Leon Turnbull Photography

Our FIRST rain storm of the new waterfall season was a whopper. Where else would I go for my first waterfall hike of the new season except to my favorite river, the North Fork American River. We got 2.5 inches of rain on Friday, and the river was up on Saturday morning, but not as high as I thought it might go. Nonetheless, it was high enough. High enough for a rainy day hike and to find a new waterfall in the process.

It is a long hike down to the falls, yet only 4.5 miles. Starting my hike at 7AM, I hoped to get down to it in 2 hours. That seems reasonable, does it not? But at 10AM, I was still quite a distance from the waterfall, and I almost turned back. The terrain was getting steep and brushy, I was hiking through the woods with no more trail to follow, I was soaking wet from hiking through the brush, and there was a big storm coming in the afternoon. I wanted to be back at the car before that started. However, I continued on; it could not be much further, could it? I finally got down to the falls around 10:30AM.

Technically it is a not a “new” waterfall. Kayakers have gone over this falls before, but access for “normal” people is pretty much out of the question. Other than kayakers, I do not know of anyone who has been here (although I’m sure some have). I won’t say how I got here, it was all perfectly “legal” of course. I will say that you do need to cross the river. Of course, that is impossible when the river is high. On Saturday morning, however, the river was at 180 cfs. That is far downstream, up at the waterfall it is probably 1/3 of that amount. So basically, I thought, it might be crossable or it might not. I was able to cross the river without much difficulty. The river was flowing well, but there were some mellow sections. No problem. It was darn cold, though. It was wet and showery all morning, and I was drenched by the time I got to the falls. Was it worth getting so wet? Was it worth the effort and needing to take an extra long time to get down to it, and then having to hike back in the rain? Heck yes! What a magnificent 40 ft. plunge dropping into a narrow spectacular gorge. This was the LAST waterfall on the North Fork that I had yet to see, and after more than one try previously, I finally made it. Bagged! I have seen all eight waterfalls now on this amazing river. See my website if you want to know how to get to this one.

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This one was a really fun one to get to. I thought it would be easy. Just rock hop across the river, and walk up to the bottom of the falls on this tributary creek. But … when I got to the creek, I could not see the falls. It was up around the corner. Humm, well I climbed up the ridge and got to the top of the falls. But no view of the waterfall, and it was too steep to get down. One other option: Go back down to the bottom, and wade up the creek to the falls. Fortunately the creek was not deep, but it was quite cold. It worked though. I came to this awesome little nook at the bottom of the waterfall with a great view of the stunning falls. Of course, as soon as I got out my camera gear, the sun came back out. I had to wait, and decided to get out my dinner and sit down. It was not long, however, before the clouds covered the sun again, and I was able to take photos.

This waterfall on NF Goddard Creek is the tallest of the falls in Goddard Canyon at 67 ft. high, and probably hardly ever visited. Yet I think it is the prettiest of all of them.

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Once again, I got up very early, packed up my gear, and headed down the trail. I had a long day ahead. I stopped first at the lower falls. This is the largest of the three waterfalls on the SF San Joaquin River, 59 ft. high. I was not expecting the lower falls to be so high and so outrageously beautiful, and it was the easiest to see, being right by the trail with a fabulous overlook. I ate my breakfast here after photographing the waterfall. Perfection established.

From my campsite, it was a 20 mile hike back to my car. I was not really sure that I could hike the entire 20 miles, but I also knew there was a great campsite at the end of Florence Lake, at the 16 mile mark. I wanted to get there at least. The small uphill parts of the hike were a bit tough with my tired legs, but mostly the hike was downhill the entire way, and I felt very good … until I hit the 15 mile mark. That last mile to the campsite was long and tough, I knew I would have to stop at the end of the lake. I probably could have made it the whole way after getting a good rest at the lake, but the last four miles would have a lot of uphill hiking, and I just felt it was better to relax, camp one more night, and then the last four miles in the morning would be very easy. It was also very hot. I wanted to get home, but it would be killer to hike that four miles now. Why do that to myself?

During that last mile to the lake, I almost stepped on a rattlesnake. It was right in the middle of the trail and I was *not* looking down at the time. I was looking at the scenery. Foolish me. I would have stepped on it for sure but thankfully, Mr. Snake was not sleeping, he saw me coming, and moved out of the way before I stepped on him. This near incident was much worse (closer to disaster) than my mountain lion encounter two days prior. Whoosh! Immediately after this, I came across a backpacker who was in very sorry shape. He was out of water and way overheated, and he was on the verge of fainting from heat exhaustion. The last water source was only two miles back, and the river was less than a half mile ahead. How could he be out of water? I did not really know how to help him. I gave him some of my water, and I told him to take off his pack and lay down and rest for a half hour or more to get his energy back. He did not want to take my advice however, and insisted on continuing on the trail. Ok, whatever. But he was going so slow and could not keep up with me. He made it down to the river a little after I did. He did take off his pack there and rested for a good 2 hours, then he headed up the trail on the last 4 miles to the trailhead. I don’t know if he realized there was so much uphill on the last part, and I think he was going to have a very tough time on the hike. I guess he made it. I did not see any bodies along the trail the next morning.

