Leon Turnbull Photography

It is November so it must be time for a backpacking trip. I don’t know why I said it like that. But seriously, the weather was looking really good this weekend (ie. not raining and warm) and I have been wanting to go out on another backpacking trip so why not go this weekend. Indeed. But where?

One of my all time favorite canyons is West Cherry Canyon in the Emigrant Wilderness. My precious. I have been there three times before and I had wanted to go a fourth time. You probably don’t remember but on my last trip I made it down to the lower falls, however I was too late and the light was awful so I did not take any photos (also, there was a naked guy camping there). Well I did not make it back in the spring this year so perhaps I could go in winter instead. The creek normally would not be flowing in winter but with the recent mega bomb cyclone I figured that it should actually be flowing decent. Unfortunately the gage is not functional at the moment so I had to take a wild guess on the flow based on other nearby rivers. My guess was 150 – 200 cfs. I would not want to go to this particular waterfall if it was less than 150 so I hoped my guess would be a good one.

I forgot how horrible the road to the trailhead is. Maybe it was my imagination but it seemed worse. The trail was definitely worse. A lot more downed trees blocking the trail than last time. It is not an official trail and is not maintained by the forest service so it is just going to continue getting worse and worse each year. Kinda sad because it is a great trail (not counting the overgrown sections) and it gets a fair amount of use. In fact, surprisingly, there had been another hiker here within the last week (since the last storm). There was a bit of snow at the trailhead (not much) and I followed his tracks for awhile. He seemed to be going down to the creek but exactly where I do not know.

My route would take me down to West Cherry Creek and then further downstream, which required climbing up a ridge and down the other side. This part is difficult and is quite brushy and you need to weave in and around the brushy parts and the steep parts. It took a long time. I made it down to the campsite just past noon. This photo shown is *not* the waterfall where I camped. You need to wait for part two to see that one. Good news: there were no naked guys camping here. I had the place all to myself. More good news: the waterfall was flowing strong. I think my guess was spot on: 150 to 200 cfs.

I set up camp and ate my lunch and then relaxed in the warm sun in the afternoon. West Cherry Canyon is just so amazingly beautiful and I was so glad I could enjoy it to its fullest. At 3PM I went for a little hike. Other than the waterfall at my campsite there was one more waterfall I needed to see about a mile or so downstream. It was a lot harder to hike down river than I anticipated and it took a full hour to do it. That means I would not have enough time if I wanted to get back to camp before dark. I quickly took my photos of the waterfall (shown here) and then hiked back as fast as possible. I still wanted to photograph the falls at the campsite before dark but it was after sunset when I got back to camp. I took a couple quick shots of it (and more of it in the morning) and then I went to bed.

It was only 5PM! I can’t go to bed at 5PM! I got ready for bed, worked on my feet for awhile (blisters), and then I watched a movie. What would the next day behold? Stay tuned…

After photographing Secret Falls I continued upstream along Bull Creek. I knew there was another waterfall here but I was not expecting much. I thought it would be at most 20 ft. high, perhaps less. Much to my surprise, it was an absolute beauty! It was even better than the first one. To my eye it seemed the falls were a bit taller than 30 ft. (and I was right as it was pretty close to 30 ft.). It is 28 ft. high, bigger than I thought it would be. Eight feet may not seem like much but sometimes it makes a huge difference (such as in this case). It is an extremely gorgeous waterfall. Again, another first discovery by waterfallswest.

I took photos from both sides of the creek, taking my good sweet time. It was getting close to noon now. I still had to climb out of this canyon. It was a tough climb.When I got back to the road I ate my lunch, then I still had 5 miles to hike back to the car. Mostly uphill.

I got back to my car at 3PM. I was tired. The hike took longer than anticipated but I was happy. I had all day so I was not in a rush to get home. There was a problem with the car as I drove back. I could not figure out how to fix it. Basically I could not drive more than 45mph. Not good. Driving at this slow speed all the way back home? That is not going to work. When I got to Paradise I tried to find an auto repair shop. It was getting late but hopefully I could find something. The first two places I tried were no longer in business because they had burned down in the Camp Fire. I saw a lot of places like this burned (businesses and houses) as I drove through the town. Some places were rebuilding but a lot of empty burned out places remained. It was quite sad. So were there any auto repair shops left in the town? The third place I went was not burned but it was closed. Finally, I found a fourth place that was open. He fixed my car in a couple minutes and I was on my way home. Yay.

I stopped at Jakes in Oroville for dinner. They have the absolute best burgers anywhere. I had not been there in a couple years so I really missed them. Bull-licious! It was a fantastic day in Lassen National Forest.

Two brand new waterfall discoveries in a single day? Are you kidding me, madman? That is what I call a great day!

For some reason I thought I had been up to Paradise since the devastating Camp Fire three years ago, but as I drove through it this weekend I could not for the life of me think of where I would have gone. It seems I was wrong, I had not been up there since the fire. It was dark when I drove through it in the morning but on the way back I saw some of the devastation. I will have more to say about it on part two of this post. Yes, there will be a part two.

My hike was five miles one way, most of it on dirt logging roads. I had hoped to drive some of the road but it was gated. No worries. I was prepared for a long hike. I could not have driven it anyway. It was very overgrown (but it was fine for hiking). There are a lot of logging roads through here, some better than others. At one point I came out to a very well maintained and big wide road. One could easily drive this in a car. I wondered if this road was gated or if I could have driven on it. It would have saved me a bit of hiking. Oh well. Again, no worries.

