Leon Turnbull Photography

It is a summer tradition in our family to go once a year to Lake Tahoe for the day. We spend the morning swimming in the lake and the afternoon cruising the shops of South Lake Tahoe. We have not done that in a few years, however, for various reasons. This year we got back to it for perhaps the last time, as the kids are now adults, but who knows the future.

We always go to Fallen Leaf Lake because it is less crowded, there is shade, and it is free. It is not free any longer! It is $12 to park in the day use area now. This really perturbed me. All it means is that more people will park along the road and block the road to regular traffic and then walk in to the lake. This is what I would have done under normal circumstances but Tara was not able to make that walk this year and they would not let me drop her off (which bugged me even more). So I shelled out the $12 for day use parking.

We found a good spot in the shade and Journey promptly got to playing fetch for the entire morning pretty much non-stop. Tara would throw her balls into the water and she would go in to fetch them but NOT if they were thrown too far. She would not go in over her head. We wanted her to learn to swim but she wouldn’t do it (which is exactly like our previous dog, Kaya).

In the afternoon we went into South Lake and walked around the shops a bit but it was hot so we found a local park to relax in the shade until dinner time. After dinner and ice cream, Nekoda and I took Journey on a short hike to Van Sickle Falls.

I have known about this waterfall for awhile but never been to it before. It is hard to justify driving all the way to Lake Tahoe just to see a piddly 19 ft. high waterfall. This weekend, however, the timing finally made sense to go see it. The falls would be in the sun until just before sunset so we had to time it just right and that meant starting the hike at 7PM. It was a pleasant hike up the mountain, a lot of it under the Heavenly ski resort gondola. The bad thing is that you can hear the noise from all the casinos for mostly the entire hike. It is loud and constant and annoying. I don’t want to hear that schtick when I am on a hike. It would be much better to do this hike in the morning and then you probably wouldn’t have all that noise but it is what it is. Journey did not mind it and she had a very enjoyable and fun time.

Van Sickle Falls is 19 ft. high and no more. It is a pretty one though, an easy hike, and certainly worth coming here if you are in the area. We arrived at 8PM and I took photos while Journey ate her dinner. Then we hiked back down the hill in the dark.

One funny thing happened. Nekoda was in the lead with Journey in the middle and me behind. Nekoda almost stepped on a snake. All I saw and heard was her scream, throw her arms up in the air, and stumble backwards. Then “snake, snake!”. It was just a harmless rubber boa snake. It is the first time I have seen a snake when Journey was with me so it would have been a good safety lesson for her, but Nekoda was freaked out, I was laughing hysterically, the snake slithered away quickly, and Journey never even saw it. The rest of the hike in the dark was uneventful. We got back to the car, Journey was happy to see mom, and then we drove home. It was a wonderful family day in Lake Tahoe.

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I arrived at the Leavitt Meadow trailhead to the sound of Thunder.

Big Thunder. Lightning. Hail. Huge Hail. Pebble Sized Hail. I took shelter in my car. It pelted the windows. I almost thought they might shatter. I would not want to be standing outside in this. Or hiking in this. The hail continued for about an hour. Followed by a steady rain for another half hour. So much for being one and a half hours early for my hike. There were another couple guys and a dog parking next to me that did the same thing. Waiting for the rain to stop before they started their backpacking trip. Finally the rain stopped at 6:30PM. I had cell service so I kept checking the radar during this time. It seemed that no more rain was coming for the evening so I got all my gear together quickly and started my hike. It was perfect timing, really. I would not have wanted to start hiking any later than this. In fact, if the rain had continued any later, I probably would’ve slept in the car and did the hike to the waterfall in the morning. But I didn’t want to do that, I wanted to backpack in and camp at the waterfall. It turned out to be a very pleasant evening hike. Cool temperatures with a nice breeze. The sagebrush had a wonderfully refreshing smell. There were a lot of puddles on the trail from the rain. There were no bugs. There were mosquitoes near the end as I hike through the forest after the breeze had stopped and I had to put on bug spray but when I got to my camping location, there were not many bugs there at all. I arrived at sunset, 8:30PM. Unfortunately, there was no easy access to water at the top of the waterfall but thankfully, I had enough water left to last the night. Barely. I would get more in the morning when I went down to the waterfall. I set up camp in the dark. It took longer than normal because I was using my old tent and it had been awhile since I have set it up (remember, my good one died on the last trip). I hopped into bed and went to sleep.

The forecast said it would rain more in the night, and more in the morning. I did not care about that, so long as I could take photos of the waterfall in the morning before the rain started. However, that did not happen. It did not rain at all. I slept fairly well, and woke up to an absolutely gorgeous morning. No mosquitoes at all. It was perfect. Thank you, Lord.

I scrambled down the steep hillside to the river. You have to cross the river to see the waterfall. This is the reason I did not bring Journey on this trip. I thought the river would be a lot higher and I figured she would not be able to cross it. As it turned out, the river was a lot lower than I expected. I think she could’ve crossed it. But she definitely would not have wanted to cross it. It was deep enough and slippery enough that she would’ve had troubles. Maybe it is a good thing I left her at home. 

I spent a lot of time taking photos from different angles. West Walker River Falls is a beautiful 33 foot high waterfall. It is well hidden and off trail. When I was here a few years ago I walked right past the waterfall not knowing it was even there. Shame on me. I suppose I probably would’ve figured it out eventually but many thanks to my friend Mike who told me about it. After taking photos I gathered some water and hiked up the hill to my camp, made some coffee and enjoyed the beautiful morning.

