually still closed, and I do not know why they let all those cars through earlier (or why I was able to drive the whole way with no indication of any closure), but I did not care. I was through and on my way home. It was certainly a most epic hiking trip to Yosemite.

This is Swift Creek Falls in the Trinity Alps. I took this image when I was last up in northern California at the beginning of May for the grand opening of the Western Captures Gallery and Gift Shop in Weed.  I have been to Swift Creek Falls before, and this was not supposed to be my primary destination of the day, but it is how things worked out.

I was trying to get to another waterfall which is on the same trail past Swift Creek Falls. I arrived at the trailhead in the dark and started my hike. I needed to start so early because the waterfall would be getting the early sun, and I needed to be there at sunrise to get a decent photograph. Swift Creek was certainly flowing very swiftly from the snowmelt, and I made my way past this waterfall and continued on. I climbed higher and higher in elevation and found snow on the trail, and a lot of it. I was surprised for sure because I was only at about 5000 ft. elevation. The snow was very soft as well, and I was sinking in big time. A short easy hike was now taking a long time, and I could see I would not likely make it to the other waterfall in time. I had two options: continue on, and get to the waterfall late, and miss out on the other two waterfalls I was hoping to photograph as well, or turn back, and still have time to photograph the other two falls. I decided on option B. The other two waterfalls were this one on Swift Creek and Kickapoo Falls. I was thinking Kickapoo would be really nice and it was actually the main waterfall that I really wanted to try to get to on this day. I did make it to Kickapoo but it was not flowing very well at all, so all in all it was a disappointing morning. In retrospect, I should not have turned back, and perhaps I could have made it to the first waterfall through the snow in time, but at least I did make it to a couple waterfalls.

My plan in the afternoon after going to Jawbone and Granite Creek Falls was to go to Hetch Hetchy and spend the night. First though, I went back to Groveland and ate an entire medium sized pizza at the Pizza Factory. Hmm, that was good. But at Hetch Hetchy, I was denied by the park rangers for no decent reason. I wanted to spend the night in the backpacker’s parking area, so I could get up super early and hike to Rancheria Falls to get there for sunrise and good photography of that waterfall, as well as getting sunset shots of Wapama Falls that evening. But the rangers said that I was not a backpacker, I was a day hiker, and they would not give me a permit. What the heck? When I came here, I had no idea this would be an issue at all, it seemed like such a simple thing, and I know other people have done similar things here in the past. What is the problem with giving someone a permit to sleep overnight at Hetch Hetchy? And why is Hetch Hetchy so unfriendly towards photographers anyway? It is impossible to do any sunset or sunrise photography there because the park is closed at those times. The only chance to photograph the waterfalls in good light is if it is an overcast day, which is extremely rare in the spring. Needless to say, I was very upset.

So after being kicked out of Hetch Hetchy I decided to just go home that evening, instead of staying another night. First though, I went on another hike (to a non existent waterfall – another strikeout), then I went back to Rainbow Pool Falls at sunset. There were quite a few more people here this evening, compared to the previous evening (when there were none). I went down to the falls, and tried to get some shots, but there were quite a few fisherman in the way, so I had to be patient (I’m not good at that). There were even some fishermen at the top of the falls standing in the water. I thought they were going to slip in and go over the falls. That would have been interesting (but not for them). Well, no one fell in, so I went back up to my car and drove home. It was a good weekend, but it sure could have been a lot better.

After work on Friday, I headed up to Lake Tahoe for a quick hike. My goal was Meeks Creek Falls, a new waterfall that I had heard about and wanted to check out.

I arrived at the trailhead in good order and headed out. A couple with some dogs had just started out on a short hike there as well, and one of the dogs was clearly very old, as he was just hobbling along trying to keep up with everyone else. I asked how old the dog was, and the lady said 14 years old. Wow, that is old, but the dog was out in the wilderness and having fun. I like to see that. Anyway, I passed the old mutt by quickly, and continued on. One thing I was not expecting at all: mosquitoes! They were already out in force and biting me. I could not believe it, as it is only May 11. They should not be out so early in the season. Argh! Fortunately, I had bug juice with me, and once I put that on they left me alone.

