Leon Turnbull Photography

First off, I must apologize to friend and fellow photographer Eric Leslie, who just posted his own photograph of this small waterfall on Brandy Creek, near Redding. I don’t mean to intrude on his fanfare, and I also really think his photo is much better than mine. You can see his photo here. I never bothered to process my photo from this location because at the time, I did not like it. However, after seeing his shot, I looked back in my archives and seeing as I had nothing else to post anyway, I decided to give it a go.

This was taken on the weekend after Thanksgiving of last year (2011). I came here with another photographer, Brian Rueb, and we were looking for a much larger waterfall on Brandy Creek. I am sure there are bigger waterfalls on this creek, but as of yet, I have not found any. We just came across this very small waterfall. It is a steep descent down to the creek at this spot, requiring a lot of scrambling around, and if I recall, poison oak as well. Brian did not even bother taking out his camera for this small waterfall, and I just took a quick shot myself, balancing myself on a rock in the middle of the creek. Afterwards, we went over to Crystal Creek Falls on the other side of Whiskeytown Lake. I think one of the main reasons I never bothered processing it was because I was disappointed in its size, hoping to find a much bigger waterfall than this. Now, a year later, I kinda like it. Go figure.

I did not feel like doing a very tough hike this weekend, so I decided to stay close to home and try out one of my favorite little waterfalls in the Auburn area, American Canyon Creek Falls. It is only 15 ft. high, but it is such a cool little waterfall, dropping through an extremely narrow crevice into a deep beautiful pool, and it is a fun hike down to it as well.

Another good thing about doing an easy hike close to home (instead of a killer tough hike) is that I can drag my son and dog along as well. I did not actually have to drag them along. They both came quite willingly this time (of course, the dog is always more than willing to come along, but sometimes the son is not so willing). This time, however, Jadon was quite happy to join me on a hike, and in fact he seems to be enjoying the hikes more and more lately. That makes Dad very happy.

We arrived at the trailhead at around sunrise. On the previous day, the forecast said it was going to be raining in Auburn all night, and most of the morning. I was expecting to get quite wet on this hike. However, when I woke up I discovered that Auburn received very little rain that night and there was no more expected that morning. This latest storm did not drop too much precipitation at all. This made me a bit anxious about the creek flow. I thought it might be nothing more than a trickle. I did not have to worry though, the waterfall was flowing all right. The lower flow also made it easier to cross the creek at the waterfall. When I was here last time with Jadon, the creek was flowing much too strongly for him to make it across, so he did not in fact see the waterfall. This time, he could make it across easily, and he finally got to take a gander at this little beauty.

Whenever I come here, I think I will try to get a different perspective of this waterfall, photograph it from a different angle. I do not know what I was thinking, I should know better. There really is just one and only one angle to photograph the waterfall. It drops through such a narrow slot, if you take just a half step to the right or left, it is out of view behind the rocks. There is no other possible way to photograph it. Ah well, it is still a gorgeous view. And I must say, I am quite pleased with my photograph this time as well.

I also wanted to take Jadon down to the lower falls on this creek. It requires more of a scramble however, down a steep bank. We started down it, but after slipping a couple times Jadon decided emphatically that he did not want to venture any further down to the creek, saying it was much too steep. It is not really all that steep and I know he could have made it, but I did not want to push him so we turned around and went back up.

We took it easy going back up the hill to our car. I saw one tick on the way. This is not good at all. It is far too early for ticks to be out. This one was just a tiny little thing, a baby, but in a couple months, they will be huge and all over the place. Anyway, we made it back up to the car, having seen no one on the trails the entire morning. Jadon (and Kaya as well) were quite tired by the end of it, but all in all we had a very good day, hiking in Auburn together.

We have a small storm coming into our area this weekend, but it is not supposed to give us very much precipitation. I am so anxious for winter to get started here, we need a lot more rain before the waterfalls get going. It was in the 80’s this past week, if you can believe it. It is November, right?

In the meantime, while we wait for the winter rain to get started, here is one more from Lundy Canyon. This is the very bottom of the monster 537 ft. high waterfall in Lundy Canyon. You can sort of see the upper section if you look closely. It is an incredibly neat spot. I love how this section drops through this very narrow slot at the bottom. I really want to come back here in the spring when the creek is rushing through here. However, it might be impossible to get to this spot because it requires crossing the creek, which is probably not going to be possible in the spring.

When my friends come hiking with me, they know that they may not always get what is advertised. Plans can change on a dime. Strike outs happen. My friend Rob knows this, or at least I hope he does by now.

The plan was to hike down to Heath Falls from Soda Springs. It was going to be an epic hike. However, when we got to Soda Springs we found that the road was snowed in! We were forced to turn around or risk getting very stuck. This snow was from the big storm a couple weeks ago, and it was still not melted. I was shocked. I figured for sure the road would be clear by now. Not so, and I was quite disappointed. I think Rob was disappointed as well, especially since I made him get up at such an ungodly hour to go on this hike with me in the dark.

Plan B was suggested by Rob, to go on a different hike at Blue Canyon (which I had been on before, but Rob had not). It was a very good idea, however, I did not have my maps with me for this hike, and I could not remember exactly how to get to the trailhead. There was a very tricky turnoff, and I did not know where it was, and I could not find it in the dark. Strike two.

Plan C was to go back to the South Yuba River, and down to the Emerald Pools waterfalls. I knew I could get to these waterfalls again. Secretly though, I was not sure I could find them without my maps. I had only been down this route once before, and I had some doubts as we hiked along, though I did not share those doubts with Rob because I did not want to have a complete strike out this morning. In the end, I found the spot, thankfully. The river was flowing at about 80 cfs, which is quite low compared to when I was here before. Even yesterday (after the rain this week), it was flowing at about 150 cfs, and it dropped by about half in just one day. But at least it was flowing, and at least we had something to photograph. No strikeout.

Why does the Devil always get nice places named after him anyway? Hmmm? Devils Falls? Devils Peak? Devils Punchbowl? Devils Canyon? That should not be allowed, I think.

Here is the standard view of Devil’s Falls, or the one that I like to shoot the most anyway. It involves crossing the creek, which is always tricky because the rocks are always wet and slick. You really gotta be careful doing this. I was, and there were no unfortunate mishaps. We have a little bit more rain coming tonight, but I don’t think it will be too much. It is still early in the season. I must keep telling myself this. 😉