Leon Turnbull Photography

I know this is not a great photograph, but the story is much better. Trust me.

After hiking to Rock Creek Falls, I was quite tired and very wet. I was initially planning to go back to Coloma and Dutch Creek Falls, but after that first hike, I figured I would just go home. But then I changed my mind, thinking that the hike to Dutch Creek is not too difficult and it was still very early in the day. So off to Coloma I went. My friend Rob had informed me of another waterfall he found above the main waterfall on Johntown Creek. I had somehow missed it when I was here the first time. I wanted to get to it this time.

As I hiked up to the waterfalls, I could see that Dutch Creek was in flood stage as well. The South Fork American River (which Dutch Creek dumps into) was also flowing incredibly swift and powerful. It is nice to see all the creeks flowing so well right now. But we still are going to need much more rain in March. Anyway, I could see that there would be no crossing of Dutch Creek or scrambling around on the steep cliffs by those waterfalls. When I arrived at the twin falls, I was once again amazed how impressive they were and how much water was flowing over the falls. I did not take any photos because the light was quite bad at the time. I was thinking I would go up to the upper falls on Johntown Creek, then try to shoot these waterfalls on the way back down (hoping the light would be better by then). I very carefully scrambled up to the top of Johntown Creek Falls, then continued upstream to the upper falls. It was not nearly as far as I thought it would be.

Rob had photographed the upper falls from in the creek, which is really the best angle to photograph this waterfall, as it is difficult to get a good view of it otherwise, as it turns sharply around a corner mid-stream. There would be no getting down to the creek this day though, because of the very high water flows. I tried to find some sort of spot from up higher, but could not find a good viewpoint. This was the best I could do.

But when I took my backpack off to get my camera out, I was stunned. The top pouch on my camera bag was open. The zipper had broken! I had no idea it was like this on my hike all the way up to the falls. Then I noticed that my wallet was gone, and my laser rangefinder was gone! Oh crap! Where were they? Did they fall down the steep bank and into the creek, gone forever? It was quite possible. I looked and looked, but could not see them anywhere.

At this point, I had completely lost any desire to continue photographing or exploring the creek. My awesome day was on the verge of being ruined. I took a quick snap of the falls, then went back down the trail, re-tracing my steps completely, and searching everywhere for my lost wallet and rangefinder. All the while back down the trail, I was praying praying praying that God would help me find them. I got back down to the bottom of the twin falls, still seeing nothing, and wondering if they might have fallen into the creek there. Nothing. I continued back down the trail to the car. Then I reached a big log that I had to hop over on the way up. There was my rangefinder! But still no sign of the wallet. I looked all around the log, thinking it would have fallen out at the same spot. Nope. I continued down the trail, almost back to the trailhead, and there it was, just lieing on the ground. It was at a spot where I had stopped on the way up, and had bent down to pluck a tick off my leg! It must have fallen out of my pack when I bent down, and I didn’t notice it. Whew! Thank you Lord! Thank you, thank you, thank you. As you can see, I was very much relieved. My awesome day was restored, with only one small glitch in it. Now I just need to go back here and photograph this waterfall properly. I should probably buy a new backpack first though.

I love finding new waterfalls. These are waterfalls that are previously undocumented, and very few people know about. Sometimes I find them myself by studing topo maps. Often I get an email from someone informing me about one. A lot of times, I strike out completely when out waterfall hunting. Other times, I find a nice little waterfall. But every once in awhile, I find a real gem.

Well, I found a gem the other day. It may be the best waterfall in the greater Sacramento area. In fact, I can’t believe I had never been down to it before. It is not really too difficult to get to. The waterfall is on Rock Creek in the Placerville area. It is only about 25 ft. high but is about 100 ft. wide, making it one of the largest waterfalls in the area.

The trail is called the One Eye Creek Trail. It is named after a 19th century miner who had a fight with a cougar and lost, losing one eye in the process. How lovely. Fortunately, I did not see the cougar’s descendant on this hike. I was actually much more concerned about meeting one of the local rednecks. I was venturing into hippy land for this hike. The last time I was in this area, I ran into one, and he was very upset I was there, swearing profusely and telling me I had no business being there, even though I was on a public road. I did not particularly want to run into him or one of his cohorts on this hike. But as it turned out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. The hike is on public land in Eldorado Natl. Forest, and is very clearly marked the whole way as such.

The trail is not too difficult to follow, but was very overgrown in places. I spent a lot of time crashing through brush and scrambling over fallen trees. By the time I got down to the creek, I was completely soaked. And when I got down to Rock Creek, I was amazed. The creek was in flood stage. It was freaky scary how high the creek was and how fast it was moving. One missed step, and I would have been over the falls and gone in a matter of seconds. I worked my way downstream through poison oak to get to the waterfall (ugh). Again, all I can say is wow. The creek was just thundering over the falls. It was an incredible display of power, stretching across the entire creek bed. It was also very difficult to photograph because of all the water and the spray from the falls. It would be interesting to see what this waterfall is like in normal flows. It probably would not be as spectacular, but still rather nice. I will definitely be returning here someday.

Here’s one last shot (for now) from Canyon Creek. On the way back up the trail, Rob spotted another waterfall in the distance and we found a side trail going down towards it. I had never seen this trail before. We decided to take it. From Rob’s point of view, he figured he might never be back on this tough trail for a long long time, so he may as well try to get to all the falls now if at all possible. I knew I would be back someday. Plus, I wasn’t sure if this was one I had seen before or it was a new one. The trail sorta led down to the top of it, but we couldn’t get a view of it. We worked our way around along the cliffs where we could get a decent view. As it turned out, it was one that I had been to before (but from a different trail). I measured it being 23 ft. high. This is number 4 along Canyon Creek. But right below this falls was a different waterfall, a new one that I had not seen before. We were able to photograph that one as well. So it was very cool for me, to find a new waterfall along this trail.

There are at least seven significant waterfalls on Canyon Creek, all 20 ft. high or taller. The last one is located right where the creek dumps into the North Fork American River. This one is 26 ft. high, and definitely a pretty one. It takes a bit of work to get to it though. Well, not so tough getting to it, as it is downhill all the way. But whatever goes down, must go back up. That is Leon’s reverse gravity rule. It applies only to hiking. In this case, down was 1700 ft. in elevation loss over 2.5 miles. That means we had to go back up that 1700 ft. unless we wanted to spend the rest of our lives down by the North Fork American River (which might not be too bad, as it is the most beautiful river in the world – but … it might get a bit chilly). Rob did talk about bringing a raft down, then we could just hop in the river and take out at Colfax. Hmmm …well, not this day. After a good sandwich overlooking the river and waterfall, it was back up the trail we went. Somewhat surprisingly, I felt pretty good on the hike back up. I was tired at the end of it, but not overly tired. Maybe I’m finally getting back into decent shape.

Taking a break from Canyon Creek, and back to something a bit different from American Canyon Creek. This is below American Canyon Creek Falls, where the trail drops fairly steeply on its way down to the Middle Fork American River. There are many mini-waterfalls along this section, and it is possible to get down to some of them. This is one of those pretty little cascades. There are many photo possibilities along this creek, and I just couldn’t resist. Very gorgeous indeed.

It is my daughter’s birthday today. She is 4 years old. They grow up so fast, don’t they. It seems like only yesterday she was just a little baby. But she will always be my little baby, I think. 😉 We are going out for lunch today. Not Chuck E Cheese (which we did last week for Jadon’s birthday – man, their pizza is awful). Today it is John’s Incredible Pizza; supposedly they have better pizza but they are much more expensive. We’ll see.