On the hike back, I passed some people with a pack of horses. They told me to go way up the hill off the trail because they had a skitterish horse. Thankfully, there was a place to get way off trail. What if it was a much narrower spot? Anyway, one of them asked if I saw the beaver at the waterfall. There is a beaver at the waterfall? I never saw it, but it would’ve been cool to see one for sure. All I saw this time were some deer. I arrived back at the car at 10:30AM and drove home. It was a magnificent one night trip into the Hoover Wilderness.

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A day off work. Some much needed stress relief. My plan was to go for an overnight trip to Sonora Pass and see a couple new waterfalls. I left home at about noon and arrived in late afternoon.

The first waterfall was an easy one and about a one mile hike along a rough dirt road. There were a lot of trucks driving up the road. It was almost like a freeway. Not for me. I just parked at the highway and walked up the road. Much more pleasant this way. Once at the creek, I scrambled up the creek to the waterfall, crossing back-and-forth a few times. Easy as pie. Apple pie.

Upper Leavitt Falls is a very lovely 71 foot high tiered waterfall. There was a storm coming in and so with clouds overhead, I was able to take photographs of the waterfall early. In fact, I was now about 1 1/2 hours early for my second hike. This was a good thing. It meant I would not be hiking in the dark. Unless I had any delays. Such as …. (Part 2 coming) …

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Forty percent chance of thunderstorms for Lake Tahoe. That means there is going to be a thunderstorm. It is just a question of when and where. Would Journey and I get rained upon? I forgot my umbrella. That could be a problem.

When we arrived at the trailhead, there were clouds around but not threatening and it looked pretty nice. There was a breeze to keep the mosquitoes away and it was cool. Off we went. Journey was happy to be on trail again but she was lagging a bit. I’m not sure why she would be tired. I don’t think mom played fetch with her in the morning.

So, the waterfall … When I first heard about this one along the Tahoe Rim Trail, I thought it was right on Ward Creek. That is what was initially conveyed to me. However, upon further research I learned it was not on Ward Creek, but on a tributary. I also found a second waterfall in the area. I hoped to get to both of these today and hopefully they would still be decent. It is late in July now. The first one (the unknown one) is off-trail but on Google Earth it looked like a well defined trail going most of the way to it. I thought it would be quite easy for Journey. NOT! The trail was overgrown and had a lot of brush. Journey does NOT like brush. It was very hard for her. She followed me like a trooper though and she did very awesome. Eventually it got too brushy and I could see that the creek was just a trickle. It would not be worth going up to the waterfall. Instead of going back the same way through all the brush, we cut across Ward Creek and back up to the trail. Finally on a good path again, Journey was happy. And so was I.

The second waterfall is called McCloud Falls. I’m not sure how it got this name. It is 30 ft. high exactly. It would be much nicer in the spring but it was still flowing decent in late July. A very pretty waterfall along the Tahoe Rim Trail. The wind had died down now and the mosquitoes came out but they were not horrible. We took photos and had our dinner here. Then we hiked down (on trail), arriving back at the car at sunset. On the drive home on I-80 we had some rain and there was a heckuva lot of lightning about every 30 seconds, lighting up the sky all the way down the hill. Crazy stuff. It was a very lovely evening at Lake Tahoe.

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Initially I was planning to hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park on Saturday by myself. I did not think Journey would want to get up at 4:30AM two days in a row, plus there are some hikes in the park I still want to do. However, I felt bad for Journey the previous day. She had a great time no doubt but it was tough and all off-trail. She loves running ahead of me on the trail, exploring every little thing, and she could not do that. She had to follow in my footsteps the whole time. I know I am overreacting. She loved the hike. Nonetheless I felt I owed her a good hike. Besides, I love hiking with her. It brings me great joy when she is having so much fun and so happy. Returning to Canyon Creek Falls in Lassen National Forest should be a good one for her. It is almost entirely all on-trail. Well, not so much. Sigh.

Once again we were up at 4:30AM. Once again Journey looked at me with an evil eye for disturbing her sleep (kidding).

The trail started off well. Journey was very happy. She was able to run ahead and explore. We came to the short off trail section. This started out great also. It was very easy, just as I remembered. We descended down the other side of the hill and that is when everything went to bat sh*t. The Dixie Fire ravaged this area in 2021. The manzanita brush has grown up since then. I could not find the main trail. It should be very well defined and easy to follow. What the heck? Finally I found it, but it is now very overgrown with manzanita. The trail was not easy to follow at all. For me, once on the trail it was not too horrible (yet. it won’t be long before this trail is impassable). For Journey, however, it was very bad. She had to walk through it and it was hard for her and very hard on her feet. Manzanita is not exactly soft to walk on. She was walking very gingerly as she tried to follow in my steps. This trail should be very easy but is only getting worse and worse now after the fire. Yet another trail going the way of the Dodo bird. Et tu, Brute?

We came to the Lower Canyon Creek Falls, 41 ft. high. The creek was not flowing very well. I was surprised by this considering that nearby Digger Creek Falls was quite nice the previous day. These creeks should be quite similar in size. It was a little disappointing.

My plan was to do the Spencer Meadow loop as I have done before but considering how overgrown the trail is I now had my doubts. Should we just go back? I did not want to subject Journey to more difficulty. We continued up the trail for a short distance and it became clear again before we reached the upper falls. Relief! Journey was happy again. The upper falls was looking quite pathetic so I did not even bother to take any photos of it. Above the upper falls the trail once again became very overgrown with manzanita and Journey had a very hard time but it was another short section and then it was clear again. The rest of the way back to the car was all good. There were probably about 1000 grasshoppers on this section. They were flying everywhere as we hiked through them. The hike ended up being about 5.5 miles in total. It was a wonderful morning in Lassen National Forest.

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