Leon Turnbull Photography

This is Black Point Beach Falls near Stewart Point on the Sonoma Coast. This is one of three significant waterfalls I found on this beach, in addition to a couple other smaller ones. All of them just drop on unnamed streams onto the beach, 30 to 45 feet in height. This was the smallest of the three, 30 ft. high, but it was the easiest one to photograph. This location is off the beaten path, but it sure is nice. How could you not like waterfalls falling onto the beach?

In other news, I have a big announcement to make! My prints will be on permanent display at a brand new gallery and gift shop opening up in Weed CA, starting May 1. The address is: 248 Main Street, and the grand opening is set for Saturday, May 5. I am planning to be there for the grand opening in the morning. I know it is far north in California, but if you can make it up there for the grand opening (or at any other time in the near future), that would be awesome. This is a new and exciting adventure for myself, and you will be able to see (and purchase!) many of my prints as well as work from quite a few other artists. So next time you are in Weed, please make a point of stopping by!

It is not so good. Overall, as of April 1, California has a 50 percent of normal snowpack. The huge storm we received in March essentially raised us from 30 percent at the beginning of the month to 50 percent. I had heard and was anticipating to see about 65 percent figures but this is not the case. Breaking it down more there is a very large variance between the northern and southern parts of the state this year. The north fared much better and are up around 80 to 95 percent of normal. Central CA and Tahoe are around 50 percent and the Southern Sierra is down around an ugly 40 percent.

April 1 is the magic date for measuring snowpack. Normally after this date the snow starts melting and we do not receive very much more precipitation. The snow has already started melting and the river levels in the mountains are higher.

What does this mean? Will there be a waterfall season this year in CA? The answer is yes there will be and yes it has already started. But it will not last very long nor will it be as spectacular as usual. The meager snowpack will melt very quickly and once it is gone the creeks will go dry. My suggestion to you is to get out into the mountains this month and enjoy yourself, as much as possible. A lot of the roads are still closed which presents a difficulty but some may be open or will open soon. I think by end of May or even earlier most of the snow will be all melted. So get out there and get to it!

This photo is from Russian Gulch State Park. The hike into the falls is about 2.5 miles and very easy. It is a popular hike especially when the creek is flowing as it was on this day. As I hiked in I counted the hiker groups coming back and based on the number of cars in the parking lot tried to figure if I would be alone at the falls. I like to have my waterfalls to myself! Not so on this day, there were a couple groups already at the falls and another came in behind me. The good news is that the sun had gone behind some clouds and I had nice lighting for photos. I did not have to wait for anyone to get out of the way but I did have to tell someone else to wait for me, someone who wanted to climb out on that big log to get as close to the falls as possible, while his girlfriend looked on nonchalantly. As for me, I had much more anxiety than her, wondering if he would slip and tumble into the creek. He did not.

There are a lot of jumbled logs around the falls as you can see from the photo. You might think I would give this one a rather low rating and say it is such an ugly waterfall. You might think so yourself. But this is not the case with this waterfall. These logs are very much part of the character and personality of Russian Gulch Falls. Very much like that big log across Lion Slide Falls. Can you imagine that waterfall without that log? It is the same thing with this one. This waterfall may not be huge but it does have a lot of character.

The next stop on my north coast adventure was Chamberlain Falls in Jackson State Forest. It is located off the highway about 5 miles or so on a dirt road. Could I make it in my little Honda? Would there be snow on the roads, making passage impossible? Or would the road be too muddy or pothole-ly? Yes, I could make it no problem. The road was perfectly fine.

I got to the trailhead out in the middle of the forest, with no one around. The hike is very short, but it was not without difficulty. There were a number of downed trees across the trail, probably from last year, and they were in a particularly steep section. It required a bit of a detour to get around them, and at this section, the main trail split off into a number of sections, I supposed, as people attempted to get around the downed trees and then down to the falls. It is rather unfortunate about this, as there are now numerous trails descending down through the delicate forest to the waterfall, when there should be one and only one trail. It is just really messy.

Well, I made it down to the falls. It is really a marvelous waterfall, dropping 51 feet in a convex shape into a beautiful grotto. There is an upper section that you can only glimpse. It does feel like you are in another world down there, and I spent quite a bit of time down here taking photos from different vantage points, but it is not an easy waterfall to photograph. Anyway, time to move on and back up the steep trail to the car, and to my next destination.

