Leon Turnbull Photography

I pulled off the highway onto an unmarked road near where I would be hiking the next day. As usual I slept awful. Of course, I had to get up at the crack of dawn. Ugh.

In the morning I drove a bit more down the road to its end and started hiking. No mosquitoes. That was a good surprise at least. I was looking for a great viewpoint of Niagara Creek Falls, a spectacular 700 ft high waterfall dropping into Donnell Lake but it is extremely difficult to get a good view of it. I had seen a photo that was taken from a certain ridge where it seemed a great view of the falls was a possibility so that was my goal for the morning. The hike was much more difficult than I imagined and it did not help that I went the wrong way, first climbing up two faux ridges that had no view of the waterfall. I could see the ridge that I wanted to get up on but it looked too steep to scale, nonetheless I made my way over to it and actually found a perfect little path leading up the cliff. I now had a very good feeling and thought I was going to make it, but then I came to a dead end with only about 100 ft to go to the end of the ridge. There was a 10 foot dropoff followed by a deadly and narrow knife edged path to the end that was blocked by a tree and bushes. Oh crap! I came so close but it was just not close enough. I know that at least one person has made it through here before, but how? It looked impossible. And of course, as you no doubt know, I abhor those deadly dropoffs, so I decided to play safe and just shoot the partially visible falls from this location. It was a “smart” decision but I was totally bummed and depressed about this for the rest of the day. But how could I have continued?

After this I went on a second hike on the far side of Donnell Lake looking for another waterfall. I struck out on that as well but I could see Niagara Creek Falls from the other side of the lake. It was a bit too far away from where I was but it did seem possible to perhaps get much closer to it. It would be a tough hike though and it will have to wait for another year. I certainly did not have the energy on this day. I was getting ready to hike back, but as I was stepping down off a rock I stepped into a hidden hole. It could have been much worse and I suppose I could have a broken leg from it but all I got was a scraped up leg and a severe cramp. I had to lay down on the ground for about five minutes until the cramp went away though it continued to hurt somewhat for the rest of the day. It is a good reminder to be careful out there folks.

Another person almost dies going over a waterfall. The report indicates he was trying to cross the river above Corlieu Falls and fell down a 30 ft waterfall. Corlieu Falls is much bigger than 30 ft high, so I guess he just fell down one of the tiers of the waterfall.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/24/3791270/volunteer-firefighter-rescues.html

In other news … It is a bit late to tell you this but if you are heading to the CA state fair this weekend, my photo “Pool of Cold Fire” is featured in the Placer County display. Be sure to check it out if you can.

Also, I have several photos printed in Ann Marie Brown’s newest edition of her California Waterfalls book. I was quite excited to be a part of her latest edition. Her book is still the ultimate (printed) source for CA waterfalls.

On up to Blue Canyon in Sonora Pass. Another roadside waterfall, this one 32 ft high, dropping quite impressively into Deadman Creek. It was not too difficult to get down to creek level and it is certainly much more intimate than shooting this falls from the road. I had initially wanted to come back here the next day, cross the creek, and work my way up Blue Canyon to try to find more waterfalls up there. But I had second thoughts when I examined how swiftly the creek was flowing here, it did not look easily crossable, not to mention numb freezing cold. Perhaps I should not try that tomorrow after all. After shooting Blue Canyon I drove back down the pass where I would be sleeping in my vehicle. Or I should say trying to sleep.

I took a quick trip to Sonora Pass last weekend. I left work a bit early and zipped on down the freeway. Zip is a relative term of course. Traffic was awful. I had hoped to get to Sonora Pass by 6pm in order to hike Kennedy Meadows Friday evening but by the time I got down there it was much later than anticipated and I didn’t think I’d have time to do that hike before dark. Instead, I drove up the pass to shoot a couple roadside waterfalls that I had been to before but wanted to get better pictures of. This first one was Deadman Creek Falls. It is just a small 18 footer, but with a lot of flow in the creek there was a lot of mist at the base of the falls. I had to shoot this one from higher up, at the side of the highway. It was a good start to the weekend. But would it last? Stay tuned to find out.

Everyone else is posting this story today, so I guess I will as well. For anyone who already hasn’t figured this out: Stepping over a guard railing and into a raging river at the brink of a 317 ft. high waterfall = NOT VERY SMART.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/20/BA0H1KCRAP.DTL