Leon Turnbull Photography

We just returned from a fabulous weekend in Bodega Bay, on the coast of California. It was a quick get away for my wife and I to celebrate our 10th anniversary.We left the kids with Tara’s parents and headed over on Friday afternoon.

We were staying at the swanky Bodega Bay Lodge. It was a very special occasion and I wanted to stay some place very special. My wife would rather me spend that kind of money on a nice place like this every once in awhile, rather than spending it on jewelry or something like that. That’s good, because I’d rather spend it on that too. Our stay at Bodega Bay Lodge was wonderful. The room was immaculately clean, nothing out of place. The only negative thing I can say about it is that it could have been more “luxurious”. For example, they had rather cheap pictures on the walls. Perhaps I can talk them into buying my photos for their walls. 🙂

The idea was to hit sunset at Bodega Head on Friday evening. Well, it may have been a fabulous weekend, but it was not perfect weather-wise. I think Friday and Saturday were the two most color-less sunsets I have ever witnessed. There was nary a cloud in the sky either night, and it was kinda hazy out on the water, so the sunset just fizzled, the sun just plopped down into the haze and that was all she wrote. My friend Brian must know something more than I, because he had fabulous clouds at the coast the weekend before. Whenever I am there, it seems there is just nothing. Blah Blah Blah. And not to mention, on Friday it was COLD! Coming from 100 degrees in Sacramento, you would think it would be somewhat warm at the coast. But it felt like winter, very cold and very windy, and I was definitely not dressed for it. We had to sit quite a while out in the cold waiting for the sun to come down, it was definitely not worth our efforts and I was not pleased with any of the photos I took on that first evening.

Well, things picked up quite a bit after that first sunset. We went to see St. Teresa of Avila church in Bodega. The schoolhouse behind the church was made very famous in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movie “The Birds”. The church was briefly seen in the movie as well, but it was made more famous by Ansel Adams. I wanted a different take on this church, and my idea was to photograph the church at night. I thought I would have some light from the half moon to illuminate the scene; we did not, but we were here early enough that I did not need it. I think it turned out fairly well. The exposure was 53 seconds at f/4.

When I woke up on my last morning in Yosemite, I was very very sore and very very tired. I could barely walk because of blisters on my feet. I knew I could not go on any more extended hikes. Maybe I could, but I didn’t want to. I decided to pack up and go home, and make one detour in the process.

That detour was to Carlon Falls on the South Fork Tuolumne River, which is located just outside the park. It is an easy 1.5 mile walk to the falls along the river. I started hiking at about sunrise, which was enough time to make it to the falls before the sun rose above the canyon. Carlon Falls is a nice 26 ft. drop, and it was an enjoyable hike, which I took on the slow side due to my blistered feet.

I didn’t see any bears this weekend at Yosemite National Park. The lady at the campground told me there were three bear break-ins (to cars) the previous night I arrived. It amazes me that people would leave food in their cars, thinking that was okay. It is interesting to note, that I have never ever seen a bear in any national park I have been to. Supposedly, that is the one place you should be able to see bears commonly. But not me. I have seen bears in California in other places, out hiking, or driving. But never in national parks. So it didn’t surprise me that I didn’t see any bears this time around. But for some reason, I had a feeling that I might see a bear this morning. But I did not. The only wildlife I did see in Yosemite was a coyote, and a couple deer. Perhaps my eyes were too fixated on all the amazing waterfalls to notice the bears and cougars right behind me. 🙂

My adventure this past weekend started out at 4AM and ended up with a 7 ft. high waterfall. That’s a lot of effort for not much payback.

It is always a big effort getting up so darn early in the morning. But with sunrise now at 6AM, and considering it takes at least an hour and a half to drive anywhere interesting, it is a necessity.

My plan was to explore the Silver Fork American River at Kyburz. I was hoping to find a decent sized waterfall on that river. I had no idea, really, if there was one or not. I just had a thought that there might be one, there should be one, and I was meaning to explore it. I had a couple possibilities marked out on my map. When I got there, and arrived at those possibilities, I realized that my big effort was for naught. No waterfalls. But I didn’t want my day to be a total loss, so I scrambled down to the river anyway. When I got down there, I found a 5 ft. high waterfall. Eh. Not too exciting, but I took a photo of it. It was pretty steep scrambling down there and took more time than I wanted to. I had a second destination in mind as well.