Most every backpacker I met along the trail was very friendly, as you would expect, except for one total jerk. Why is there always one person that ruins your experience? I came across him on the trail on the last day, and he asked me how far it is to Muir Trail Ranch. I knew I had just passed it a little while ago, but of course I would not know the precise distance to it, so I told him it was one or one and a half miles. I thought this was an excellent estimate (and a correct one, I might add). However, not only did he *not* thank me for this information, but instead he just pointed at me and said, “well which one is it? is it one mile or one and a half miles? You may as well have said it is one or thirteen miles”. What the heck??? Give me a break, you idiot. If you want such a detailed and exact distance, then why are you not carrying a GPS yourself, instead of asking other hikers along the trail who don’t give a hoot how far it is to your precious destination? I did not want to get into any big thing with him, so I just said “well, it is one of those two distances”, and then continued on my way without saying good bye or anything else. He was still carrying on about it as I left him. Unbelievable. Some people.

Meanwhile, after setting up camp at the river, I decided to go for a quick dip in the water. It was a hot day, and I was tired. How could I resist? The river was freezing cold, and it was a very quick dip, but it sure felt good. I had a relaxing evening at the campsite, ate my dinner, did some photography, and in the morning took a little more time to get going, having breakfast and some coffee first. This is what backpacking should be all about. The last 4 miles on the trail did have some uphill, but I felt good, and it was a quick and easy 4 miles. The long drive back home included a stop at Pizza Factory to refuel. Now that is a great ending to a great trip.

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I was not sure where I should go after visiting Evolution Creek Falls. Should I hike up Evolution Valley? Or should I hike up Goddard Canyon? I really wanted to do both, and I had planned for both. However, the previous day being far too difficult and not being able to get to where I wanted to, had ruined this initial plan. I had limited time (and limited energy), and I now could only do one of these two things. It was one or the other. I could see four smaller waterfalls in Goddard Canyon, or one big waterfall in Evolution Valley. Evolution would be more scenic but also have many more people. It was a huge dilemma. The entire hike up to Evolution Creek Falls I debated the issue. What to do, what to do. Even as I was photographing the falls, I still had not made a decision, and was still going back and forth in my mind. My brain was about to burst! I think the deciding factor was that I saw that the upper portion of Evolution Creek Falls was already in the sun. I had hoped to photograph it as well when I hiked up the valley, but now saw that I was too late for that. So the decision was made: I would hike up Goddard Canyon. The truth of God (dard) trumps the lies of Evolution once again. Seriously, either option would have been awesome, but I do think I made an excellent choice. Goddard Canyon is not as much visited, but there are four spectacular waterfalls here, all of them are a good size and all were flowing well (except for one, which had lower flow than I had hoped).

I arrived at the main waterfall (shown here) about noon. It was a pretty tough climb up the canyon, gaining about 1500 ft. in elevation. This is where I decided to camp, right near the top of the falls. It was a perfect spot, plenty of shade (which is good because it was a hot day), and no one else around. I had the entire canyon to myself! I set up camp, ate my lunch, and took a nap. Clouds rolled in the afternoon, which gave me an idea. I would take a day hike from here up to the two upper waterfalls, then come back and photograph the main falls in the evening, and get back to my camp before dark. For a bonus, I would not have to carry my heavy pack. It was a great idea, and it worked out perfectly. The clouds allowed me to photograph the upper waterfalls without having to wait until the sun was down, and it was a pretty easy hike after having a good rest and not having to carry my pack up there. I was happy, and my body was happy as well. What a great afternoon it was.

This middle falls is arguably the nicest of the four waterfalls (but it is an extremely close call); however, it is very difficult to find a good angle to photograph this one. The slope is quite steep and treacherous. I was afraid I was going to slide right off the cliff into the river below. That would have been fun (except for the landing). This was the best angle I could find without killing myself, although the upper section is a bit out of view. It is a beautiful and utterly spectacular 55 ft. drop, and I got to camp right near the top of it. It was an amazing day in Goddard Canyon.

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Who wins? The tortoise of course! The lion would much rather eat a nice  juicy hare, than an old crusty tortoise. Then the lion will choke to death on the hare-ball (ooh that was a good one, madman). I am the tortoise in this story, by the way. And I win. Read on below.

