Leon Turnbull Photography

I went up Ice House Rd again, on the evening of “Rapture Day”, driving all the way to Loon Lake (if indeed there was going to be a rapture, I wanted to be “caught” doing what I loved – haha). There was still quite a bit of snow up there and ice on the lake. Still too much snow to do the hike I had planned so I drove back down to Bassi Falls.

There was no snow at this lower elevation so I was optimistic that I would be able to drive all the way into the trailhead. And indeed I could! A lot of other people also seemed to have the same idea this weekend. There were a lot of people hiking back up the trail as I hiked down to the falls but there was no one else at the falls once I arrived, so I scoped out my spot to wait for the sun to set as it was still early in the evening.

Bassi Falls is a spectacular waterfall in the spring when the snow is melting and is one of my fav waterfalls in the Sacramento area and also very easy to get to. I come here at least once per year. As I waited I took some video of the falls, not something I normally do, but may do (should do) more of in the future, now that I have HD on my new camera (I posted the video on my waterfallswest facebook page).

Another family arrived at the waterfall, a photographer with his wife and two kids. The wife ran up to the top of the falls while the kids ran around like gangbusters playing in the creek with no supervision, while the photographer took his pictures. With the creek flowing so crazily, I didn’t think this was particularly safe as the kids were even crossing the creek. I guess it was safe enough where they were doing it but I don’t think I would want my kids crossing there. Something easily could have happened and he was too far away to help. Just my opinion. Later the wife came back down and then they were supervised more closely. Anyway, they stayed quite awhile but then left just before the light on the waterfall got nice, which happens just as the sun dips below the ridge line, and only for a very brief time. If he would have waited ten more minutes, he would have had a nice photograph. I’m just sayin.

I slept absolutely awful the first night in Yosemite. I was sleeping in my SUV not in a tent. I was very wired, looking up at every light or sound in the campground, and the worst of it was that my back was hurting from how I was laying in the vehicle and there was nothing I could do to make it better. I was seriously thinking that I should just drive home the next day. Another night in the car would be perhaps unbearable. I wanted to go home the next day but I also wanted to see all the waterfalls on my agenda that I was planning to see. Perhaps I could do both and just drive home late the next day. But how would my back feel in the morning?

The back was not great in the morning but I got up early after very little sleep and drove to the trailhead at Alder Creek Falls. I had not been to this waterfall yet and it is not a particularly easy hike either, climbing 1000 ft up in a four mile one way hike to the falls. Most of that 1000 ft is in the first mile. You are climbing amongst burnt trees left from a forest fire that went through here four years ago. Although the general public view of fires are that they are bad, in fact they are good if not unnaturally suppressed by man. I especially like how the fires clear out the thick brush on the forest floor which normally makes it impossible to bush whack to hard to reach waterfalls. No bush whacking is required for Alder Creek Falls however. My back held up on the steep hike up the mountain after which the terrain was much easier on the remaining three miles over to the falls. There was still some snow at the top (5800ft) which I had to walk through but much less than I anticipated. Most of it was all melted.

The viewpoint of the waterfall is quite a nice one from the trail overlooking the waterfall. I was surprised though. Firstly, about the height. It is listed commonly as a 250 ft. high waterfall, yet it was very clear to my eye that it was no where near that height. More like around 100 ft. high or so. Indeed, my measurement of the falls confirmed the height of the falls was 87 ft. Secondly, from all I had read it was clearly indicated that it was not possible to get down to the bottom of the falls. Yet it seemed that it was a possibility after all. It would be a difficult descent for sure, but definitely do-able (maybe – at the very least you could get down closer to it). Anyway I did not try it this time. I wanted to get back down to my vehicle quickly. Why? I had a lot of other destinations to visit that day still. I was concerned about my back as it would be a difficult descent. And stupidly, I was worried about a bear breaking into my vehicle cuz I had left food in it. I got back to my car and no bear had broken into it.

