Leon Turnbull Photography

This is the waterfall at Hemlock Crossing. It may not quite be 20 feet high, but to my eye it is very close. I do not bring my waterfall measuring devices (rangefinder and clinometer) on backpacking trips because it is extra weight that I do not need to carry. 20 feet is my limit for including on my website, but I do make exceptions and this would be such an exception. It is the most well known waterfall on the North Fork San Joaquin river, and the one that everyone takes a photo of, and this is probably because it is the only one that people see since it is located right at the bridge over Hemlock Crossing, which is the end of the road I suspect for most people. I think most people do not go further than this and never see the myriad of other waterfalls on this river (or even know about them). So this is the one!

I was not ever a huge fan of Tom Petty but I did appreciate his music. Free Fallin’ was probably my favorite of his songs. It also happens to be a good way to describe waterfalls! Coincidence? Since I was camping here, I spent a lot of time beside this waterfall, watching it, sitting in the sun, and listening to music. I love how smoothly it falls (freely) off the cliff into the beautiful large pool. It certainly was very sad that Petty died so young. I tried to educate my son Jadon on his music, as I often do for various things. But he is a strange one and likes strange music. I cannot even tell you. He was not a fan of Tom Petty’s music. Oh well, I tried.

Dike Creek Falls, 40 ft. high. I did not think Dike Creek would be flowing well. I did not think I would have time to get to this waterfall. But I did have enough time, just arriving here before sunset, and I was very happily surprised: it is such an awesome 40 ft. straight plunge.

Spending the afternoon at Hemlock crossing allowed me to go back to this one waterfall I saw on the first day on Dike Creek. Dike was one of the creeks flowing much better than expected. I could not cross it without getting wet feet. Why was Bench so lame and Dike so nice? I did not get a good shot of this falls on the first day; standing in the middle of the creek, my tripod was not functioning properly and I could not focus because it was dark already. So now I had one more chance at it. This time I could get focus and get some shots from the middle of the creek. It is only about 20 feet high but it is kind of cool looking and reminded me of North Fork Goddard Creek Falls last year backpacking, particularly the need to wade up the creek to get to the Falls. It was a little bit fun.

Now about camping at Hemlock Crossing, I was very annoyed about one thing: Namely, I found horse crap in the middle of the campsite. Not only this campsite but also the one I stayed at on the first night. I had to use some sticks to flick it off into the bushes so I would not have to step in it. What the heck? If you are a horse owner why can’t you clean up your horses’ poop? This ticks me off to no end. Do you know what leave no trace means? The last thing a backpacker wants is to find a bunch of horse crap in the middle of his campsite when he arrives. So annoying! By the way I saw a lot of horse crap in the middle of the trail as well. Pet peeve number two. There was also garbage I had to pickup that people left behind (some of it intentionally left, some not). Come on people, get with it. This is supposed to be pristine wilderness.

Well anyway, I got up very early on the last day, as I wanted to get back home as soon as humanly possible. I still had a 1400 foot ascent ahead of me. I could tell the weather was changing. There was something different about the clouds that morning. An early winter storm was on the way. I hoped I could beat it back to my vehicle, but I had a very long walk ahead of me, and darn that slow climb out of the canyon. And don’t forget, there would be no water source for the next 10 miles. I drank as much from the river as I could pound into me before starting. As soon as I hit the first hill I knew I was in trouble. My legs were incredibly sore. I didn’t think I would make it up the Mountain. I thought I should just go back and stay forever at some place along the North Fork San Joaquin. It was certainly beautiful enough. I could fish, and eat berries just like the bears do. I could even hunt bear. Perhaps my family would come visit me sometime. Then they would want to stay forever, because they wouldn’t want to hike back up the hill either. Well, no can-do. I carried on. At least my backpack was lighter now with less food in it. Halfway up the mountain I collapsed, dying of thirst. My water bottle was empty. I was ready to give up. I lay there for the rest of the day. The snow pelted down on me. I was mostly dead. I’m just kidding, I did not collapse. Nor did I run out of water. Actually, I felt a lot better after I got warmed up, and made it up the mountain without too much trouble. 1400 feet in 3 miles. The rest is all downhill from here. It was a long downhill however, but I kept plugging away and eventually made it back to the car. That is when I collapsed, now really mostly dead. I recovered enough to make the long drive to Oakhurst and of course stopped at Pizza Factory to re-energize myself. I always have to stop for pizza after a big hike like this. It is the miracle pill. When I got home, I weighed myself: I gained 2 pounds. What? Even after pizza I thought I would be much down in weight, not up. You got to be kidding me. All that energy expended in five days of hiking, and I gain weight? Well, it is back to the gym for me I guess.

