Leon Turnbull Photography

I have always wanted to visit Canyon Creek Falls when it is at crazy flow. All guns blazing. Off the charts bonkers. Check one off the bucket list now.

On Friday the big Pineapple Express rolled on through northern California, whetting all our appetites (literally). We received 5.6 inches of rain in the Sierra foothills. Unfortunately, the snow levels were really high this time, so that means the snow was melting on top of the rain. That raises the river levels exponentially. On Friday night, the North Fork American River peaked at a whopping 20,000 cubic feet per second (in other words, a lot) – it was under 1000 before the rain started. When I woke up on Saturday, it was still at 19,000 but dropping fast. I scooted on up the hill as fast as allowed by the law, and arrived at the trailhead by sunrise.

It is a fairly easy hike, but there are some steep parts. With the ground saturated and wet, it was very slippery and muddy. I fell one time, getting my clothes thoroughly mud baked. After that, I was extra careful on the steep parts. I did not want to put my back out again. Also, I did not want to slide right off a cliff. That would not be out of the question, if I was not paying attention. I paid attention.

Arriving at the viewpoint … and WOW. This is the absolute best I have ever seen the Big Waterfall, which is 144 ft. high. The view of the North Fork American River was stunning, the river was roaring below me, unnamed waterfalls cascading down every mountain. It is difficult to know exactly what the river level was at because there is a delay from the time it takes for the water to reach the gauge at the North Fork Dam, but I believe it was in the range 16,000 to 18,000 cfs. Last time I was here, it was around 6000 to 7000 cfs, so that means Canyon Creek had about 2 to 3 times the flow as last time. Absolutely amazing. If you have never been to this viewpoint before, you need to add it onto your list too.

So now … what about the rain and snow situation and El Nino? It is the end of January and we are halfway done with winter. After this latest storm we finished January at 122% of average rainfall. The snowpack is 117%of average for Central Sierra, 120% for the North, and 107% of average for the Southern Sierra. Folsom Lake is at 54% capacity (average for this time of year), Shasta is 52% and Oroville is 43% – and these will rise more this week from the rest of the rain runoff. So that is all good, right? Or is it?

Certainly it is good when compared to the last four years. I’m not going to complain. However, everyone is talking about El Nino this and El Nino that, but what are the facts? The fact is we have only had 1 or 2 El Nino storms all this winter. Almost all the storms we have had have come from the Pacific Northwest. Not that it is a bad thing, but southern California has been very dry thus far and I certainly would have expected (and hoped) that by the end of January this super strong El Nino would have had a much bigger impact than it has, and we would have even more rain than we have had up to now. What about February? That nasty old ridge is building in this week, and the long range forecast is indicating that we are going to have a dry February, at least for the first couple of weeks. So even though we are above average for now, by the middle of February we will probably be back below average. They are already talking about releasing water from Folsom reservoir. That would be a huge mistake if they do that now. Bottom line … we need to keep praying for rain and an end to this ugly drought.

It has been a long time since I have been waterfallin in the Bay Area. Why? Well the drought of course, that is the reason. It’s a long drive to see dry waterfalls and for the last four years that is pretty much what they have been. Well I figured it was time to return and go to the ocean as well. What better day to do it then my birthday? My wife now hates me for going to the ocean without her. I did invite her to come along though.

She didn’t want to get up at the crazy hour that I left. Yet even though I left so early, traffic was absolutely awful. It was 5:30 AM and the road was all backed up when I got over there. What the hey? Who goes to work at 5:30am? This essentially put me 30 minutes late when I arrived at the trailhead, and timing would be critical for low tide.

