Leon Turnbull Photography

If you ask me what my favorite waterfall is I will likely say New York Canyon Falls. It is not necessarily clear cut but I love this one because it is so remote and so hard to get to. It is also magnificent. This would be my seventh time.

I have seen it at peak flow before but not from the closeup viewpoint at Chert Knoll. The last time I was there the flow in the North Fork American at the dam was about 2400 cfs. I said the next time I come will be when the flow is at least 4000 cfs. Six years passed. Enter 2023. Epic winter. Snow pack at 200% of average. I was watching the flow all week. It was hovering around 4000 cfs. On Saturday it was 5100 cfs! We have lift-off!

I figured I should be able to drive to Tadpole and hike from there, as I usually do. The road was closed at Ford Point. There was no snow anywhere. Why the heck is the road closed!?!?! Indeed they had plowed the road all the way to Sailor Flat. I could have easily driven all the way to my trailhead. Instead I had to walk 4.5 miles along the road. Of course the road closure did not stop people from driving up there. I saw many cars go by me. The rules do not apply to these people, you understand. On the way back I saw a ranger drive up the road. I was going to stop him and ask why the road is closed but I never saw him come back down. I did see one car drive back in shame shortly after. Whether he had a ticket or not I do not know.

At Sailor Flat there was a ton of snow. Probably about 5 feet. I was expecting this of course and I had my snowshoes with me. Snowshoes were an absolute necessity. It is actually the first time I’ve used my snowshoes this year, in this epic year. It won’t likely be the last. There is still a lot of snow out there. The snow disappeared by the time I got onto Macklin Ridge, which I named after my friend Rob who discovered this great route down to New York Canyon Falls. I dumped the snowshoes and continued down the ridge.

It is a 1000 ft. descent to the creek crossing and my camp. This is when things got really interesting. In order to see New York Canyon Falls you must cross the creek above the waterfall. Above the 500 ft. high waterfall. When the flow was at 2400 cfs it was very easy to cross the creek but now the flow was more than double. Would it still be safe to cross? Above the 500 ft. waterfall. The creek was flowing very strong. It did not look too promising. HOWEVER … there were logs across the creek. I went to check them out and tested the crossing. Easy peasy. No problem. I went back and set up camp and relaxed for the afternoon, knowing I would easily be able to get across the creek in the evening and get down to the waterfall. Huh. But nothing is ever easy for the Madman, is it.

After dinner I started my journey down to the waterfall. I crossed on the logs. Easy. After crossing, as is my custom, I set up my camera for the video and went back to do it a second time. That is when I see a huge rattlesnake. On the logs! I literally must have stepped right over it and not seen it. Now it was woken up and it was starting to slither towards me. I retreated quickly. I continued my hike into the brush and only two seconds later I hear a loud rattling sound. There was a second one! I did not see where it was. Where the heck is it? I backed up very quickly and then I saw it. Now I was in between the two snakes and the first one was probably still coming towards me. I went wide around the second one, looking very carefully for any more. I am certain these two snakes lived right here and there were probably babies around as well. Holy crap! Now I am wondering how the heck I am going to get back across the creek!

Well I tabled that thought and continued down to the waterfall viewpoint on Chert Knoll. New York Canyon Falls was absolutely magnificent! This was certainly the best I have ever seen this waterfall. It is 540 ft. high (new more accurate measurement). Going off crazy at peak flow with the NFAR at 5100 cfs. It was a stunning sight. I had to wait a couple hours for the sun to go down so I laid down to rest my back. Initially I was going to see another falls in this area but my back was hurting too much so I just went down to see NYC only.

After taking my photos I made the climb back up the mountain. I had decided there is no way in hell I was going back into the snake zone. That left me with one option: Wading across the raging creek. Death by snake? or Death by waterfall? What would you choose? I chose waterfall (of course). The creek crossing was definitely on the sketchy side. There was a strong pull but really it was not too bad. I made it across without any trouble. I returned to camp and went to bed.

