Leon Turnbull Photography

Our beloved dog, Kaya, of almost 17 years passed on this week. She was one month shy of turning 17. Kaya means “stay and never leave” in Inuit, and she really lived up to her name right to the very end. I have a lot of nice photos of her, but this was the ONLY one I could find with a waterfall, and it is just a crappy iPhone shot. So odd, I was sure I had more than that! You would think I would have more than that! This one was in Oregon, I believe. Anyway, I just wanted to share some short and funny memories of her with you. I’m sure you do not care about my memories of Kaya, but all of them are related to hiking, so they are not totally irrelevant to this waterfalls blog. Ha ha.

The scariest moment in her life (that I remember) was when she almost fell over the lower tier of Whiskeytown Falls. I was not paying attention to her while I was photographing the waterfall, and when I looked over at her, I saw her slip into the creek above the falls. She managed to clamber back up on the rocks just in time. Whew! I always wondered what would have happened if she had gone over. She would not have died, perhaps, but she probably would have been injured and I would have had to carry her all the way back to the car. 

She was a medium sized dog, not heavy, but heavy enough. She hated walking over any kind of bridge, especially if you could see the water flowing beneath it. When we went to Tamanawas Falls in Oregon, there is a bridge near the beginning of the trail. Somehow, she walked over it on the way to the falls, but on the way back she completely refused. The creek was flowing far too fast for her to wade across and she would not walk over that bridge. Period. What was I going to do? There was only one thing to do and that was carry her across. It was a very narrow and icy bridge. She was a good girl though and held completely still while I carried her, otherwise I could have easily slipped and we both would have been in the creek. Do you know the extremely narrow and freaky bridge over Canyon Creek at Gold Run? She crossed on that one no problem (both ways). To this day, I wonder how she ever walked across that bridge. It was early on. Maybe that’s the one that did her in for the rest of her life.

She was excellent at walking over rocks and boulders and such things that are not easy, especially for dogs. I am the waterfall madman, and I frequently go off trail. Kaya always followed me wherever I would go, and without any difficulty. If we came to big huge rocks that she literally could not climb up, she would run around like a mad woman looking for a way around that she could manage. There were times I might have to carry her over the rocks. She did not like that. She hated that. Better to go around if possible. A few years ago when she could still hike with me but when she was still rather old, I took her on a hike to Big Springs near McCloud. It was a much tougher hike than I expected and probably more than she could really handle at that age (don’t tell my wife), but she followed me without complaint the entire way, down the mountain, through the brush, and over the rocks. She did sleep well for the rest of the day. Once we went hiking with a friend and his dog to Deadhorse Falls near Red Bluff in winter. It was down a very steep hill into the bottom of the canyon through the snow. Kaya and I went down the hill very quickly, like gangbusters, while my friend and his dog had to go down extremely slow and careful. They were not used to the madman’s off trail antics. But Kaya did well to wait patiently for her new friend to catch up. That’s my girl, Kaya.

She hated swimming, but she liked going in the water. Only up to her belly though! She would not go in any water that was over her belly. That was sometimes a problem when he had to cross creeks to get to waterfalls. She was great at waiting for me patiently on the wrong side of the creeks. Usually she would lie down and take a snooze while she waited. As long as she could see me!

Kaya was also incredibly smart (and silly). Once at Upper Sheep Creek Falls in Washington, I could not for the life of me find the proper path down to the falls. It was Kaya who found the “proper” trail down, I would have missed it completely if not for her (honestly). She whipped down that trail like nobody’s business, then she came to one spot which was particularly tricky (or so she determined), and she would not continue. I could not entice her down this one spot no matter what. So instead, I went back up to her, and found a different way down (which I thought was much worse), but she had no problems going down this different, steeper, route. Silly dog.

What about wildlife encounters? She was essentially oblivious to all of them. My sister’s dog Pocah loves to chase squirrels as I found out recently in Oregon (apparently they do not have big grey squirrels where they live in British Columbia). Kaya, however, was not one for the big chase. Maybe she chased one or two squirrels in her life, but not many. Once while hiking in Auburn, we came across a couple bears on the path. They were incredibly curious about us for sure, and even got up on their hind legs to get a good look at us, but Kaya was far too occupied sniffing every little thing we passed along the trail (as she always did). Same thing when we came across the killer cows on Table Mountain in Oroville. They were certainly very wary of Kaya, but Kaya could care less about chasing them. (Pocah would have had a field day on Table Mountain). Always remember to stop and smell the roses. Kaya certainly did that. RIP.