But as I sat in my car munching on a snack a very cool thing happened. About 8 or 9 deer came down to the road and then five of them (including a baby) crossed the road and came right up to my car. They could see me looking at them but did not mind me so close as they picked at food in the dirt. I don’t know what they would be eating in the dirt. I crawled into the back of my car to get my camera, changed lenses, then went out and started taking photos of them from the front of my car. I was only about 10 or 15 ft away from them. They stayed there a long time not minding me. Finally some other cars stopped as well and I no longer had them to myself. Eventually they had enough and left reluctantly. It was a pretty cool experience and one I would not have had I went down to the bottom of the falls, so I think God was the one who put it in my heart to get back down to the car quickly. Also, it is a story that my daughter Nekoda really would like as she loves deer and told me a long time ago she wanted me to take a picture of a baby deer. I don’t normally take photos of deer as they are so common but this was a very special case which I think happened as much for Nekoda as for me.

Whirlwind weekend Part II. Yosemite Valley.

The other waterfall I wanted to see this evening in Yosemite Valley was of course Bridalveil Falls. It was almost sunset time. The evening started out as very cloudy and overcast, but by sunset time, all the clouds in the valley had disappeared, so it was not much of a sunset, unfortunately. But there was still some nice light on the cliffs above Bridalveil Falls. I stopped at Valley View instead of Tunnel View. Although the latter is a more spectacular vista I rarely stop there as I have a strong aversion to spending my evening battling tripod legs with 50 other photographers. There is always much fewer people at Valley View. There were perhaps ten other people there but I found a good spot to setup and shoot before the light disappeared from the cliffs. Before it got too dark I ran up to the base of Bridalveil to experience more drenching, then drove on to my campsite in the dark.

Whirlwind weekend part I. Yosemite Valley.

My plan was ambitious. There are (or were) four different places I want to get to this spring, all of which require multiple days of travel or hiking. I was hoping to get to two out of the four on this one weekend. Two birds killed with one stone. First up was Yosemite Valley. With the huge snow pack melting I knew the waterfalls in Yosemite would be huge. Tremendous. Incredible. Amazing. Gargantuan. You name it. I absolutely needed to get back to my favorite park this spring.

So right after work on Friday I drove down south. The traffic was awful just getting out of Sacramento even though I left very early. I did not have much time to spend in the valley but I wanted to definitely get some Quality Time with Yosemite Falls, one of my favorite waterfalls on Earth and to be in the park for sunset.

I finally arrived in the valley around 6:30pm and went straight to the lower falls. All the waterfalls in the park were flowing tremendously. I even saw some dropping off cliffs that I had never seen before. These ones are not even named. I wish I had more time in the valley but that was not to be for this trip. Even with the tremendous flow they say the falls have not reached peak flow yet. Hard to believe any more water could be coming off Yosemite Falls. The creeks and Merced River were already quite full. Too much more and there will certainly be flooding in the valley.

I went up to my favorite place to view the falls, away from the viewing area where everyone else stops. I think more people know about this  “semi secret” place now as the path seems more traveled but I had the waterfall to myself this evening, just the way I like it. I found a spot where I could see the upper falls as well as the lower falls and stayed there for as long as I possibly could bear. I was getting completely drenched from the spray. To me, this is the ONLY way to truly experience Yosemite Falls. Finally, like a wet dog, I went back down the trail, getting strange looks from people wondering if I went swimming in Yosemite Creek, and found this viewing area back away from the falls and spray, where I could take a photo of this magnificent waterfall. I was looking for a different view of the falls than the normal ones, hoping to find a spot with Yosemite Creek in the foreground. I found this one.

More to come.

This is a new waterfall I found a couple weeks ago on my outing to Mill Creek Falls. I had no idea this waterfall was here, but saw it as I hiked down the road. After visiting Mill Creek Falls, I went down to this one on the way back. It was harder than it seemed. No trails went down to it, and the going was quite brushy, especially as I got close to the creek. Nonetheless, there was a bit of a path, and I pushed through the brush to get down to the waterfall. It is a fairly nice waterfall, 41 ft. high, though a good viewpoint of it was hard to come by.

I am looking forward to this weekend, as I am making a whirlwind trip to Yosemite. The waterfalls down there should be smokin. And I am hoping to get to quite a few new ones that I have not been to before as well. It  will be a fun and a very fast trip.

http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=1654