Leon Turnbull Photography

The fires this year in California have been horrendous, seemingly much worse than a normal year. For the first time ever, all the national forests were closed for a couple weeks. Some are still closed. Some parks are still closed. (Sequoia National Park, in particular). So what caused the increase in fires this year? Do not say “climate change”. Honestly, this is a personal opinion, but I hate when people say that, and people say it all the time. Climate change does not cause fires. It may play a factor in the fires (one of many factors), but it does not cause them. I will tell you what caused the increase in fires in 2020: COVID-19. When I say that, I do not mean the virus causes the fires. (that is as dumb as saying that climate change causes fires). It is people! Over 90% of all forest fires are caused by people. And this year, with COVID-19, a much larger number of people than normal have been out in the forests, hiking and camping and recreating. And that means, a much larger than normal amount of stupid people have been out in the forests. And that means, a much larger than normal amount of fires. Am I wrong?

Speaking of fire, I figured it was time to return to the Pool of Cold Fire, an absolutely magnificent canyon with very difficult access.

Actually, though, I had no intention of returning here this Fall, but I bought a new raft. My old raft had a number of holes in it. I fixed all the visible holes, but it was still leaking. It was time to buy a new one. I had big plans to go on a particular rafting adventure this Fall, and after I bought the raft, that area caught fire and is still burning right now. I will not be able to do it this year. (and that is not the only one of my Fall plans that have gone up in smoke – literally).

I really wanted to try out the new pack raft, so I decided to return to the Pool of Cold Fire, which is pretty easy introductory rafting adventure, but not so easy hiking adventure. I started the hike at 2PM on Saturday afternoon, finally arriving at the pool at 4PM. (it is only 2 miles). It is a big descent down to the river, then you need to hike up the river, crossing it, wading through it, hiking through poison oak, and finally you arrive at the Pool of Cold Fire. I was tired by the time I got there. My legs were actually shaking from exhaustion. I guess it has been too long since I’ve gone on a tough hike. I had my dinner and rested, and then blew up the raft.

I found it was a bit difficult to maneuver the new pack raft with the new paddles, more difficult than I anticipated, but I managed to get to the end of the pool, where there is an obstacle you cannot paddle around (rocks in the middle of the river). That required me to get out of the raft in the middle of the river, trying not to dump myself and my gear into the river, and drag the raft up over the rocks. It is a bit tricky. On the other side, I left the raft and walked up to the waterfall, Lower North Fork Falls.  It is also tricky to view it as you need to climb up on a very steep slope with a very steep drop-off into the river. It is an absolutely beautiful little waterfall, even though it is small.

I took my photos, got back to the raft, paddled back, packed up, and scrambled back down the river to the main trail. My legs, as I mentioned, were very tired. I tried to be careful, but I fell a couple times. No injuries, but it could have been worse. One time, however, I slipped on the wet rock and started sliding into the river. I was certain I was going in for a swim. There was nothing to stop me. Yet somehow, I managed to stop myself just in time. The truth is, however, that it was God that stopped me in time, because I was definitely going into the river. If I had, I think my camera and phone probably would have been ruined. Thank you, Lord. I got back to the trail. It was 6:20PM. Sunset was 6:50PM. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to hike out of the canyon. It is only 1.5 miles, so I figured it would take 30 to 45 minutes. I forgot about the elevation. It is a 1300 ft. ascent to the top. I should have known it normally takes about an hour to climb 1000 ft., so this hike out would take well over an hour, and it would be well after dark when I got back to the car. It took exactly one hour to climb out (better than I thought), but it was still dark when I finished the hike. It was a magnificent hike in Tahoe National Forest.

I have seen a couple posts recently from people going to waterfalls in California that are dry. They were shocked that they were dry, even though it is late summer. For example, Dutch Creek Falls in Coloma is a rain fed creek. It has not rained in California in over 3 months. Yet this person thought it would be flowing very well (he said so). Bassi Falls flows from snow melt but the snow has been long gone for a couple months now. It always dries up in the summer (or becomes just a trickle). One person was shocked it was dry. And of course there is always the person that goes to Yosemite and wonders why Yosemite Falls is dry in late summer. Come on people. If you don’t know, Go to my website! I have this information on my website and I tell you the best season to go see it. Sometimes I have more information about flows as well (such as for Bassi).

So why is Mud Creek Canyon Falls on Mt. Shasta still flowing? How did I know it would be flowing when I went there at the end of August? It is because it is a glacier fed waterfall (mostly), and glaciers melt in the summer. It does flow better with snow melting in the spring, but nonetheless, I knew it would still be decent in late August. So there you go. Please check my website!

