Leon Turnbull Photography

Fifth time’s a charm, I guess.

Friday seemed like a perfect day to once again try getting to the Lower Traverse Creek Falls. This time I was ready and determined to get down there. I’ve tried four separate times over the past few years, in various ways, and did not make it. Mostly because I was looking for an easier way to get down there. This time, I was going to get down there. The hard way. No turning back this time.

I arrived at the trailhead at 6:30AM, and started trekking down to the upper falls. I noticed that the overgrown brush on the trail seemed to have been cut. Indeed, it was most certainly not nearly so overgrown as when I was here a week ago. Apparently, someone had been down here in the past week with clippers. I guess that is a good thing. As I approached the upper falls, though, I became a bit perturbed. More trash. Beer cans. I was just here a week ago and cleaned up all the trash, and now in less than a week, it is trashed again! Could it be the mysterious person with the clippers? Perhaps. Whoever it was, certainly irked me.

Anyway, I climbed down to the base of the falls, and noticed that Traverse Creek Falls was in single segment mode now. I was expecting that, after a week of no rain. It was still flowing decent though, and I felt a trip down to the lower falls was still in order for this day. So off I went.

The going was not too bad at first. I started off following the creek bed. The toughest thing is watching your footing on the slippery rocks. I eventually picked up a trail. I remembered this trail from when I went down to Bear Creek Falls a couple years ago. It seems pretty very well defined now, but it is a lot tougher going, because it is still overgrown and there are a lot of up and downs. But clearly, quite a few people had been on it. The trail eventually goes quite high above the creek, and I remembered that it just kind of ended once you get down to Bear Creek. The same was true on this day. As I approached Bear Creek, the trail petered out. I decided to head back down to the creek level and came out at the Bear Creek confluence. From there, I continued down the creek bed. From Bear Creek, the going was fairly easy. Until you come to the dead end. Which happens to be just before the waterfall.

At this certain point, the cliffs on each side of the creek converge into a narrow channel. There is no way to continue at the creek level. Unless you want to swim. I didn’t realize the waterfall was just down from here. I thought it was actually a lot further downstream. Nonetheless, I found a path heading up the cliff. Straight up. Well, I didn’t come all the way down here for nothing. So up the cliff I went. And up. And up. I eventually got up to a point and found the “trail” again, traversing across the cliff. As I traversed downstream, I saw the waterfall far below me. As I said, I was surprised to find it here. I was sure it was much further downstream. But I was certainly happy to have it here. Now I just needed to get down to it.

I approached the top of the waterfall, and found it to be very cliffy. Far too cliffy for my liking. There was a rope going down from near the top of the falls to the bottom. I looked at it closely, but it just seemed a bit too crazy. There were not very many footholds down the cliff. I’m sure the young and daring would go down here with no difficulty, but that is not me. So how could I get down, then? It seemed to me the best option was back up to the “trail” and try to come around the cliff section downstream. That plan worked great. Along the way, I managed to lose my hiking pole. One minute I had it, scrambling through brush, and the next I didn’t. But I didn’t know what happened. Did I leave it back at the top of the falls? I was almost at the bottom, so I continued on without my pole, planning to look for it on my way back (and fortunately, I did find it on my way back – I had somehow just dropped it in the brush).

I worked my way down to the stream and then back up to the falls. Yes! After all these years, I finally made it to Lower Traverse Creek Falls. It is a pretty one, though much smaller than I thought. I had been told it was 40 ft. high. Not even close. I measured it to be 22 ft. high. Smaller than the upper falls. Nonetheless, it is a beauty. And in such a remote, hard to get to location. And yet, obviously many people had been here before. There were even ropes hanging off some trees, that kids had set up for swinging off into the pool below the falls  in the summer. It took me a full 2 hours to hike down here from the upper falls. It was a very tough hike.  I can’t really imagine that kids would come all the way here to swim in the summer. But there it is.

