Leon Turnbull Photography

This one should have been flowing better. Much better. I really wanted to get to a good waterfall this weekend. The last three weeks have been below satisfactory for me. Now make that four. Strike four.

My goal was to get to the Shealor Lakes waterfalls. I was certain they would still have decent flow. There was still snow on the mountains so that gave me some hope. However, as I climbed up the trail to the top of the ridge and looked down on the upper Shealor Lake, I could see that the inlet waterfall was not flowing. At all. Dang! It is June 1 and the waterfall should be flowing very well. There should be lots of snow still to melt. It should be amazing. Huh. I feel gipped this year. Last year, I did not feel this way. It was just as bad of a winter, but the year before that was beyond amazing so I didn’t mind so much. This is now the second straight bad year we have had. Waterfall season is done, and we barely had anything at all. I feel gipped. Sigh. Well, it is time to go to Oregon I guess.

Anyway, back to Shealor Lakes. What should I do? I pondered the dilemma for about 5 minutes (meanwhile, the sun continued to rise). If I turned back now before going down to the lake, I could get over to Granite Lake Falls in good light. I didn’t really want to go to that one, but it would be something at least. I could hear, however, that the outlet stream from the upper Shealor Lake was flowing. From the top of the ridge the creek sounded decent. I could perhaps get to the lower Shealor Lakes Falls. It might be flowing. I got down to the lake and to the outlet stream. Well, not really very decent after all. Kinda lame actually. I did see, however, that there was another waterfall at the outlet to the lake (pictured here). I did not know about this waterfall. It is 28 ft. high, and would certainly be a very pretty falls if the creek had good flow.

I continued on down to the lower Shealor Lake. The trail on this lower section is not very easy to follow, it is quite indistinct in many places, and there is a bit of brush to whack through as well. The waterfall down there is not on the same stream. I thought, however, that the drainage size would be the same and there would be a similar amount of water in the other creek. Not so. The waterfall was dry. Ugh! How disappointing.

I made my way back up to the upper lake and decided to stop to take a picture. Better this than nothing. As soon as I stopped, the mosquitoes came out to greet me at the waterfall. It is supposed to be 100 degrees back in Sacramento today. Crikey. I was glad to be in the mountains, but the mosquitoes like it too. I juiced myself up and they left me alone after that. After taking a photo of the falls, I continued on up the trail and back to my car. I definitely want to return here and see these three waterfalls when they are flowing well. Next year, perhaps.

After the fiasco upon my arrival which I mentioned in my last post, namely a big strikeout at the three waterfalls I initially planned to visit, I had precious little time before dark, but just enough time before dark. I had to get to “something” Friday evening or I would just die. I quickly drove back down the hill to the Rainbow Pool area. At the confluence of the South Fork and Middle Fork Tuolumne Rivers are not one, not two, but three incredible waterfalls. I visited this previously completely unknown spot for the first time last year and I was in awe. How could such a location be so unknown to everyone, yet only a short walk away from a very popular picnic spot? Well I remedied this error; after I made this area known last year, I think quite a few of my faithful followers went to check it out. However there was a big problem with the location last year: a tremendously huge rock slide wiped out a section of the road, rendering access to the third waterfall quite dangerous (though some of my followers did navigate past this dangerous section, but to me it was scariness at best – climbing on loose rocks past gigantic boulders and big dropoffs – yikes that is intimidating).

When I arrived at Rainbow Pool, I had 30 minutes to sunset, and it is quite a steep walk down to the falls. I noticed the road was still gated. I also noticed the sign was still there, indicating the danger from the rock slide. Hmmm, well I was hoping beyond hope that I would be able to get past it this time, and get a better look at that third waterfall. There must be a safe way past that rock slide. I walked quickly down the road and arrived at the confluence. The flow was much lower than the prior year when I was here, and this is one reason I had not intended on coming down this year. The South Fork was at about 70 cfs and the Middle Fork at 100 cfs. It did seem a bit higher than that, however, and the flow looked quite good. It was certainly worth going down there. I continued on down the river, around the corner to where the rock slide was, and … la da da, there was no rock slide. It was all cleaned out! Yay. I am bewildered, though, because I figured it would take years to clean this out. That rock slide was huge. Monstrous, I tell you.

I took photos of the waterfall and re-measured it from a better spot: 46 ft. high. It looks a lot smaller in the photo, but it is bigger than it looks, believe me. I continued on down to the end of the road where I found another smaller waterfall, 26 ft. high. Waterfall number four. Then I scooted back up to the car, huffing my way up the hill, and arriving just before dark. I drove into Sweetwater campground, getting the very last camping spot. It was dark when I arrived. It was a great end to the day after a rather lousy start.

It was not one of my best days in Yosemite. Too much sun, non existent waterfalls, long hikes, blisters, no sleep. In fact, out of all the times I have been there I would have to rank it right near the bottom. But hey this is Yosemite, right? Even the bottom dwellers are good days at Yosemite. And so it was.

