Leon Turnbull Photography

This past weekend I went back to Table Mountain in Oroville once more, this time to visit Beatson Falls. My goal was to be there at sunrise, and that meant I had to start hiking in the dark. It is interesting hiking cross country on Table Mountain in the dark. There are no trails to follow. The major concern is avoiding the cow dung, easy enough to do in the daylight (if you are paying attention), but definitely a challenge to do in the dark. With my headlamp though, I think I managed to avoid all the large brown obstacles. I was hoping I would not run into any groups of killer cows in the dark but that was not to be. I came across a couple such groups, but fortunately they scattered as I approached. The one other concern in the dark is getting lost. It is hard enough to find your way in the daylight. But with my GPS in hand, I did not really have any problems. The one big problem on the way to Beatson Falls is a ravine that you need to cross. It was a bit tricky in the dark, but I managed.

I arrived at Beatson Falls just a few minutes before sunrise. But I really needed to be there about 15 minutes earlier. The light from the rising sun made for an incredibly difficult exposure. Together with the wind blowing my tripod and the long distance from my view point to the falls, it was definitely a challenge. So, I am not completely happy with this photo, but it was the best of the shots that I took.

I did not visit any of the other waterfalls in the vicinity of Beatson Falls. I knew that they would be just trickling, since we have not had any recent rains. Plus, the sun was fully out, so I wouldn’t get any decent shots anyway. Nonetheless, I did have a very pleasant morning outing in Oroville.

On Tuesday I ventured down the One Eye Creek trail to Rock Creek Falls. I have been to this waterfall before (when Rock Creek was in full flood stage), but I figured it was time for a return trip. Nothing fancy or new, just a nice hike to a nice waterfall. It is actually one of the best waterfalls in the greater Sacramento area. In terms of height, it is only a mere 17 ft. high. But in terms of width, it is about 100 ft. wide, and the creek just thunders off a rock ledge spanning the width of the entire creek (and in the winter, Rock Creek flows much more like a river than a creek).  It is certainly a spectacular waterfall.

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The bad news though first … the ticks are out already. I saw a few of them on my hike down to the creek, little ones just hanging off the grasses along the trail waiting for unsuspecting hikers. It is not good that they are prowling about in January already. I suspect it is going to be another very bad season for ticks this year, perhaps even worse than last year (and they were really bad last year). I hate these little buggers. I can handle the poison oak. But I cannot handle ticks. They totally horrify me (remember my hike down into Canyon Creek last year when I had about 50 of them attach themselves to me within a couple miles of hiking).

Anyway, other than seeing a few ticks (and a lot of poison oak), my hike was wonderful. Rock Creek was not in flood stage this year, but it was flowing quite strongly. I worked my way down to the base of the falls, and found it much easier to photograph when you are not being drenched with mist.

After shooting Rock Creek Falls, I continued on the trail downstream. Yes, there is a trail downstream. Although it is completely overgrown and abounding with poison oak, it is possible to follow it. I think it may go down to One Eye Creek (it is called the One Eye Creek trail, after all). I was hoping to get all the way to One Eye, but the trail comes to a crossing of Rock Creek, and I found it flowing just a little too strong and deep to cross. I probably could have done it, but decided to play it safe and not do it this time. I am not sure if the trail did continue on the other side, but I think another day I will be back there to see if I can get down to One Eye Creek.

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=515

I think I have said this before, but it seems to me that compared to California, Oregon’s waterfalls are all so perfect: perfectly shaped, and perfectly formed. California has the huge ones of course: Yosemite, Bridalveil, etc. Oregon’s waterfalls are generally not so huge, but they are all respectable sizes. And just so perfect. Horsetail and Ponytail Falls are “perfect” examples. To me, they just really look like a horse’s tail, and a pony’s tail.

It is a bit of a climb from Horsetail Falls up to Ponytail Falls. I actually thought it was a lot harder than it was.  For some reason or other, I had it marked on my GPS as a 1000 ft. climb, which makes it as high as climbing to the top of Multnomah Falls. I told John this beforehand, and I still managed to talk him into it, after already a hard day of photographing the Gorge. It really was only about a 600 ft. climb. Ponytail Falls is located right on top of Horsetail Falls, I thought it was further up the mountain. Oh well, this is a good thing.

