So it begins. This week we are finally receiving our first big snow storm of the season. Over six feet of snow on the mountains in just a single storm. Wham! This will help our snow pack tremendously though we will still be well below average after this week. Let’s bring it on for the rest of this season. Please!
Speaking of beginnings, we bought a white Jeep Grand Cherokee this week. We named her Yeti. I’m not really sure the name will stick like the Gator but anyway it’s a nice car. I like it. Where should I take her on her first adventure? Foresthill of course! It is my favorite place, it would be a great choice for Yeti’s first time in the mountains. That is not the main reason I went back to Foresthill, however.
I wanted to return to this waterfall because of a couple reasons: I thought it would be flowing really well and I wanted to explore further downstream. Also, after this week the area will be inaccessible until spring. It snowed four inches earlier this last week. The snow levels were very low elevation. The road was very icy and snowy. Yeti’s first time in the snow. She handled it well. I drove up to Tadpole and parked there. Interestingly, the only other car up there that early was a dark green Ford Expedition. Wait, is that the Gator??? No it was not. That car continued up the road to the top of Canada Hill. My plan was to go to West New York Canyon.
I was walking through 4 inches of snow for the entire hike down to the waterfall viewpoint. There was snow all the way, 1500 ft. below where I started the hike. A couple stupid things: I should have worn my big hiking boots instead of my hiking shoes. My feet were frozen for the whole hike. Secondly, I should have brought my spikes. I did not really need them (fortunately) but it would have been good to have them in case. I was not expecting any snow at all down at the waterfall.
The very last part down to the viewpoint is steep and I had to be careful but it wasn’t too bad. I was not able to explore further. It was far too dangerous to continue because of the snow. Perhaps if there was no snow I could have gotten down. I don’t know but I’m sure I will be back to try sometime in the future. There is definitely another waterfall down there.
The flow in the creek was low and not as nice as I hoped. I think that is because all the precipitation from the last storm fell as snow not rain and the snow is not melting. Still, it was very pretty. The snow around the waterfall was gorgeous. It was a great day in Tahoe National Forest and Yeti agrees.
Posted in Northern Sierra, Waterfalls by leapin26: December 11, 2021
I am calling this one Far Upper Wabena Creek Falls. It is a pretty little thing, 32 ft. high. A little cutie pie. It was surprisingly easy (or not difficult) to get down to this one (and the big waterfall as well). I was expecting a lot of cliffs. There were not any cliffs at all. (if you go the right way – which I did). I was also happy to see the creek still flowing decent. My backup plan was to go down to the river at Palisade Falls, which I really did not want to do. That would have been a hard hike.
Posted in Northern Sierra, Waterfalls by leapin26: December 8, 2021
When I discovered this waterfall on Wabena Creek in summer 2020 it went right to the top of my list for visiting this year. I knew it would be an incredible waterfall. If I could get to it…
The plan was to try to go there in the spring of this year but it just never worked out. I never had a chance to go. I guess it is going to have to be spring of 2022, I thought. However … it is December. We still do not have any snow. It did rain a lot in October. Would Wabena Creek be flowing now? It seemed a bit unlikely but perhaps worth a try anyway. I had a backup plan if I got all the way out there and found the creek was dry.
It was to be the last adventure for Gator. That is the name of our dark green SUV. It is a name that fits the beast perfectly and stuck for 17 years. It is time for her retirement now. I am glad I picked Foresthill for her final outing with me. It is without a doubt our favorite place to go. It is shocking that I can drive up there in December. I have never been able to do that before. As I drove the last 10 miles on the rough dirt road from Robinsons Flat I suppose I even got a little bit emotional. I’m strange. It was a good last drive for her. There was no snow, but there was mud, creek crossings, and steep sections to drive up. I did not put it in 4 wheel drive because she has been having trouble with that in her old age. It was not needed anyway. The only thing missing was a bear sighting. Ah well.
The first order of business was to go to the Far Upper falls. (next post). It is a quick jaunt from the road down to the creek. I could see that the creek was flowing decently. Perfect. This is going to be a great day. It was not difficult to get down to this waterfall, a pretty little 32 ft. drop.
Now I had to climb back up and traverse the ridge down to the big waterfall. Surprisingly there was a path. I think it must be a bear path. I don’t know of any humans that have ever been down here before. How would anyone even know about this waterfall? It has never been documented by anyone (before now). Not even the late Russell Towle made it here as far as I know (and he went everywhere). I am the last adventurer. The path seemed to abruptly end at a wall of thick brush or perhaps it went through it. Must be bear. Now I had to drop straight down to the creek. Would it be too cliffy? As I descended I came to a terrific viewpoint of the big waterfall and I took some photos from there. I was not sure if I’d be able to continue, getting down to the creek and then up to the falls. I definitely had to try. Getting all the way down to the creek was easy enough. No cliffs. No problem. I worked my way upstream to the falls and got blocked out by a mini waterfall but I was not to be outdone. I crossed the creek and climbed up above the cascade on the other side. That was the only obstacle. I made it!