I left work early on Friday afternoon. Traffic was a nightmare. This can’t be good when it takes longer to drive to Yosemite than ever before. I wanted to try to hit three new waterfalls outside the park in the evening, so I couldn’t arrive too late or I would not have time. It is good that I left work earlier than I was initially planning to leave but I struck out big time on the waterfalls anyway. The first one was completely dry. Well, I was not expecting much from that one anyway. Move on. The second one, the one I really wanted to see, I could not get to. Access was all on private property. I tried to find a way around the private property, driving on rough dirt roads, getting my SUV all scratched up from the brush, but I could not find any way over to the waterfall. At least none that would not get me arrested. I tried the third waterfall. I found an old road leading up beside the creek, then I bushwhacked my way down to the creek when I got near the waterfall. There was an old old trail, overgrown, but at least it made things seem promising. When I got down to the creek, however, guess what? No waterfall. Nada. I was in the precise location that it was marked on the USGS topo maps, but nothing was there. Strike three. So what could I do? I drove back down the mountain to the great place I found last year, at the confluence of the south and middle forks of the Tuolumne River. I arrived there at sunset, barely enough time to take a few photos. It was enough to salvage the evening.

After very little sleep in my vehicle, I got up not so bright, way too early, and very coffee-less, to drive up Tioga Pass to Tuolumne Meadows. I did this big and very awesome hike down to Waterwheel Falls last year. This year, I was not going all the way down there again. I just wanted to take the very short hike down to the one waterfall I missed last year because I was too tired on that hike. It was just a short 6.5 mile hike. One way. Oh I forgot I have to hike back as well. That makes 13 miles. Maybe it’s not such a short hike, after all. But at least it’s not 19 miles or whatever the heck it was last year. Now according to my fine calculations, I had plenty of time to do this hike. I wanted to photograph Tuolumne Falls, White Cascade, and the new waterfall (Lower Glen Aulin Falls) in good light. White Cascade should be out of the sun until 9AM, and the new waterfall should be good until 10AM. Something did not seem right about that but my calculations must be right. I am never wrong. When I arrived down at Tuolumne Falls, it was still in shade, but just barely. I took my photo, then hurried down to White Cascade. It was already in the sun. How could this be? It was only 7:30AM. I trudged sulkily on down the trail for another mile thinking I should at least get to the new waterfall in good light with plenty of time to spare. Not so. It was already in full sun as well. It looked as though it would have been in sun shortly past sunrise as well, not even close to 10AM as I calculated. What went wrong? I am always usually spot on with my calculations. I do not know what I did, but the truth is I would not even have gone on this hike if I knew I had no chance of getting to this new waterfall in good light.

Well, it’s not like it is not a great hike though, and at least I got to one of the waterfalls in decent light. Last year I was here at the end of May, and so this year the river was flowing a bit stronger. Not a lot stronger. Just a little bit stronger. I was hoping the “rain” we had on Thursday would push the flow up quite a bit, as I would sure love to see these waterfalls flowing at full tilt, but it seems Yosemite got nothing from that system at all. Bummer. Well, there is always next year. I think it’ll have to be on a cloudy day next time though, so I can get some better photographs.

On the hike back up I saw quite a few people coming down the trail, including one group of backpackers that lost a couple in their party. They ran back up the trails looking for the couple, but to no avail. They were good and lost. I am really not sure how you could get so lost on this trail. There are signs at all the trail junctions, and it is pretty clear which way to go (ie. just follow the river downstream – and don’t go IN the river). They asked me to keep a lookout for the couple, but I saw no one on my way back. All I saw were deer. No bears, no coyotes. I do hope they found them eventually. I got my blistered feet and sunburned face (did I mention that I forgot my hat) back to the car around 1PM, ate my lunch, and 3 bananas (which my wife told me would prevent me from getting cramps – and it worked – thanks hun!), then made the long slow drive back home. Fell into bed at 7PM and slept right through to morning, which is a good thing because I had to get up for the early church service to play drums. It was a very good day in Yosemite. But I need to go back again.

This is another one from Canyon Creek Falls in the Trinity Alps. This is Little Canyon Creek Falls. It is 20 feet high in two tiers, this is the upper tier. You cannot see both tiers in any single viewpoint.

Anyway, I did not get to any new waterfalls this weekend. But I did try. Boy did I try. It was an 11 mile hike round trip, with over 1500 feet elevation gain, at high elevation, and when all was said and done, I was turned back by heavy manzanita brush. Oh that stuff can be awful. And annoying. Mostly annoying. I got all the way up to the top of the mountain. I could hear the waterfall in the distance, but it was still quite a distance away, and there was a mound of the stuff in between. I tried to punch through it, but it just got too thick to continue. I had to turn back. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

The good news though, is that I found an alternate route to try and I think I will be able to make it to the waterfall this other way, with significantly less brush. It was too late in the morning to try it this weekend (and I was too tired as well). The bad news is that I do not know when I’ll be able to try it again. It was a killer hike to get up there, and it is getting late in the season as well, and next weekend I was planning to go to Yosemite. In a way, I wouldn’t mind skipping Yosemite and trying this again next weekend. I think it will be a great waterfall, and it seems to still be flowing quite well. But who can say NO to Yosemite?