I hiked up to the first waterfall. It was flowing very subpar, and I was quite disappointed. These waterfalls by all accounts should have been a lot better. The second waterfall that I wanted to see was not even possible. The waves were already crashing against the cliffs. It was already past the low tide point, it would’ve been incredibly risky for me to continue. I decided to turn around and go to the third waterfall Arroyo Hondo Falls (pictured here). This is a smaller one but rather interesting. I did find it very difficult to photograph, as I could not find any good angle. I wish I had a 10 foot ladder to stand up on to take a photo of this one, but no ladder was handy and there was nothing else I could elevate myself on. There is a strange looking shack right beside this waterfall on the beach, and tied down to the side of the cliff. Why is it here? There were all sorts of signs and bottles and other knickknacks inside it. Very weird and very interesting. Also very upsetting that there was a ton of garbage all along the beach washed up by the tide mostly, and far too much to even consider picking up. Is that just the way things are now on the beaches of California? It really perturbs me, and in fact it was rather disgusting and kinda ruined the hike.

Well anyhow, despite the garbage, it was a good birthday morning so far but it was time to get back to the car and drive to my second hike. Stay tuned.

(as opposed to Beer and Whiskey)

Here is one more brand new discovery for ya. That’s two in one weekend (I am referring to MLK weekend, and in case you are wondering why this post is a week late, don’t – haha). Not too shabby anyway. This falls is in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. Surprise. I bet you thought there were no other waterfalls at Whiskeytown, didn’t you? Wait, didn’t I just say that same thing in my last post?

A big huge storm rolled in on Sunday so that day was pretty much shot for hiking. By Monday morning the storm was done and I headed out, up to Whiskeytown for what should have been a fairly short hike. It never works out that way with the waterfall madman. You should know that by now.

The hike started out very pleasant. The weather was about perfect, following on the heels of the latest of the storms, the sun trying to break through the clouds. The trail led across a major stream (which I had to wade across – it was freezing cold but my feet were toasty in my wet socks), then it climbed up and up alongside the stream. The sound of the fast rushing creek was music to my drought stricken ears, and I’m sure that is what put me in such a good mood. Then the trail ended. Well so much for my pleasant hike. The route was very overgrown as I headed down down and down. Eventually the terrain just became too steep to continue, surprisingly too steep. I had to give up on that effort this time, but all was not done for my day just yet.

Remember a few years ago when a ranger “discovered” Whiskeytown Falls? It was a major news item, international news in fact. But why? What is the big deal about finding a new waterfall? How many waterfalls have I discovered in the last few years? Lots! And how many of them made big news? None! And here is a brand-new one in the same park! Will it make international news? Of course not. Well this one is not as spectacular as Whiskeytown Falls of course, but it is a really nice one nonetheless.

And there are other undiscovered waterfalls at Whiskeytown as well, I am sure of that. After my first hike failed, I decided to explore this other Creek, which is actually quite a major Creek, though it is unnamed. There was, unfortunately, quite a lot of poison oak, but I made my way down to the creek, and worked my way up stream. In short order I could see a waterfall. I had to go through a lot of oak, crawl over a huge log, and carefully make my way up along the steep side of the creek bed. I finally arrived at the falls. It is a pretty one, 36 feet high. I guess you could say that it is unfortunate that log is cutting off the top of it, but on the other hand, I think the log gives quite a bit of character to the waterfall (kinda like Lion Slide Falls, for example). So it’s not too bad at all. I would have liked to explore more, but I was poison oaked out, not to mention quite tired.

As I hiked back up the trail, I came across a deer coming down towards me. It saw me clearly, but instead of running away like deer usually do, it kept coming for me, straight for me. It totally freaked me out. What did it think it was doing? I am a human! We kill deer and eat them for breakfast! Well, not me personally. I even backed off a bit, to give it more space to pass me, otherwise it would’ve passed within a couple feet of me. It came to within less than 10 feet of me, then decided to go off the path and up into the woods away from me. Whoa that was crazy. First killer cows, and now killer deer? What is the world coming to?

Meet Double Falls. A brand-new waterfall I just discovered on Table Mountain in Oroville. And you thought there were no other good waterfalls on Table Mountain. This one is a beauty, 47 feet high and it was quite the adventure getting there.

I arrived at the trailhead just as the rain was letting up in the morning. Perfect timing. It should be great hiking weather now that the rain was supposed to be all done for the day. Yeah right.