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I had big plans this weekend to see an epic waterfall. It would have been so amazing. Then on Friday I checked the water flow and found out they turned off the tap! The flow had been high for at least two months and then on the day I plan to go they turned it off! I was so depressed. Now I really did not want to do anything at all but I decided I would go on a short hike near home: South Fork Silver Creek Falls. Nothing new. Nothing exciting. But better than doing nothing at all.

I got up early on Saturday and drove up to Ice House Reservoir. I was not able to drive as far as I thought due to a big snow patch. I decided to park and walk the rest of the way. I parked in a bad spot. There were bugs. Gnats. A lot of them. Like Tehipite Valley bad. And they were biting me. There were no bugs at all on the rest of the hike except where I parked. What the heck? Anyway, I probably should have driven past this snow patch but I really did not want to take a chance on getting stuck. I needed the exercise anyway. The problem was that I did not have enough time now to get to the waterfall before the sun was on it.

I had an hour. I was 3.8 miles away. I ran. (for much of the hike). I got to the end of the lake and now had just 0.5 miles left to go but I was out of time. I was going to be 10 minutes late. However, I was completely exhausted from running. I could not even walk. I had to rest. I took a forced five minute rest. Now I would be 15 minutes late. I arrived at the waterfall. It was still in the shade. Thank the Lord for the 15 minute reprieve. (or for me making an error in the calculation). I was happy. I had time to take some photographs.

HOWEVER, it was far too misty at the overlook to take photographs of the waterfall. There was a lot of flow in the creek, probably more than I have ever seen it before. I climbed up higher on the cliffs and found a secondary viewpoint. Not as good but still good, and there was not much mist up there so I could take photos. I had a much more relaxing (and slower) hike back to the car. It was a grand morning in Eldorado National Forest.

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The hike to Lower Jawbone Falls was a short one. I did not want to just go home afterwards. I had just driven 3 hours to get here for Pete’s sake. I needed to go on a second hike.

My first choice was to go to Middle Fork Tuolumne Falls and the others in that immediate vicinity. Those waterfalls would be raging and they were very close by and they probably would still be in good light. When I came to the road going down to them I found big huge signs saying “absolutely no access by absolutely anyone or anything at all – not even you, Madman”. (or something very similar to that) What the heck?? How long has this area been closed? Is it recent? If it is because of recent storm damage then I have no hope at all of ever returning to them. They are never going to fix the road. I wish I could have gone down there to see what was the big deal. Why are these fantastic waterfalls now closed?

My second choice was to go to Carlon Falls just inside Yosemite National Park. At least I knew that trail would be open. Unfortunately, I surmised I would not be able to get to it in time for photographing because it was getting so late in the morning now. Nonetheless, it would still be a good hike and worth doing. I had no other ideas.

It is an easy 1.5 mile hike to the waterfall. I only saw one other person on the entire hike (I expected to see a lot more). When I arrived I found the waterfall partially in the sun but I thought it was still worth taking a photo. That was a nice bonus for the day. Carlon Falls is 30 feet high and it was spectacular. I returned to the car and drove home. It was a good day in Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park.

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So I wanted to go to Yosemite this weekend but Hwy 120 is closed (into the valley). If I go the long way it would add a full hour to the drive from my house. I wasn’t too keen on that. Maybe if it wasn’t going to rain all day then I would have done it. I decided to go towards Cherry Lake instead. That did not work out too well either.

Cherry Lake Road was closed. I checked the National Forest website just a few days earlier and it said the road was open. Apparently I checked the wrong web page, so I guess that is my own fault. However, the page I checked clearly indicated the road was open. The site is really confusing and stupid in my opinion. So I drove 3 hours out to Cherry Lake road and then found out the road is closed and I could not do my hike. Damn. It was going to be an epic hike as well.