Upper Wabena Creek Falls is absolutely magnificent. 143 ft. high. It is a monster. Being able to stand right at the bottom of this incredible waterfall is so utterly amazing. It was a very awesome day in Tahoe National Forest for the waterfall madman and Gator.
Posted in Northern Sierra, Waterfalls by leapin26: December 5, 2021
This is Lower West Fork Deep Creek Falls, 55 ft. high.
On my way down from the upper falls I came to the brink of a cliff. A big one. I was at the top of a waterfall which should not be here. The topo map does not indicate that there should be any steep drop here. Indeed according to the map the terrain should be pretty mellow. It was a huge surprise to find this waterfall here. I like surprises but how on earth am I going to get down? I crossed the creek at the top of the falls and traversed along the ridge away from the falls. There was actually a path. Was it human or bear? It led away from the cliff to a spot where I could get down easily enough but then it continued away from the waterfall. I had to get back to the waterfall to photograph it so I left the path and headed straight down to the bottom of the falls. This one reminded me a lot of Russian Gulch Falls on the California coast, complete with the log across the middle of it. It is another beauty.
Posted in Northern CA, Waterfalls by leapin26: December 1, 2021
BLACK FRIDAY. It is my favorite day of the entire year to go hiking. While everyone else is out pushing and shoving and trampling others to get their favorite expensive TV, you can find me out on the trail. Or in this case, off the trails. These days it is more popular for people to go hiking on Black Friday but I was doing it long before it was cool. Nonetheless, even on the best of days you won’t find anyone else on this particular trail. That is because there is no trail. In other words it was extremely difficult. But oh yah it was awesome.
I left the house at 5:30AM. There were a lot of cars out on the road already. That is normally not a surprise on Black Friday but in these COVID days perhaps it is a bit of surprise. None of them were going in my direction since I was heading out of the city and into the mountains.
The road to the trailhead is a bit interesting. I could not find it at first and in fact I thought there was no road at all anymore so I parked the car and started hiking. I finally found the actual road after a short walk so I went back to the car and tried to drive it. I got less than a mile and came to a huge mud pit. I did not want to drive through this and get stuck, so again parked the car and started walking. All that running around put me 45 minutes late starting my hike and added 9 miles round trip since I was now going to have to walk the road. I was prepared physically for the extra miles but not mentally. I was ready for a short difficult hike, not a long difficult hike. About half way along the road walk there was a huge landslide that had wiped out the road. Obviously I would not have been able to drive past this anyway. I suspect it has been there for years and they will never repair it. That also means the campground at the end of the road has been completely abandoned and not used anymore. It sure looked like it had been abandoned.
My biggest concern was that the creek would be completely dry. We had lots of rain in October but since then pretty much nada. I thought I would come to a dry creek after 4.5 miles of hiking and have to turn right around. Much to my surprise the creek had a very strong flow. The waterfalls would definitely be flowing nice. Now the next question is: can I even get to them?
There is no trail going up the creek. I came across occasional bear paths, or so it seemed, but essentially I had to scramble up beside the creek, crossing it numerous times to find the best path. It started out quite fun. Before long, the fun deteriorated into type 2 fun. Then type 3 fun. Then not fun at all. The route became more and more brushy. More and more difficult. More and more cliffy. More and more crazy.
I was almost at the first waterfall when I came to a complete dead end. There was no way to continue up the creek. Both sides of the creek were walled in by cliffs. There was no way around it. Somehow a friend of mine made it but I could not see how to do it. There was a big log to scramble over along the top of a cliff. It just seemed way too dangerous to me. I gave it a strong effort but I finally decided to turn back. By this time it was quite late and I was beat down tired. I had not really been planning to go to the second waterfall because of this, however, my route back took me interestingly close to the other waterfall. It was after 12PM but there was a good chance it was still in shade and perhaps it would not be so cliffy as the first one. It was certainly very brushy getting up to it but it was not cliffy. I made it. And it was absolutely gorgeous!
I reached the bottom of the falls, an incredible 163 ft. high cascade. The top part of the waterfall reminds me of Proxy Falls in Oregon. This is not Oregon folks. I was stunned. It was so beautiful. I don’t know of anyone that has been to this waterfall before. Hidden away deep in Shasta Trinity National Forest. No trail. Very difficult access. Type 4 not fun. And absolutely worth the effort to find it.
On the way back down I took a route straight down the creek back to the confluence thinking it should be easy enough (though perhaps not “fun”). Before long I had a big problem. I was cliffed out. There was another waterfall here and it was a big one. There should not be a waterfall here. How am I going to get around this? I certainly did not want to retreat up the mountain again and back down the route I took before. That would take forever. Fortunately I found a way around the cliff that was not too difficult and came to the bottom of this surprising waterfall. It was another beauty, this one 55 ft. high. (stay tuned for my next post)
It was almost dark by the time I got back to my car. I was essentially hiking from sunrise to sunset. I was beat tired. I was cramping. I was happy. It was another awesome Black Friday.
Posted in Northern CA, Waterfalls by leapin26: November 27, 2021