My solo backpacking adventure begins. It is a long drive to the Southern Sierra trailhead, and it took much longer than expected. The last 60 miles took over two hours to drive, I couldn’t believe it. The last 17 miles in particular were gruelingly slow. The road is paved to Florence Lake, but it is an extremely narrow, one lane road, with many many bumps and bruises on my little Ford Fusion. If I had my SUV, it would have been fine (except for the extremely narrow road which is hair raising when you meet cars coming in the opposite direction), but with my little car, I had to drive 10-20 mph for the most part. I wish I had brought the big vehicle, but I figured that since it was paved, and since it is a popular destination, the road would be fine for the little car. Not!

I wanted to arrive in time to catch the 10:30am ferry across the lake. This would save 4 extra miles (1 way) of tedious, boring hiking along the lake. I arrived at 10:20am. I quickly donned on my hiking boots, grabbed my pack, and ran down to the store. I got there and they told me that the ferry and store were closed for the season (as of the day before!). Ugh! Their website indicates the ferry operates until the end of September, normally, and the weather is perfectly fine, so why would they close for the season now, in the middle of September?

Well no other option presented itself, so I began the hike along the lake. My pack was heavy. Oh my was it ever heavy. Planning for a three night trip, I was carrying a bit more food than last year, and perhaps a bit more clothing, but I think mostly the problem was my camera gear. I probably had 10 pounds of camera gear, and also I might mention that I weigh 10 pounds more than I did last year, so essentially I was carrying 20 more pounds than I should be carrying on a backpacking trip. The whole point of backpacking is to get to more remote spots for photographing waterfalls that I cannot get to on day hikes, so my camera gear is essential for taking good photos of waterfalls. But at the same time, backpacking should be enjoyable, and with heavy camera gear, it is not so much. I will definitely be making a big change on my next backpacking adventure, but I don’t know what it will be yet.

In the meantime, a speed demon hiker came up behind this old tortoise, passing him up easily. I saw many long distance hikers on this trip, some of them hiking from Mammoth Lakes all the way to Mt. Whitney. Yeah, I could do that. Not. Well, maybe with a much lighter pack I could do it. A little while later, I passed the hare, who was sleeping along the trail. (does that sound familiar?) Then he caught me again at Piute Creek. But once again, I passed him in the morning, while he was still sleeping in his tent. The tortoise always wins.

At Piute Creek, I had hiked 12.5 miles thus far, mostly all uphill. It was late in the day, and I was dead tired. I had initially wanted to hike another three miles to Evolution Creek (at least) on the first day. There is no way I could take another step. I was pretty much bonked. I had to stop here. I found a good spot along the SF San Joaquin River. The previous campers had unintentionally left their bear canister here, with food in it, and not closed either. I think they will be in dire straits the next night of their trip. I might have taken the canister with me if I wasn’t already dying from my heavy pack. Anyhow, I set up camp, ate a little dinner, then got ready to go into my tent to sleep.

As I was getting ready to do so, I looked over in the distance and saw some movement. Is that a deer? As I was looking at this, all of a sudden, I saw a cougar come out of the bushes. It was about 200 feet or so away, and moving the other way from me, seemingly stalking the deer or whatever it was (or perhaps that juicy hare). I do not know if he saw me, but it would be hard to miss a bright yellow tent. I saw him very clearly, but it was only for a few seconds, then he was back in the bushes and I did not see him again. If I had not been looking at that precise moment, then I would have missed him. I crawled into my tent for the night with much anxiety, hoping I would not be attacked in my tent in the middle of the night. Do mountain lions do that? Has that ever happened before? I have heard of grizzly bears attacking campers in their tent before, but not lions. Would I be the first such victim? Many such thoughts went through my brain.

Well you would think that I would be scared stupid and thus not able to sleep all night. The truth is, I slept like a baby all night long. That in itself is amazing because normally the first night of camping I never sleep well (even if I don’t see a mountain lion). I guess I was just way too tired from the hike that day, and that overruled how I felt about being attacked by a lion. I just didn’t care.

As you can see, I survived the night without incident. I got up very early in the morning, packed up my gear and hiked the three miles up to Evolution Creek Falls. This is where I had initially intended to camp. There were already quite a few backpackers out on the trail this early in the morning, and heading up Evolution Valley but none going over to this waterfall. It is quite an interesting 46 ft. high waterfall, and yet I think most people do not go over to see it or even know it is there, although they do see the upper section of the falls when they go up the trail. It was still flowing quite nicely this late in the season.

So now the question is what would I do next? Even I did not know the answer. Stay tuned.

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