So what would I do now? I decided to try and hike down the ridge on the opposite side of the river and get a view of the falls from that side. I did not get too far. Unfortunately. It was incredibly brushy. Much too brushy. Jaws of death brushy. Oh and did I mention there was a lot of poison oak? I had so wanted to be all done with poison oak for this year. No such luck, Madman.

Well I did find a view of the waterfall even though it was not a great one. I took a photo. Lower Jawbone Falls is about 400 ft. high. It is quite an incredible cascade. My planned hike would have taken me right up close to it. It definitely would have been epic. Oh well, I will return. When the road is open.

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I tried this hike last year but got cliffed out. I thought I was fully prepared to tackle it again this year. I had a better route. I had all the gear I needed. So I thought. But I was not prepared enough.

I was planning to start at Union Valley again, thinking the north road would still be snowed in, however I checked the satellite on Friday and that road looked clear. I was surprised because this road always has lingering snow and with the big snow pack this year, surely it would still be snowed in. This was good news. The hike would be a lot shorter and easier from the north side.

However, I did not anticipate all the brush. It was horrendous. Since the King Fire it has grown up tremendously. My planned route was impossible. My backup plan would take me to a high vantage point overlooking the waterfall. This was very brushy as well and it was a difficult battle to get through it. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. I was within two steps of it and did not see it. You do not expect to see a snake in the brush (and indeed, it is almost impossible to see something like that in the brush). Thankfully, it saw me first and started rattling up a storm and moved away from me. Whew. As I continued down the ridge and into a rocky area I came across another rattlesnake, which again, I did not see. And again, the snake saw me first and started rattling.

I came to the spot where I anticipated having a good clear view of the waterfall. I could not see the waterfall. I had to keep heading downwards in search of a view. I had to go a long way down, much more than I wanted to. And more than I should have. I was out of water. This was my big mistake. I had now descended 1000 ft. and my water bottle was less than half full. I finally did find a viewpoint, however. I could have gotten closer but it would have been too risky. I had dropped my backpack higher up the mountain and my water was too low. I did not know if I could have gotten all the way down to the creek (to get water). If I had water and my backpack, I would have gone further down, hoping to find a campsite at creek level. Next time I will be more prepared. As it was, I had already gone too far. You may think what I did was stupid and your opinion would be a valid one but at no point was my life in danger. I was just not expecting to have to descend so far down the mountain to get a view of the falls.

But I found my viewpoint. Now I had to wait 3 full hours for the sun. I found a semi-comfortable spot in the shade on the side of the mountain and waited. And waited. And waited. I could not nap. I could not eat (I did not want to get thirsty). I could not drink (I had to conserve my water for the hike out). Finally, I had waited long enough and I took some photos of the waterfall.

Silver Creek Falls is 48 ft. high. The creek is dam controlled and they were currently letting out a lot of water from Union Valley. It was flowing over 600 cfs. It was a monster waterfall.

It was time to hike back up the mountain. I was not looking forward to it. I rationed my water. I bonked. When I finally got back up to the road I was completely out of water, but it was a short hike from there to my camp and it was downhill. Even this part was hard because I was so tired. I stopped at a snow patch and got some water from the snow to quench my lips. When I got to camp I was completely spent. It took 30 full minutes before I could even move. I drank water (now plentifully available from the creek), and I puked it up along with some of my lunch. It took a while but I slowly recovered, drank some more, and ate some dinner.

I slept like a baby. It was probably the best sleep I have ever had in my tent, I am guessing because I was so darn tired. I reluctantly rolled out of bed at 6AM. I decided to go on another hike and try to get down to Davis Creek Falls. I could see it the previous day but it was too far away. I really wanted to make it down to this falls but it was just too incredibly brushy. I could not even get anywhere close to it. I retreated. On the bright side, I saw my first bear of the year. It did not even run away or seem bothered when it saw me, so I was able to get it on camera. It must have been used to seeing people but this is a very infrequently visited area. From my camp it was an easy hike back to the car and I was finished by 11AM. It was a very difficult but fantastic trip in Eldorado National Forest.

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