It was much colder up at the lakes overnight. I’m not sure if it got down to freezing but it was pretty darn close. I was not cold in my sleeping bag, but in the morning my tent was all wet (on the outside). I had to pack it all up in the dark and get going. There were a couple more Falls I had to hit up on the way down to Hemlock Crossing, 2300 ft. in elevation below me.

This was one of them. It is a magnificent 80 ft drop in a narrow slot. I did not go straight down to the waterfall from the lakes. I wondered if that would be faster, it almost seemed possible, but I’m sure I would have been caught on a cliff with no way down. Not a good thing. I went the regular and long way down to the bottom. When I arrived, I found no view of the waterfall. Which meant: you guessed it, I had to cross the river at the base of the Falls. It was a bit easier crossing here (then where I crossed the previous day). However, I somehow damaged my camera remote in the process. Ugh. This makes it much harder to take photos. There is always at least one casualty on a big backpacking trip. And this was it. Crackers. From here on out, I had to take all my photos manually. But it is an incredibly gorgeous waterfall, and I spent quite a bit of time here on the wrong side of the river. I have never seen photos of this waterfall before, and I suspect 99 percent of the people who come by here have no clue of its existence. If only they would subscribe to my website, then they would know about such hidden gems as these (hint hint).

After this, it is all downhill to Hemlock Crossing, and thus pretty easy, so I initially had high hopes of hiking all the way home on this day. However, I still felt tired. Plus it took much longer to get to Hemlock Crossing than I thought it would. By the time I got there (noon), I knew there was no way in kablookies that I could make that 1400 ft climb out of the canyon. One more night of camping was needed, and so I found a spot by the Hemlock Crossing waterfall.

I spent the afternoon relaxing in the sun and even took a very quick dip in the cold river at the waterfall. This was the sunniest day of the trip. Every other day was mostly cloudy (but not any rain). I tried to eat a bit more to gain my strength for the next day. I struggle to eat on backpacking trips. I am expending so much energy, but I don’t feel like eating very much. Freeze dried food is not particularly very tasty, but that is the best thing to bring on these kind of trips. I heard about this certain mixture, which is basically a peanut butter and jam goop, combined with regular trail mix. It is a bit on the heavy side, but it is quite good, so I brought some of it along with me this time. A quick energy mix. It tasted good now, I mean it. Anybody want a peanut?

I felt much better in the morning. Maybe I can hike up to the lakes after all, I thought. It’s only a 1400 ft. climb from here. It was a tough climb for sure but I felt good overall. It is not easy getting to Twin Island Lakes. The only reason I wanted to was because of the outlet waterfall. However, I had serious doubts I could see it anyway. In fact, this was the one waterfall I thought for sure I’d strike out on. Looking at the terrain on Google Earth, it was inconceivable how I could get down to see it. It seemed far too steep and cliffy. There is no possible way to do it.

It was a lot of effort getting up there, for possibly no reward. Perhaps I should just go somewhere else. I thought about that for awhile, but in the end I went up to the lakes. After climbing 1400 ft. to the top of the ridge (9800 ft. elevation – my high point on the trip), you then need to descend down a 200 ft. talus slide to get to the lake. Careful careful. Crazy crazy. It is actually quite an adventure getting there.

It was very windy down at the lakes. I started to setup my tent and it almost blew away off the cliff. Inconceivable! I dragged my tent over to a less windy location to try again. It was not that much less windy; I got it set up successfully, but it was still flapping all over the place. I made sure it was as secure as could possibly be. Hopefully, I would not get blown away in the night, like Dorothy in Wizard of Oz.

After a rest I decided to make the big try in the afternoon down to the falls. There is no possible way I can climb down the cliff to the bottom of the falls. Wait, there is an opening here. I might actually be able to do this. Inconceivable! You keep using that word, Madman. I do not think it means what you think it means. There was one and only one tough spot to get by, where I had to winch my way around a big rock with a dropoff down into the waterfall below. Other than that, the rest was easy. Well, not easy. The rocks were very loose and crumbly but overall it was pretty tame and I got right to the bottom of the 120 ft. high waterfall, where I found a grand view of the entire thing. Awesome stuff! (and inconceivable!).

P.S. Do you like my Princess Bride references? There are two more days of it to come!