Ponytail Falls is an incredibly photogenic waterfall. We spent quite a bit of time photographing around it, finding different compositions, moving around big logs that were in the way, placing leaves, etc. It is also a popular waterfall. As we were down below it photographing, one guy came down and sat on a big rock right in front of us, going into some kind of meditative state or other. John was more upset about this than I was. I just laughed. Around here, you just gotta go with the flow and move on.

Well we are back from our Christmas vacation. I did not get out and do any shooting at all this time while up in Canada. There was not really any time to do that, plus I did not really feel like it anyway. I have seen all the waterfalls there that you can get to in the winter, and I had no desire to go back to any of them. Plus, it was super cold while we were up there, and that alone was enough to keep me inside as much as possible. We did get out and play though. The kids went skiing twice, ice skating once, and went sledding a number of times. So they had a lot of fun, and that of course if most important.

On the way back home, I did try to go hiking once in Oregon. I took my son and dog along with me in search of a winter waterfall. However, we came to a very narrow, snowy, and scary bridge. My dog Kaya would NOT cross it. She hates going across bridges to begin with, and this one was a bad one. I could not entice her to cross. So we had no other option but to turn back. And on the return hike, we came to the first bridge (which she crossed the first time without too much difficulty). But on the way back, she got scared and would not go across it. Oh great, now what do I do? I could not entice her back across this bridge, and there was no other way across the river and back to the car. My only option was to carry her across the bridge (she is a medium sized black lab, and not particularly light). Fortunately, she obliged this alternative, and let me carry her across the bridge without squirming or wiggling while I did so.

The only time I did go out hiking (successfully) while we were up in Red Bluff visiting my wife’s parents. I went out and saw three waterfalls in the Montgomery Creek area east of Redding. I had hoped to see more (there are still a few waterfalls in that area that I have not been to), but various circumstances prevented me from seeing more. On the first day I went out, it was raining. Hard. It was not even supposed to rain that day at all. The first waterfall I went to was on Hall Creek. It was actually a nice one, but I could not find any good vantage points to shoot the falls, as there was just too much trees and bushes in the way. It also took me MUCH longer to get to that one than I anticipated. Once I got back to the car, Kaya and I were pooped, and then it started raining. I waited quite a while for it to stop, but it just kept going and going. I drove up to Kinner Falls next (pictured here), and walked down to the river in the rain. It kinda let up a bit as I took this photo, but I think it was still raining, and this was the only decent shot I got that day. I was actually quite impressed with Kinner Falls. The only photo I had seen of this one made me think it was not very visible from across the Pit River (which is the only place you can see it). But it is really a very beautiful 139 ft. high falls.

On a different day, I went back to the Montgomery Creek area, and went on a seriously crazy bushwhack along Marble Creek. Poison oak, thick brush, ravines, steep cliffs, you name it. It was only about a half mile, but it took a long time to get down to the falls.  In some spots, the brush was so thick it was almost impassable. I almost gave up a number of different times. But then it would open up again, and I even saw a trail. Was it a very old human trail? or a bear trail? I was not sure. Near the end, I saw a very well defined human trail which must have been made by loggers (it did not lead anywhere, but just sort of ended at a ravine). Anyway, the waterfall itself was a beauty, a 34 ft. plunge into a very narrow canyon. Unfortunately, all the photos I took of it were out of focus and crap. I have no idea why either, this has never happened before, but I’m sure it must be user error somehow. And I’m not sure I will ever want to go back to this one, as it was just too difficult. Sigh. Well, all these waterfalls (including a pic of the crappy out of focus one) are now posted on my website:

http://www.waterfallswest.com#recent

You are forgiven if you think this is Phantom Falls on Table Mountain (my previous post). It is not, but it does look eerily similar to its more famous neighbor. Flag Falls is about 1.5 miles further past Phantom Falls, and is not really too difficult to reach. The hard part was crossing the creek above Phantom Falls, which was flowing pretty well. I managed to cross without getting my feet wet though. After that, the terrain levels out and it is mostly flat cross country over to Flag Canyon. You can see Flag Falls from quite a distance away, and it is an easy jaunt up to this lookout close to the falls. I sat on a rock outcrop eating my lunch and enjoying the view. Flag Falls is a bit smaller (105 ft. high) than Phantom Falls, but it is another very beautiful plunging waterfall.

For directions and more info on this waterfall, click here:

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=957