With regards to the fires, all southern California forests are now completely shut down, and all camping is shut down in the northern forests as well. I had a big backpacking trip planned this month in Kings Canyon NP, and as of now, it looks like that will have to be postponed. I am running out of photos to share! The El Dorado fire in southern CA was started by some idiots playing with pyrotechnic devices. I strongly suspect the Creek Fire was also started by people over the long weekend. (there has not been any lightning recently). Although quite a few fires this year in CA have been started by lightning (this is quite unusual, actually), more than 90% of all forest fires are started by humans. So thanks (not) to those of you people that started these horrendous fires and forcing the Forest Service to close everything down for the rest of us, not to mention the people that have lost their lives or homes.

In other news, and not related to waterfalls, I am upset about something that happened recently and thought I would share … I had a certain friend (who apparently is not a friend), and we had even discussed going hiking together in the near future (which, if you know me is a rare thing since I much prefer to go by myself). Well, then he found out my political views differ from his, and immediately, just like that, he unfriends me and blocks me. I asked him about it, and he replied basically he cannot stand me because of this. Just like that? One day he wants to hike with me and the next he hates me? I expect politicians to behave like this but not regular people. Essentially, he said he hates or strongly dislikes half the country! This is not American. In America, we should be supporting and loving each other, recognizing and accepting our differences (our beliefs or whatever it may be), and not get so stupidly offended if someone says or does something you don’t agree with. I am more American than him and I am not even American! I hope no one else reading this is like this other person when it comes to politics or religion. Love one another. End rant.

I woke up at 5AM and I was on the trail by 6AM. It was still dark. I had one more waterfall to see, and I needed to get there by 8:30AM.

It took longer than anticipated hiking back down the trail, and I became concerned that I would not make it to the falls in time. Nonetheless, I could not resist stopping for a photo of Mt. Shasta as the rising sun illuminated the mountain so beautifully. When I got back down to the Mud Creek Falls viewpoint, that waterfall was already in the sun, or the top of it was. Would I still have enough time?

I got to the point where (again, as usual for the madman), I had to drop off the trail and into the trees and down the steep mountain side. It was an 800 ft. descent to the bottom of the canyon. This was probably the toughest 800 ft. I have ever descended (or ascended –as it was much tougher going back up afterwards – of course). Same as the Clear Creek trail the previous day, the ground was very soft dirt, but this was even steeper than that trail. It was almost a cliff but not quite a cliff, so it was not deadly, but potential for injury was very high.

Finally I emerged at the bottom, Mud Creek Canyon. Now I had to cross the creek and go upstream to find the waterfall. The creek had very good flow down here, but I was able to rock hop across it, only because there happened to be two very strategically placed large rocks on each side of the creek, otherwise I would have had to get my feet wet. The creek was very muddy (no surprise about that). I placed my hand in the stream and felt a lot of dirt running through my fingers. Yuck. I needed to filter some of this to drink for the hike back up the mountain.

It was an easy hike upstream and I enjoyed walking along Mud Creek very much. It may not be the prettiest creek, but it is a beautiful canyon. I eventually arrived at Lower Mud Creek Falls, a dirty but incredible 50 ft. waterfall dropping off a cliff in a narrow corner of the canyon. I was so excited! I took my time and really enjoyed this beautiful and muddy waterfall. Finally I was ready for the big climb out of the canyon.

The good news is that there was a little side stream at the falls, so I could filter water from there instead of from the muddy creek. The bad news is that there were little ticks in the water, and before I realized this, a few of them got into my water container as I was filling it up. It is not tick season and I had no idea ticks could swim, but they sure looked like ticks and I most assuredly did not want to be swallowing any of them! Imagine if they started biting you from the inside of your throat or stomach. How horrible would it be to die that way? Well, I managed to get them all out of my container and filled it up again in a different spot (with no ticks).

The climb back up the mountain was killer! That is probably obvious. But I need to say again. It was killer! Hiking straight up 800 ft. in soft dirt and unable to get any traction. It took a while. Once back up on the trail, it was a very easy hike back to the car, and then a long drive home. Thanks to my wife who had pizza ready for me when I got home. What a glorious two days in the Mt. Shasta Wilderness.

It has been almost two months since I’ve last hiked. The last one I did was Lake Aloha in the beginning of July. It is now beginning of September. I have been planning for a long time to go to Mt. Shasta this summer, but the fires have put a wrench in my plans. The smoke! The smoke has been horrible throughout the state. Hiking when the smoke is so bad is not smart, and I had to postpone my trip to Shasta because of it, but finally the delta breeze came and blew the smoke away (momentarily). Then the delta breeze stopped a day earlier than it was supposed to and the smoke returned. Should I postpone yet again? I was certain it would be worse the next weekend (the long weekend), so I decided to continue with my plan. Did I make the right call? Yes, I did! It was a fantastic weekend. There was definitely a lot of haze up on the mountain, but the smoke was not bad at all.