Eventually, I made my way back up the cliff, and worked my way back up the creek bed. I stopped at the Bear Creek confluence to rest. I thought about going up to see Bear Creek Falls while I was down here. The light was still good, being an overcast day. But I was really quite tired from my hike, and I still was only half way back. I decided to skip Bear Creek for another day. And that was a good decision. By the time I got back to the car, my legs were really cramping, and I was totally exhausted. But I did manage to pick up those beer cans and some other trash I found along the way. Perhaps it will stay clean now for more than a week, this time.

In Arnold, we were staying at a nice resort for which my sister and family had arranged for their exchanged timeshare. My mother was doing some cleaning and put out a garbage bag on the steps outside the condo. Ummm, not a good idea. Within 30 minutes, this little guy had come up on the steps and was into the garbage. He created quite a spectacle for all of us, especially for the four children, who all wanted to see him up as close as they could get. He did not run off with all of us looking at him so closely. Obviously, he is very used to people (and no doubt, garbage and receiving other treats). We saw him later in the week as well. He jumped up onto our deck, looking for more garbage or treats I guess (and I think it was a good thing the door was closed).

I struck out again. I have been trying to get to the lower falls on Traverse Creek recently. I have been looking for an “easy” route down to that waterfall. I know it is there, and I know where it is, but the only possible route is a difficult scramble downstream from the upper Traverse Creek Falls. I was hoping to find an alternate, and easier route. But on both times I have tried, I ran into various dead-ends, which usually means thick impassable brush. So I guess I will just have to suck it up and just go the hard way next time, which I think will be very soon. I am determined to make it to that one this year. I just need a good overcast day because I don’t want to go down there if it is sunny, and thus I wouldn’t be able to get a good photo of it.

In the meantime, after failing for the lower falls, I went back to the upper falls yet again. It is in beautiful double form mode right now. A couple more rains and it will be in full torrent mode.

The rocks and cliffs are very slick, and it is a bit dangerous to get down to the falls right now. The last part is very steep, and you must hold onto ropes to get down to it. You do not want to slip and fall. Well, I didn’t. Not even one tiny slip this time. (knock on wood for next time).

At Traverse Creek Falls, I always try to remember to bring a garbage bag there. In the past, it has been a trash heap. Don’t get me started on a rant about stupid idiots who litter out in the wilderness.  Anyway, thanks to quite a few various people, it has really been cleaned up in the past few years. There was, however, still a bit of trash at the bottom of the falls. I forgot a garbage bag, but I managed to pick up all the trash that I saw. So hopefully it should now be clean for another year.

We arrived early in the morning at Punch Bowl Falls. It is such a gorgeous location and waterfall. Indeed, everyone seems to think so. Punch Bowl Falls may be the most photographed waterfall in Oregon, or right up there anyway. Last time I was here, two years ago, there was a big ugly log cutting across the middle of the waterfall. If you know this waterfall well, then you know what I am talking about. That log had been there for many years. Finally, a big storm passed through (about a year or year and a half ago, I think), and all of a sudden the log was gone! Now this waterfall is back to being its incredibly scenic self again.

Usually one needs to wade out into the middle of the stream about knee deep or so, in order to get a good viewpoint of the falls. On this day, the water level was a lot lower so you didn’t really even need to get wet to photograph the falls. But we put on our water shoes anyway, and waded out into the water. Even though we were there at sunrise, there was still some glare from the morning sun on the water.

It started raining as I was driving back from Big Kimshew Falls. I was looking for some Fall color to photograph, as there were a lot of nice color trees turning along the road, but I was looking for something beside some water. Then I came to this river crossing, the West Branch of the Feather River, and I saw this big yellow tree that I really liked, hanging over the water. So I stopped and went back to the bridge to take a shot in the rain. I couldn’t get a comp without the grey sky in it, because of an ugly flume in the way. But this view works pretty well too, I think.