Leon Turnbull Photography

After striking out at Chamberlain Creek Falls (previous post), I decided to go for a long drive, following the Iowa Hill Rd. up to Iowa Hill, and then back down to Yankee Jim’s bridge. When I got around to Devil’s Falls, the waterfall was still in shade, though it was around noon-ish. So I decided to stop and take a photo. This waterfall never seems to be easy to take a good photo of, compositionally-wise. But it’s always fun to try. I think this one works not too bad.

As far as water flow goes, I was definitely disappointed in the streams around this area. For early April, the water flow in Devil’s Falls, and other streams is very low right now. These streams depend mostly on rain fall, not snow melt, and we haven’t had any of that in quite awhile around here. The snow hasn’t really started melting much in the mountains either. So when that starts in the next month or so, I think we’ll still be in for a decent waterfall season for those “mountain” waterfalls. But these “rainfall” types are almost done for, as far as this year is concerned.

I recently found this incredible display of wildflowers overlooking the North Fork American River, my all-time favourite river. What could be better than this? I was here at sunrise, which was nice, but admittedly not the best time of day for photographing these flowers. The poppies were still sleeping; it would have been better to get here in the late morning, me thinks. Well, I’ll just have to go back there I guess. This scene was found along the Windy Pt. Trail in Colfax.

I’m not sure all the types of flowers in this amazing field. There were quite a many different kinds of them. Included were the poppies, lupines, and goldfields.

After taking in this view, I headed on down the path from here to the river. A small creek comes into the river, and there was supposed to be a decent waterfall there (called Chamberlain Creek Falls). I was quite disappointed though that the creek was only just trickling and the waterfall pretty much non-existent. That is one that will only be worth seeing after a heck of a lot of rain.

After work last week, I took the whole family up to Folsom Lake to a particular spot I know where there is a fabulous field of lupines. I wasn’t sure if they would be blooming yet, but I was rewarded as they were out in full display. I took a number of photos, but this was the only one that really turned out. And I really love this photo, with the unnamed creek on the left and the sun setting over the distant hills, giving some last illumination to the lupines.

The kids had a blast running along the trail, throwing rocks into the river, playing in the sand, and trampling all the flowers. Actually, I tried to keep them out of the flowers, and they did a good job for the most part. Though, there may have been a couple that bit the dust.

Now, I’m not much of a flower person. I mean, I love flowers (especially wildflowers), but I don’t usually take photos of them. Why is that, you ask? When I take photographs, I like showing the whole landscape. In fact, if you look through my website, you will notice very few intimate close-up photos of waterfalls. There may be a few, but not too much. I like showing the whole waterfall in my photos, not just an intimate close-up of part of it. It’s just a personal preference; what I like to do. So that is why I would never photograph a close-up flower shot. But if I can photograph a broad landscape scene with flowers in it, then most definitely I will do it. That was my goal at Folsom Lake, and I think I accomplished that quite well.

By the way, this location is at the end of the lake, at Old Salmon Falls, which is an old townsite that was flooded when the Folsom Dam was built many many years ago. All that is left at this old site is the Old Salmon Falls bridge, which is under water most of the time, except when the lake level is very low. Last year, we had a very dry year here, and the bridge was fully visible. But now, the lake level is rising again. Only the very top of it is now showing, and it will probably be under water completely within another week.

This is a neat series of little waterfalls, found above the main cascade on South Fork Silver Creek (my previous post). It is called the “Tea Cups” by the kayaking community. When the flow is higher in the spring, the kayakers will come out of their winter holes and run this creek. This section may not seem so daunting, but right below this is that 77 ft. high cascade just waiting. That is just too crazy for me. If you think I am crazy, battling mountain lions and red-necks, and poison oak, and scrambling up steep cliff sides and crossing rushing creeks, and such, to get to some remote waterfall … well, kayaking is just one thing I will not do (anymore), no thank you.

I had a bad experience on the Trinity River in northern CA once. It was on a particularly easy section of the river (well, relatively easy compared to something like the South Fork Silver above). I dumped out of the kayak in a section of rapids, and basically, was going down the rapids without a boat, crashing along the rocks, and losing my wedding ring and paddle in the process. We had to quit (no paddle makes it tough to work a kayak), and hitch hike back to our vehicle. It is really all my wife’s fault, actually. She was into kayaking more than I ever was, and got me into it. But the kayaks that she (and her dad) have are for experts, not beginners like myself. So they are rather difficult to maneuver, even on relatively easy sections. Granted, it is a fun and exciting sport when you can do it correctly. But I now prefer to keep my feet on solid ground, relatively speaking.

Anyway, back to the South Fork Silver Creek. To get up to this viewpoint, I had to scramble up a very steep and difficult cliff, to get above that 77 ft. cascade. Just remember, scrambling up cliffs is not as crazy as kayaking, though it may still be crazy. I got to the top, and voila: the Tea Cups. It is quite a pretty section of the creek, and I was very happy to get up there to see it. I shot this photo with my 70-200L telephoto lens.

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After shooting sunrise on Ice House Reservoir, I scooted up to the end of the lake, where South Fork Silver Creek (that’s a mouthful to say), dumps into the reservoir. There are some spectacular cascades and slides along this creek about a half mile up from the lake. There is even a trail that leads up to them, which I was pleased to find. I was worried about a couple things as I hiked up to the end of the lake. First, that the sun would be too high, and I would miss the good light at the falls. Second, with so much snow still around, I was wondering if there would even be much water flowing in the creek at all. It turned out good on both counts. The creek was not at peak flow by any means, but was really rushing well, and I did make it up to the falls before the sun started shining down in the canyon. I was a happy camper (but I wasn’t camping).

The cascade shown here is the main waterfall on South Fork Silver Creek, and I measured it to be 77 ft. high. It didn’t really seem that high, but is probably close. The viewpoint is on a rock outcropping, and it was a bit dicey walking around on it. I could not get any closer to the ledge, as the rocks and snow were quite slippery and dangerous. After enjoying this waterfall, I scrambled up to the top of the cliff, where I found some more nice waterfalls up above.