The road up to the trailhead is much worse than I remember it. I came to a spot where I could not go any further, even in a four wheel drive. My tires were just spinning in the very soft dirt and I almost got stuck. I backed off and parked by the road and decided to walk from there, about a mile from the official trailhead. I was not the only car that could not make it up. There were quite a few hikers on the trail, all going up to the summit of Mt. Shasta. This is the trail that people use in the late summer to summit the mountain, but I think it is quite sketchy at the top. No matter to me. I had no plans to do that. I was just going up to a little more than 10,000 ft. That was hard enough.

It is a 2000 ft. climb up to the place where I planned to camp. I found a secluded spot well away from the trail and other hikers. When I arrived at camp, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. I was extremely tired from the hike thus far and it was still another 2000 ft. climb to the upper falls; it was also already much later in the day than I anticipated. I setup camp, made my lunch, and tried to rest. But there was no time to rest. If I was going up, I needed to go up now. It was 3:30pm. I only had 3 hours to get up to the falls and I figured it would take that long to reach it. I decided to go. I would never have another chance to do this hike. I just prayed the waterfall would not be dry.

From the camp, the trail does not mess around. It climbs all that 2000 ft. in less than one mile. It is very steep, and the ground is very soft dirt. It is quite difficult to get any traction. The going is very slow but I did not feel that the high elevation was bothering me. 4100 ft. of total climbing today and I felt pretty good. My hike tomorrow would actually be a lot harder and it was at lower elevation (stay tuned). After 10,000 ft. elevation, I needed to get off the main trail and traverse over to the waterfall viewpoint. Across the volcano. The hikers coming down from the summit must have wondered what I was doing, and where I was going. All these people going to the summit and they have no idea there is a waterfall here. Most of them probably don’t even know about the main Mud Creek Falls, because you cannot really see it from the trail. They definitely would have no clue about the upper Mud Creek Falls. The traverse across the volcano was pretty sketchy. The ground was very soft and unstable (worse than on the trail). It was steep. I was worried about triggering a landslide and falling to my death. I prayed there would be no earthquake while I was out here. Imagine 100 tons of dirt and rock falling on your head from above you.

I made it to the waterfall viewpoint. It was about 5:45PM, so I had made very good time. Now I had to wait 45 minutes for the sun to go behind the mountain. I could hear the waterfall (it was not dry!), but I could not see it because the sun was right in my face. I sat down and waited. I ate my dinner, enjoyed the glorious views, watched an eagle soaring above me, and chatted with my wife (I had cell reception). It was so quiet. The only sound I heard was the waterfall and an occasional wind gust.

Finally the sun went down behind the mountain and I could see the waterfall. I had hoped it would be flowing a bit better but it was not bad. It is late summer, after all. All the flow in the creek is coming from the Konwakiton Glacier melting above it. You can also see the Mud Creek Glacier from here. I was a half mile away from the waterfall and this is the closest possible viewpoint. I have only seen one other recent photo of this falls, and it was from further down and much further away. I don’t know that anyone has ever been to this viewpoint before me. It is certainly not very easy to get here. Upper Mud Creek Falls is about 320 ft. high. In the other older images I have seen, over half the waterfall is covered by what looks like a large landslide or perhaps a dirt covered snowfield, making the height of the visible waterfall only 100 ft. high. I had thought this was a permanent fixture but when I was here, that was gone and I saw the full height of the falls. How fascinating.

I took my photos and traversed back across the mountain to the trail and then I booted it back down the hill. I was pretty much sliding down the soft dirt in the steep parts (which was probably not the safest thing to do), but I made very good time and got back to camp right at sunset. It was an amazing day in the Shasta Wilderness and there was still one more day to come.

This is from my last hike and backpacking trip to Desolation Wilderness. It is Lower Waterfall Camp Falls. It is such an incredibly beautiful area. I have not been hiking since then. I do not plan to go hiking. Well, not this month anyway. I do have a big trip planned next month, and a really big one for September. Normally, I do not hike at all during the summer. I hate the heat and I hate the mosquitoes. If you don’t know that by now, you must be new here. LOL.

As you know, we had a horrible winter last year. You may be wondering what is in store for next winter. I know I am. The bad news is that it does not look very promising. We are currently looking at probable ENSO neutral conditions, the same as last year. However, there is also a possibility of a WEAK La Nina, but even if we have the weak La Nina, that still does not bode well for a good winter. So I guess we will just have to see what happens as it happens. And PRAY for a good winter and that we are not heading back into another big drought in California.

I hate having to beat a dead horse, but I keep hearing things about our trails that really disturb me. People are just leaving trash everywhere, at the trailheads, in the streams, on the trails. Please people, leave no trace. Pack out your trash. Pick up other trash you see. Leave the place in better condition than it was.

Have a great rest of the summer, everyone. Be good.