That was Alder Creek, 5 miles down the road from Kyburz. When Rob and I were driving home from Bassi Falls the other day, way up on Ice House Rd., we noticed a waterfall off in the distance across the canyon. It looked like a big one. Was it really a waterfall? It was hard to tell from so far away. When I got home, I studied my maps, and saw that yes there a possible waterfall. But I wasn’t sure which drainage it would be. I thought maybe Alder Creek was the ticket. It wasn’t. The correct drainage was Mill Creek, and yes there is a waterfall on that creek. A big one. But I’m not sure (yet) how to get to it. I’ll be working on that. In the meantime, my idea for this day was to explore Alder Creek. I think there might be a waterfall on Alder Creek as well. I found a trail leading up the creek, and at first it looked very promising and very easy going, but then it stopped. At this 7 ft. high waterfall. Continuing to bush whack up the creek for another mile was not on my list of things that I wanted to do this day. Maybe another day. So anyway, I just stopped here at this mini falls for a quickie photo. Then off home I did go. And arrived back at the house to find my wife still sleeping. ha ha.

Although Tunnel View is perhaps a more dynamic view of Yosemite Valley, I think I prefer Valley View shown here. There are always way too many photographers at Tunnel View for my liking, you have to duel tripods just to find a spot to set up. I hate crowds and I like my photography without the fighting. Valley View usually doesn’t have very many people around.

I had a fabulous evening at Yosemite after gorging on pizza at Curry Village. it was most certainly the best part of my weekend. Firstly, I drove out to Valley View for sunset light. It turned out to be not much of a sunset. The clouds rolled in, blocking the sun. I think I got the very last of the good light with this shot here. I really like this one though.

After Valley View, I packed up and went over to Lower Yosemite Falls. I intentionally left my camera in my vehicle and walked up to the falls. They have built new walkways there now, and you can park along the road. I like that very much. As I approached the viewing area at the falls, there were quite a few people there. I went straight by them, up into the wooded area beside the waterfall, to my favourite viewing location. There was no one else there. I just sat down on the wet rocks and enjoyed Yosemite Falls immensely, with the large amount of spray from the falls getting me quite wet in the process. It was awesome, and the most enjoyable experience I had all weekend. And to think, I wasn’t even planning to go up to Yosemite Falls this time. I’m so glad I did.

We had a pretty big rain storm here this past weekend. A much needed and much welcome rain storm, and not something we normally get in the month of May. On Sunday night, I was looking at the water flow over North Form Dam (Lake Clementine). North Fork Dam is the best measurement of how the water (and waterfalls) are flowing in the greater Sacramento area because the water is not controlled. It is a dam, but they don’t control the water there on the North Fork American River, they just let it flow right over. The flow was over 8000 cfs, about 5 times the normal flow. I knew that meant that ALL the waterfalls in the area would be ripping and roaring like crazy. (with all the increased flow, Folsom Lake has gone from 80 percent up to 87 percent capacity in just a few days – and that is with all the increased water they have been letting out recently). Anyway, I said to my wife, I gotta take tomorrow off work and go out waterfalling. I said that only half jokingly. If I could have taken the day off work, I would have. But there was just no way I could do that. I went to bed depressed.

But what could I do, I wondered? Maybe I could go somewhere AFTER work on Monday? How about Bassi Falls? I emailed my friend, Rob, to see if he was interested. He was, and met me at my house at 4PM when I got home from work. I dragged my son, Jadon, along as well. He came, unenthusiastically. Jadon, in his own words, is more of a Lego kind of guy, than a hiking kind of guy. He’d rather stay home and make cool looking Lego designs. He is very talented, artistically. But I want him to enjoy the beautiful outdoor world as well, so he came with us.

It is an easy hike down to Bassi Falls, about a 10 minute walk. You could easily hear the falls roaring from the parking area. Little streams were pouring down the hills over the trail. Jadon had fun splashing through them. When we finally came into view of the falls, it was indeed ROARING. When I was here last year, it was roaring incredibly. This year, there was even MORE water roaring over the falls. Did I say Bassi Falls was roaring? It was an overwhelming sight to behold. I think even Jadon liked it. Rob was overwhelmed trying to find a way to photograph the falls. He eventually gave up and took photos of the creek and trees instead. It is definitely a daunting task to photograph such a powerful waterfall. How can one possibly convey the feeling, the power, the immensity of such an awesome waterfall in one little photograph?

After awhile, it started to rain again and was getting cold. Rob had gone off somewhere, apparently attempting to cross the roaring creek. We could not see him. But it was getting late now too, and Jadon and I decided to head back to the car and wait for Rob. Jadon was worried Rob would fall in the creek and drown, or something. We had to cross a deep part of the stream on the way back, and although Jadon had rain boots on, the water got in them. That made his feet cold and very wet. It was all my fault, dragging him through the deep water instead of lifting him. I had taken my boots off earlier, so I could maneouver around the area to photograph. The water was dang cold! I gave Jadon my dry socks to put on, and we walked back up to the car. Shortly after we got back, Rob rang me on my cell phone. He was on his way back. It is amazing that you can get cell phone reception out here.

It started raining quite hard on the way back home. The amazing thing is, if we had gone to Bassi Falls on Tuesday instead of Monday, there would have been even MORE water roaring over the waterfall. Hard to believe that would be even possible. Did I say Bassi Falls was roaring? I wondered if I could take Tuesday off work?