Some of you may be wondering where I was hiking this weekend, but I want to keep it as a surprise. You are just going to have to wait. And maybe for a long time. Ha, sorry. But can you guess where I might have been from the clues I left in this blog? I was very surprised there was a lot of snow up there still. Above 8000 ft. there was a good consistent and solid pack of snow of at least a few feet thick. I was really only expecting to find patchy snow at this elevation. Even at lower elevations, above 7000 ft., there was still quite a few snow patches, and the creeks were flowing pretty good up there, and little streams were making the trail quite muddy and swampy in places. This all is a good thing, but I was surprised to see it. The bugs were starting to come out though. That is not a good thing.

I decided to bike the first four miles of the hike, thinking it would be faster, easier, and save me a lot of time. Actually, though, it probably took the same amount of time as it would have if I had hiked. It was supposed to be flat and easy going, but there was a lot of walking the bike up hills, over rocks and logs, streams, and through swamps. It was pretty slow going. But going back down afterwards, it was a lot easier and faster to bike the last 4 miles down to the car, so I *think* it was worth it in the end. Unfortunately, I did lose my bike pump somewhere up there. Good thing I did not get a flat and have to walk that 4 miles after all.

On Saturday evening I dragged Jadon and Nekoda out to see Bassi Falls before it stopped flowing. I could not drag my wife. She gave multiple excuses like, it’s too hot, I’m too tired, I have to get up early and bike in the morning. None of these excuses I thought was very worthy, but what could I do? I cannot pick her up and plop her in the car, like I can with the kids (p.s. I’m just joking people!). Along for the ride I invited the Vicar from our church, and he brought his two year old, Heidi, who is the cutest thing ever. Well … at least the cutest thing since Nekoda was two. Our kids had fun playing with her on the drive. She would grab Nekoda’s toes and say, “daddy! I have toes!”

I was concerned as we passed on the bridge over Bassi Creek. I was here last weekend and it seemed to me there was plenty of snow on the mountains and plenty of water in the creek. I figured Bassi Falls would be flowing well for a few more weeks at least. Now, however, it seemed the snow on the mountains was almost gone, and the water level in the creek was significantly depleted. In only one week? I fretted in my head about this on the last part of the drive, not saying anything to Vicar, who had never been to Bassi Falls before. When I show off my waterfalls, I like them to be looking their best. You know, clean and shaved, their shirts tucked in, etc. It has been two years since I have been to Bassi Falls. Last time I was here, the road was a mess. It had been getting worse and worse every year, the potholes getting huger and huger, the ruts were starting to rival the Grand Canyon. Indeed on the very last section of road, I could barely make it up to the trailhead in my 4 wheel drive, and once I had to park before the end and walk. I wondered how much worse it would be now, two years later. Well glory be, the road is now fixed! Amazingness of amazingness. It is now a very easy drive, there were even regular cars up at the trailhead when we arrived. Well one concern was taken care of. There was one concern left (the flow in the falls), and as it turned out, one new one as well.

Bees! In all my years coming here, I have never seen bees at Bassi Falls. But there were hundreds of bumblebees when we arrived at the waterfall, and they were swarming us, they would not leave us alone the entire time we were there. At first, I thought they were after the ham sandwiches in our packs. Can bees smell through backpacks? But even after we removed said obstruction from their path (ie. ate them), they still would not leave us alone. They were everywhere. It is really a miracle that none of our group got stung. The funny thing is, when we arrived there was a group of oriental people there, and they asked Vicar, what are these things? Are they poisonous? Umm, they are bees he said. You don’t know what bees are? They will kill you if they sting you. Do not, I repeat, do not look into their eyes. (umm, ok maybe he did not exactly respond like that – I don’t want him to get in trouble with our Pastor for lying – though I think I got most of it right). Anyway, I did not like these bees around one bit, and it kinda ruined the experience there, but we still stayed until the end anyway so I could get my sunset photos.

As for the water flow, well it was just as I feared. Bassi Falls was much reduced in power. There was probably a third of the normal flow in the waterfall for this time of year. Indeed I would not have been able to stand where I was standing when I took this photo (under normal flows). But for the Vicar and Heidi, who had never seen the waterfall before, they were happy campers. Heidi, in particular, was ecstatic, yelling out repeatedly “wow” when we first arrived. It is indeed a magnificent waterfall. Even at a third of the roar.