Well, there was a slight worry. Although I started my hike early, at 7:15AM (in the dark of course), I had only 3 hours to make it down to the waterfalls before the sun would be on them. The hike was taking longer than anticipated and I realized I would have to run to make up some time. So I ran. Eventually I came to the end of the road which is where I had to go off trail and down the steep mountain to the bottom of the creek, about a 500 ft. descent. It was not too difficult (at first) and there was even a path going down. Actually, a lot of paths. I think they were all bear trails, not human. This area is so remote I doubt anyone has been here since the miners of the ancient days (but I may be wrong about that). My planned route was to come out at the top of the waterfall and try to find a way down past it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I quickly realized it was too cliffy and there was no way around the waterfall. I would have to go all the way back up to get over the cliff and try to find a different way down. Now I was late. I would certainly not make it on time. But …

I eventually found my way down to creek level. I was quite a bit downstream from the waterfall now so I had to walk up alongside the creek. I was forced to cross the creek three times but it was not flowing too strong so it was not difficult to wade across it. In high water getting to this waterfall would be impossible. I finally made it to the first waterfall and it was in shade! The forecast had said it was going to be a sunny day but it was not sunny, it was cloudy! In fact, it was cloudy for most of the morning. This was clearly a gift from the Lord. I was not expecting this and I did not even think to ask for clouds as my plan was to get down to the creek in time before the sun. I was quite late to beat the sun but it did not matter. I had clouds and I had lots of time. Thank you God!

This is yet another brand new discovery by waterfallswest. No one has ever documented this waterfall before. It is a secret waterfall location. An ancient madman secret. That makes sense because the name of the creek is … you know, it is a Secret Creek (ha ha) … but I can tell you how to get to it if you are a subscriber to my website. Secret Falls is a very beautiful cascade and is 41 ft. high. I spent a lot of time here photographing the falls but I was not done yet. Stay tuned for part two …

The first time I was here was in late 2014 at very low flow. I have always wanted to return when the waterfall is flowing decent. Now would be a good time, I thought. After 13 inches of rain it should be roaring, I thought. The Aftershock following the Bomb Cyclone last week.

It was not my first choice to go here this weekend. However, I only had time for a short easy hike because I had to get home to drive my daughter to dance class. Well as it turned out, she tells me at the last minute (after I get back home) that she is not going to dance today. Great. I could have done the other hike I really wanted to do. Thanks for not telling me, Nekoda. Teenagers. Sigh.

Well on the other hand, a short easy hike is about all I could do anyway. I put my back out in the morning before I left the house. I have to deal with the cats when my wife is not home and bending down to clean the litter is always an adventure with my back. Dang! The pain! Ugh! I should not go hiking, I thought. I must not go hiking, I thought. But I have to go hiking! It is the only day I can go hiking for a couple weeks and it just rained 13 inches! A short easy hike then. I can handle that. I hope.

I could not quite drive all the way to the trailhead. There was a fallen log in the middle of the road (not from the recent storm). It added about 1.5 miles to the hike (round trip) so thankfully that was not too much additional walking for my aching back. Most of the hike is along a dirt road (easy), but the last half mile is off trail (hard) and involves traversing along a steep hillside trying to find a path through the manzanita brush, and then a final steep descent down to the waterfall.

Upper East Fork Falls is a gorgeous 34 ft. high cascade. It was certainly flowing well but it was not roaring. I thought the river would have a lot more water in it but nonetheless it was still fantastic. And very pretty too with the surrounding fall colors. It was a very lovely Fall hike in Tahoe National Forest and my back held up for it.

Seven years. A lot can happen in seven years. For instance, an unused road can become completely overgrown in seven years. For instance, a trail can become almost completely impassable in seven years. It has been seven years since I have been to this waterfall, and honestly, I think the last one to hike this trail was myself (not counting the bears).

It is the weekend of the bomb cyclone in northern California. That is apparently a real thing. All I know is that here in Norcal we are getting a huge storm. We had about two inches of rain on Friday and about 10 more inches are coming on Sunday. Thank the Lord! We need this rain so much. I ventured out on Saturday before the big one struck.

The road to this falls is impassable in the winter and after Sunday it will not be drive-able for certain. I thought that it would still be ok after just a couple inches of rain and it was definitely all right but there were still many puddles I had to drive through, a lot more than expected. Not only that, the road seemed much rougher than it was seven years ago.

The last half mile of the road was completely overgrown with many downed trees. I have actually driven down this road in the past but that is impossible now. The actual trail down to the creek is even worse. Multiple blowdowns across the trail, more than I could possibly count. One section was completely blocked with trees down across the trail on a very steep slope. I had to figure out a way to climb up and around it (which I did, with difficulty). There was a lot of overgrowth on the trail, including poison oak. There was certainly a lot of bear activity but I saw no evidence that any human had been down here since I was last here. And then there are the ticks. It is October. It is not tick season yet but I saw quite a few of them along the trail. I was shocked. I considered turning back on multiple occasions as I trudged down the trail very slowly but I persevered and eventually came down to the creek.

Silver Falls is a gorgeous 41 ft. drop. I took many photos from many different vantage points. Hiking back up the mountain afterwards was not easy, a 1300 ft. climb out of the canyon, but I felt good and it almost seemed easier than going down. It was a very enjoyable hike before the bomb cyclone in Eldorado National Forest.