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This was my favorite of the falls on this awesome little creek. A beautiful 42 ft slide. It was definitely tricky getting down to it and I needed to use my rope to be safe but it’s an amazing little spot. While I was down there my bear spray accidentally discharged again. Ugh. That stuff is awful. Fortunately it only got on my jacket. It’s the second time that has happened. I gotta be more careful with that. 

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Waterfalls, waterfalls, so many waterfalls. I found so many waterfalls on this creek, I could not count them all. They were like sand on the seashore. Well ok, not quite. I am not a very good counter. There are, in fact, seven significant waterfalls on this creek (I can count to seven, I think). Do you want to know where they are? Access to all of them is mostly not very difficult. You can see my website for details, it will be updated very soon, and in fact the first page is ready: here  

 

I just want to remind everyone out there that although I love sharing my photos and stories on Facebook, Instagram, and on this blog, the reason I do so is to direct you to my website waterfallswest.com, where you will find tons of information: detailed directions, descriptions, maps, photos, downloadable trail routes to put in your GPS, and much more. “I do all the work so you do not have to”. That should be my new motto. Perhaps someone else has already used that one. If you already are a subscriber to my website, thank you so much, but if not: my website subscription is only $20 per year; that is not very much money if you think about it, it is an awesome deal. It is less than buying a magazine subscription or a book, and I have loads more information on my website than any waterfall book out there. Why would you not want to pay a small fee to obtain this easy information? You could perhaps, if you are diligent, find some of my waterfalls on your own if you know where to look, but you won’t be able to find a very good percentage of them. Remember: “I do all the work so you do not have to”, and I continually add new waterfalls to my site, usually weekly or every other week at least. Like this one here, for example. You won’t find this one in any book or other site. 

 

It is a very long drive out to this location, and I had initially thought there would only be one or two waterfalls on this creek, so my plan was to do a quick hike up this creek, then go to a couple different creeks before heading back home. However, when I arrived and started the hike, I realized there was much more to this creek than I first thought. I quickly made the golden decision: explore this creek as fully as possible, and forget about the other creeks this time around. Even so, I was not able to finish exploring the creek, there is just so much here. I guess I’m just going to have to come back someday. How awful is that going to be! Not!!

 

The creek had good amount of flow in it. Unfortunately, that is a very bad thing because it means the snow is melting. Snow should not be melting in February! Isn’t that a law? Apparently God has not gotten that memo. Although we had a very good December and January this year, February has gotten off to a horrendous start. The snowpack is dropping like a dead bird. We are in the second week now and nothing in the forecast until at least the end of next week. Hopefully, after that, we will see a big positive change. Maybe. Please?

 

When I came up to the first waterfalls on the creek, I was thinking oh gee, I’m so giddy I don’t know what to do with myself. These waterfalls should not be here. I knew, however, that there were (or should be) bigger ones still ahead, so I decided I would keep going and come back to these lower ones later. I was afraid the upper waterfalls might get into the sun earlier than the lower ones, however it turned out to be the other way around. Doh! Another reason to come back again, someday.

 

None of the waterfalls are huge ones, but they are all nice and all > 20 ft high. The biggest one on the creek is this one shown here and it is 50 ft. high, a magnificent 33 ft. plunge, followed by a 17 ft. slide. It is certainly the most impressive of all the falls, though not the prettiest. 