I hiked first to Phantom Falls again. That waterfall was flowing a bit stronger than the week before. Everything was just a wee bit better this week (just like the Scottish – haha). I took more pictures of Phantom and then made my way across the stream at the top. I had to go even further upstream this time in order to avoid getting wet feet. The cow bones were still there. This time I found the rib cage of said cow, right in the middle of the creek. Freaky.

Hiking across the mountain, I made my way over to the top of Double Falls. I had to find a way to the bottom but of course I went down the wrong way. Being as it is so steep and cliffy here, I thought I should go down where the slope was gentler, and then hike back upstream to the falls. I accidentally scared up a bunch of cows on the way down. They took off like gangbusters down towards the cliff edge and then scrambled up the cliff to the top of the mountain. They thought they were mountain goats! Not kidding.

I made it down to the bottom, but there was no clear path upstream and it was very overgrown. I was hiking through a jungle. At least there was no poison oak (well, I didn’t see any but so then why did I get the itch after this hike??? ugh!!) Despite the crazy jungle, I finally made it upstream to the waterfall. It is a beauty, with two separate streams coming together and dropping off a cliff into a marvelous double waterfall. As soon as I arrived, it started to rain again. I thought the rain was done for the day! It is a difficult waterfall to photograph anyway but even more so in the rain, so I waited a long time for the rain to stop, but it did not want to. I finally gave up, hoping that I got a decent shot in the rain. Besides, I was getting far too wet sitting there.

Clearly people have been down here before, but I believe I am the first to document this waterfall. There was a path and on the way back I followed it up, going a different way back up the mountain. I was a bit concerned, because there was a very steep ravine that I saw on the way down. How would I get past that? It would suck to get halfway up the mountain, and then get blocked out and have to go all the way back down. It looked like that would happen as I approached the ravine, but then I saw the path continued and I was able to get across. It was actually much easier than the way I had gone down. No crazy jungle mass to hack my way through. It was a fantastic rainy day on Table Mountain.

I had not gone on a big hike since I ruined my back before Christmas. Well it was time to get back at it. One 11 and a half mile hike coming up. That would sure be a good test. Well long story short, the test was successful, and my back survived the big hike. The destination was Table Mountain in Oroville.

There was a lot of water on the mountain (or should I say, the table) and the waterfalls were flowing. Most of them were looking good, but not all were flowing greatly, and some were not doing too well at all. More water is still needed. It was supposed to rain in the night, that did not happen. It seemed more rain would be coming during the morning, but hopefully I could get to some waterfalls before I got drenched.

The killer cows seem to be getting bolder. They do not even move now when you approach them. They used to run away but not any longer. They just stand there looking at you. At least they didn’t come after me. Perhaps that will be some horrid event in my future.

Crossing the stream at the top of Phantom Falls, I managed to get across without getting my feet wet. A bit of an adventure, as the flow was strong, and I needed to jump (another good back test). Trepidation ensued, however, when I saw a bunch of cow bones beside the stream that had been thoroughly gnawed on by the local mountain lion. I wonder where the beast is today? The section from Hidden to Flag Falls is particularly frightening as you have to walk through a heavily wooded area, which is perfect for mountain lions to hide. And with my bright green raincoat, the lion would see me coming from a mile away and have plenty of time to find the perfect hiding spot to wait and pounce on me. Alas, I did not see the beast. But did he see me? I wonder.

I went all the way to Flag Falls (pictured here). By the time I got back to Ravine Falls, I was very tired, and my back was starting to complain. I wanted to get down to the bottom, to find a new waterfall. There was a ton of poison oak down there and it was just a small falls and flow was minimal, but then I went over to the base of Ravine Falls and Ravine Twin Falls. Wow it is an amazing spot down there. It feels like another world. You are in a jungle. The falls are loud and intimidating. The basalt cliffs tower above you, and you wonder if any of that rock is going to fall on your head. It did not.

I was very tired and hungry by the time I got to the car. Big bad burger at Jakes. Enough said.