Leon Turnbull Photography

I just purchased a SPOT Satellite Messenger. This handy dandy little device will take quite a load off my wife’s stress level when I go out hiking alone. It works in a similar way as a personal locator beacon, but is cheaper and has more functionality (though not necessarily as reliable). It uses GPS satellite signals to send distress 911 call in emergency situations. In addition to this, you can send a HELP (non 911) message to your contact, or just an “I’m OK” message. This sends an email message (or text message) to your contact with a GPS coordinate and link to Google maps, so they know exactly where you are. It is a pretty cool little device, and considering that I often hike alone, it is really important for my (and my wife’s) sake. I have long considered getting a personal locator beacon type device, but the price of that has put me off. This seemed perfect for me. I have read that it has troubles getting a satellite signal with partial overhead cover (trees etc.), but I tested it in my backyard and it worked perfectly fine. It does have a lot of different flashing light combinations that are weird and tough to figure out exactly what they all mean. Anyhow, we’ll have to see how it works out in the woods. I am kinda excited about having it now. Peace of mind and all that jazz. I especially like the idea of the “I’m OK” message. I can let my wife know at any time exactly where I am and that I am okay. A couple years ago, my bro-in-law and I went on a backpacking trip. We were very late getting back to the car (after dark). We were fine (though extremely tired), but our wives were beyond crazy because we were past due checking in. This device would have saved us all a lot of anxiety.

This was an experiment. After my adventure at Sly Park Falls on Friday night, I still had an hour to kill before I made my way back to Cameron Park, where I had music practice that night at our church. I play the drums in our worship band. Now, this may surprise you that I am a wild and crazy, long-haired drummer. Well okay, not wild or long-haired. Anyway, what was I going to do for an hour? I thought about taking some night shots somewhere. But where? I thought, well, why not trying a night shot at Bridal Veil Falls, just up the highway. So that’s where I went.

I do not like this location at Bridal Veil Falls. It is right alongside a very busy 4 lane highway. It is very noisy, and even though there is a large turnout, it still kinda freaks me standing there with the cars whizzing past at 80 miles per hour. Even though I pass by this waterfall many times, I rarely stop here. But here I was, in the dark, trying to set up my tripod in front of the waterfall, hoping no car comes skidding into me at 90 miles per hour. So I did not spend too much time here setting up my shot. I took only 2 exposures. This one was 60 seconds, iso 400, f/4. It definitely is a different type of shot. Does it work or not? You be the judge.

Normally, the only day of the week I can get out hiking is on Saturdays. My wife, Tara, has a Kenpo Karate school in Sacramento, and teaches 3 nights of the week, while I stay home with the kids. So kind as she is, she lets me get out on Saturdays to do my thing. But this weekend, she had an all day karate seminar in Fresno. Not to be out done though, I had a new plan: go for a quick hike on Friday after work before dark.

I had heard there was a waterfall in Sly Park at Jenkinson Lake in Pollock Pines. The trouble was, I did not know exactly where it was. One source said it was on Sly Park Creek. In Danielssons’ Northern CA Waterfalls book, he said it was on Camp Creek. That made no sense, Camp Creek was on the other side of the reservoir. He has so many mistakes in his book, it is not even funny; but that is a post for another time. My best guess was it was on Hazel Creek. But I was wrong (surprise, surprise). And as it turned out, Danielsson was actually right for once (surprise, surprise). The waterfall is a man-made waterfall created from a diversion tunnel on Camp Creek, which flows all the way across to Sly Park Creek, dropping off a 33 ft. high cliff into Sly Park Creek. Even though it is man-made, it is a pretty waterfall, dropping into a nice little pool.

The trail begins at Hazel Creek campground and follows the reservoir over to Sly Park Creek. However, I had to walk a little further than expected. The road was closed a mile before Hazel Creek camp, and thus, a 2 mile round-trip hike turned into a 4 mile hike. It was already getting late by the time I started, so I was worried I wouldn’t make it before dark. I decided to continue. I made it rather easily to the waterfall. However, I did have quite a bit of snow to hike through. Again, I had no snowshoes with me. No matter, I didn’t need them. Even though it was getting quite late, I came across a jogger. I had seen no other cars around, so I figured he must have been jogging completely around the reservoir (that is quite a distance). When I reached the waterfall, there was one short descent down to its base. In the summer, no problem. In the winter, it was sheer ice. I decided to go for it, sat down on my bum, and went for a ride. Whee! Climbing back up the ice was a bit more difficult. I managed to do it, without killing myself or breaking anything important (ie. my camera equipment). By the time I got back to my car, I was hiking in the dark. All in all, it was a fun hike on a Friday evening, after work. And I wasn’t finished yet …

What better waterfall photo to post on Valentine’s Day than Love’s Falls? I was up here in Sierra City a few weeks ago, and hiked a half mile through the snow to reach the falls. I had snowshoes with me, but in my great wisdom, I decided to leave them in the car and hike on foot. The snow was hard enough, but snowshoes probably would have made things a bit easier. I sank through a few times on the hike. It is a bit difficult to see with all the snow on it, but if you look closely, you can see that the big rock to the left is heart shaped. Pretty neat. I wouldn’t have known that had a friend not pointed it out to me. I was snow-blind, I guess. I used to think this waterfall was named after someone whose name was “Love”. I really have no idea where I got that. A drug-induced hallucination perhaps. No, actually I thought I had read it somewhere, but I have no clue where. What the culprit could have been is that darn apostrophe in the name: “Love’s”. That is what probably made me initially think it was named after someone. Why would there be an apostrophe otherwise? Indeed, I have seen this waterfall spelled before without an apostrophe. Anyway, I now believe the name actually comes from the heart shaped rock. Makes more sense, no?

I had this great plan after shooting sunrise at Fallen Leaf Lake. Hike/snowshoe to Glen Alpine Falls, which is just at the other far end of the lake. I wanted to do some snowshoeing this weekend, and I thought this would be a good location for that. I figured Glen Alpine Falls would be a nice waterfall to see in the winter. Not exactly. It was completely covered in snow! I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I knew there would be lots of snow, but it did not dawn on me it would be all covered up. You’re probably thinking I was being very naive about that, considering that we have had an average to above average snow fall so far this year. And you may be right too. Nonetheless, I was definitely bummed.

It’s quite a bit more difficult to get to Glen Alpine Falls in the winter. Fallen Leaf Lake Road is gated about 2 miles from the highway and you have to walk in. But it is still plowed, and people live here during the winter. I don’t get why they gate the road in the winter. Anyway, that means I had to walk about 3 miles along the road to the end of the lake. It is not hard hiking, but it is not what I was expecting. I knew the road would be closed, but I didn’t know it was plowed. So I was expecting I would need my snowshoes. I did get to use my snowshoes a bit, because I hiked another mile above the lower falls to get to Upper Glen Alpine Falls. It also, was completely snowed over. C’est la vie.

After hiking 8 miles, there and back, I was pretty darn beat. My back was hurting me from the heavy pack I was carrying. All that camera equipment is not light, you know. Plus I was carrying my snowshoes for most of that 8 miles. Whew! I didn’t see anyone else walking on the road except for one jogger and her dogs, which tried to bite my legs off. Well, not really. They were friendly dogs. But they scared the crap out of me, when they came running up to me barking loudly. After I got back to the car though, all of a sudden there were tons of people out and about, it seemed. Hikers, snowshoers, kids playing in the snow. Everyone seemed to be out enjoying the especially sunny day. It was a traffic jam (literally) on Fallen Leaf Lake Road.