 

I continued climbing up the canyon above this waterfall, thinking I would not find any more falls. Wrong again. The hits just keep on coming. Well not too many more, but one drop dead gorgeous 27 footer and a few smaller ones as well. Finally the creek leveled out. Time to go back down and get those lower falls. The sun was coming out by then, but I took as many photos as I could. The camera got a tough workout today. When I came upon one 20 footer, however, I was a bit shocked and freaked. Someone was living here! Or so it seemed anyway. There was a tent at the base of the falls, and strewn over the area was a multitude of camping items, cookware, toothbrushes(!), a stove, a saw, a swing over the creek, and (maddingly) some kind of zip line across the waterfall. I was not entirely sure there was no one sleeping in the tent, but it soon became apparent the campsite was abandoned. Is this where Bigfoot lives, I wondered? The mystery is finally solved! I suppose whoever it is, Bigfoot or otherwise, he just lives here in the summer, and leaves everything here over the winter. I have to say that is entirely inappropriate. This is public land. You can’t just leave your camping gear at some site, permanently! The zip line thing was the most annoying, however, because it ruined my photo of the waterfall. I would have cut it down, but to do that I would have had to cross the creek and somehow scramble to the top of the waterfall, which would have been entirely too treacherous, and besides I had more waterfalls to see. I have to wonder, though, what Bigfoot is thinking here about all his stuff. If this creek floods over the winter or in the spring (not an unlikely scenario), all his stuff is going to be washed away including his tent. Most of it is right at creek level and definitely not above the flood line. Good luck, Bigfoot.

 

After that adventurous mini stop, I continued downstream and found a tributary waterfall on an unnamed creek, but flowing quite impressively. As I sat beside the creek photographing this waterfall, I saw a river otter swimming down the main creek. He did not see me, but just kept on going by. I was not prepared to take a photo as he went by too quickly, but I wonder if he knew there were big waterfalls downstream. Actually, I am sure he does, and probably has a blast on this awesome little creek every day. Forget kayaking. This river otter has it all! Maybe he lives with Bigfoot up at that campsite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here’s another new one I found last weekend, one of two more new waterfalls. I have been busy this year. It is just a small roadside falls. Nothing spectacular. It is 24 ft. high. I think my photo makes it seem prettier than it really is in person. I am not trying to brag or anything – although I am the world’s most awesome waterfall photographer. Kidding!

 

I did not have much time because I had to get to church, but I have been wanting to check out this one particular area after it has rained a lot. Yet even with the rain, and with nearby Rock Creek thundering, I found some creeks that were completely dry, and ones like this had sub-par flow. It was a bit mystifying. See my website if you would like to learn more about these new waterfalls:

http://www.waterfallswest.com/index.php#recent

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After the debacle at Yosemite I felt I had to get in one more good hike before going back to work. Wrights Lake in the Desolation Wilderness was the ticket. 

Getting to Wrights Lake early in spring is impossible. In a normal year it is not accessible until at least mid June. It is usually among the very last of the roads to open. Yet I’ve always wanted to get up there in spring. By mid June the creeks are not flowing much (and we won’t even mention the mosquitoes). This year, this awful drought year, Wrights Lake is already open. It actually has been open for more than a month now. I finally got the determination to make the trip. I hoped with the recent two feet of snow which is now melting profusely, the waterfalls would have some good flow happening. 

I hoped to see three new waterfalls all in good light. Eleven miles of hiking. In order to do that I had to get up at 3:30AM. Ugh. I almost didn’t make it but I forced myself. 

There was snow on the ground when I arrived so I decided to carry my very heavy snow shoes. I didn’t need them to start at 7000 ft but I would be climbing up to 7900 ft. I did not use them until I hit 7900 ft, at which point I found a lot of snow all of a sudden. I certainly needed them, I would have been skumped if I did not take them. 

The first falls was at Umpa Lake. Just a small one, it was nice but the flow was low. I was expecting a lot more snow melt and it was a bit disappointing. After that I scooted over to Gertrude Lake. I calculated I had until 8AM before it would be in sun. However it took much longer than anticipated to get over there, and I arrived at 8:30AM. Too late, right? Well maybe not. The lower section was in the sun but the upper section was not. I crossed the creek and quickly climbed up to the upper tier (which was slightly crazy and involved almost breaking my foot stepping into an unseen hole).  But I was able to get a shot. The third falls is on the same creek but further down stream. It was the nicest of the three but it was in full sun when I arrived. Which really bugged me because I had calculated it would be in shade until 11AM. I thought I had lots of time.  Not even close. The same thing happened to me at nearby Crystal Basin Falls a couple years ago. There is something weird in the terrain there. I can’t explain it. 

Well I had my lunch at the lower falls then made the long hike back to the car, getting sun burned in the process. But it was worth it. A glorious day in the Desolation Wilderness. 

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