It is a short and easy two miles to the waterfall, and the creek was flowing strong from snowmelt. When you arrive at the top of the waterfall, it does not look at first glance to be a very big one. The creek makes a straight drop off some big rocks for 21 ft. down, then continues in a very long and steep slide. If you were here in the summer when the creek is just trickling, you would think the waterfall is only 21 ft. high, but the rest of the cascade must certainly be considered part of the waterfall. That makes the entire falls 85 ft. in height. The part pictured above is the upper section, which is 51 ft. I also went down to the lower section as well and photographed it too. After this, it seems the creek levels out for a short distance, but then it looks like there might be another significant drop further down; however, it was getting late and I did not have time to explore downstream. I will have to save that for another day.

I slept in my vehicle in a campground in the area. If sleeping in my vehicle, I could sleep anywhere, but I prefer the safety of a campground. If I were out on some remote road, I would not get any sleep at all, as I would be worried about crazy people coming by, bears, cougars, sasquatches, that sort of thing. In a campground, I do not need to worry about anything, and thus I can sleep much easier, but after paying the $20 for the campsite, if I had known that all they had for services was a simple outhouse, then I think I would have braved the sasquatches. Geepers, $20 for a parking spot and an outhouse!

I got up super early in the morning and drove up Cherry Lake Road to my first destination. I was surprised to learn that all the Forest Roads up here were paved, I was definitely expecting a much rougher route to Jawbone Falls. That made the trip much faster and I arrived at Jawbone Falls a bit before sunrise. In Danielsson’s Northern California Waterfalls book, he describes this waterfall as “just a small cascade”. Yeah, I do not think so. He obviously did not even visit this waterfall before writing his guide book! Jawbone Falls is a large horsetail waterfall, 52 ft. high. This is not a “small cascade” in any shape or manner. It is not a huge one by any means, nor a spectacular waterfall, but it is certainly a good one. You do need to be here early in the spring though, as Jawbone Creek has a small drainage, so once the snow is all melted, it will reduce to a trickle.

Speaking of snow, I did find some on the road past here, as I continued past Jawbone Falls to attempt to find another waterfall. At about 5500 ft., I had to turn around as there was too much snow on the road to continue. Strike one. This was the beginning of my bad day after visiting Jawbone Falls (Jawbone made my day start out very nice, but it would not continue that way).

For my second hike of the day I was in a bit of a dilemma where to go. It was a sunny day but I was really hoping to get to a second waterfall location before the light got bad. There are other falls on Jawbone Creek but they all get early sun so I had no chance for them. There were some on Granite Creek that got later sun or one on Cherry Creek. I chose Cherry Creek because that was first on my way back down the road. Bad choice. The hike started out very well, following a nice trail along Cherry Creek canyon. Apparently I was not the only one who thought so because I was following some fresh tracks all the way down the trail. At first I thought they were bear tracks (I am not very good at identifying animal tracks!) and when I got down the trail further into a clearing I could see bear poop (fresh and old) everywhere. Okay then it must be a bear I was following. The poop was definitely bear but when I looked at my animal tracks app later I realized that the tracks resembled much more like a mountain lion! If I had realized that at first, would I have continued hiking down that trail??? Well I did not make it far down the trail anyway. The trail ended quicker then it should have as it was supposed to descend much further down the canyon, but it ended up being much too brushy and overgrown with manzanita. I was forced to go back. Strike two. I am not sure where the bears and cougars went either.

The sun was up by the time I got back to my car, disappointed that I did not get to a second waterfall location. I made my way down to Granite Creek and I was surprised to find a steep trail descending from the road down into the canyon. I had never seen photos of this waterfall so I figured it was impossible and much too steep to get to. Should I go down? I decided to try it. It was incredibly steep but not exactly dangerous though there were a few tricky sections for sure. The trail continued down so I did as well. There was a lot of poison oak and I ended up getting the itch quite bad from this hike, as well as a tick bite (though that was probably from a later hike). It got more cliffy as I got down closer to creek level, and as I was scrambling down my hat came off and tumbled down the hill just stopping at the edge of the cliff. Oh gee, how would I get that? I went down as close as I dared but was still too far away to reach it so I grabbed a long stick and reached out to drag the hat back up to me. Whew. After this I made it around the cliff and down to a long sliding cascade; the sun was already on the falls but I took a quick shot. I realized that I was still too far downstream from the actual waterfall so I made my way upstream through the poison oak and finally came to the waterfall which was a big one but really impossible to shoot as it was hidden up in the canyon and only the lowest and smallest drop could be viewed. Strike three (sort of) for Granite Creek. I took some shots and this is when I realized my 24-105 lens was not working. Why? I did not drop it or anything, it just stopped working. I sent it in for repair when I got home. $300 to fix. Ugh.