When I arrived in Willits in the early morning hours, it was snowing. Snowing hard. And sticking! I could not believe it. The town is only at around 1400 ft. elevation, very low to be receiving snow. It was becoming rather difficult to drive but I did not think the snow would last too long once the sun came up. As it got lighter, I could see the surrounding countryside was very beautiful. I was hoping there would be snow at my waterfall destination but I did not think so, because I was descending to a lower elevation.

Dora Falls at Leggett was my first destination. Leggett was quite a bit out of the way, and I was not sure if it would be worth the trip up there. All photos I have seen of Dora Falls have been very crappy, obscured by trees and branches, it did not look like a very scenic waterfall. I was wrong. There was indeed no snow at Dora Falls (which would have been awesome), but it certainly is a very scenic and photogenic waterfall. In fact, I would say it was the best of the five waterfalls I saw on this day. It is a very short hike off the highway up to the falls, and it drops 50 ft. precisely. You can get right up to it, right in the creek, and there are no obscuring branches in the way. I guess in the past, the waterfall was even bigger, before a landslide destroyed much of the waterfall. Too bad about that, but it is still a beauty of a falls and certainly worth the long trip.

There are actually a couple other unknown waterfalls in the Leggett area, and I was hoping to get to one or both of them. I realized, however, in short order, that these would not be possible to get to. Well, they could be possible, I supposed, but they would each require a gargantuan amount of effort to reach, and I did not have the time on this day. I still had a very long day ahead and four other (easier) waterfalls to get to. I would like to return and try to get to them on another day. It will happen someday. I returned to Willits, where much of the snow was already melted, filled up with gas, and then continued to my next destination of the day.

Here is a quick post from my big road trip on Saturday. I have many pics to go through but I wanted to get this first one up, mostly for my wife (who loves lighthouses) but also because I was excited about this one. A waterfall dropping into the ocean, with a lighthouse in the background. What could be better?

I went to five waterfalls on the north coast yesterday. I got up at 2:30AM and returned home at 9:30PM. It was a long day! But it was a very fun day!

I will tell more in subsequent posts, but here are the highlights. As I left the city in the early morning, I saw another coyote. Different location and who knows if it was the same one, but it was crossing the street in front of my car on what is normally a very busy street (obviously, not too busy at 2:30AM). That was about it for the most interesting wildlife I saw on this trip (not counting birds or deer). The forecast called for rain the whole day on the coast. I did not really see much of that while I was hiking, but I did see snow! It was snowing in Willits as I passed through and this was shocking to me, as that town is only at 1400 ft. elevation. Unfortunately, the first waterfall I went to did not have any snow beside it (which would have been super cool).

By the time afternoon came along, the sun was really trying to break through the clouds, and it was succeeding. This was upsetting because obviously I was hoping the clouds would stick around (as they were supposed to do!) all day long. I wanted to get to all these waterfalls in good lighting conditions. Indeed, if I had known the sun would be coming out, I probably would not have done this big trip to the coast. Nonetheless, God provided for me again. Even though the sun was poking through at certain times during the day, whenever I was at a waterfall, the clouds were covering up the sun, and the lighting conditions were very good, for all five waterfalls I went to. This made me very happy of course, thank you Lord. If you read my blog regularly, you might think this happens all the time for me. The truth is, not always, but definitely far more often than not. I believe God knows what is important to us, and He loves us and will give us what we most desire and need, if we ask Him and have faith in Him. It also helps to plan your trip accordingly. If all the forecasts are telling you it will be sunny all day, then you probably won’t have cloudy conditions. This time, the forecast was saying it would be rainy all day, so I figured I would have good conditions all day and it should be a good day to go over on this mega trip. I did not have any rain really, except driving over there in the morning, and then driving back at night.

Anyway, back to Stornetta Falls. It was about 2:30PM when I arrived at the trailhead. The hike to the falls is short and easy, and involves going through a field with plenty of the dreaded cow beasts again. You know I love cows. But none of them charged at me to knock me off the cliffs and into the ocean. In fact, they pretty much ignored me. Go figure. In very short order, I arrived at a waterfall. This could not be Stornetta! It was not, though it did also drop into the ocean, but was probably only about 10 feet high. I continued on along the cliffs overlooking the beautiful ocean. The ocean was churning and I saw ocean waterfalls in the distance as waves crashed over rocks with great consistency. As I approached the stream at Stornetta Falls, I realized I would have to cross it. I did not want to get my feet wet, and I had no desire to take off my boots and wade across. What is the alternative? Jumping across the stream of course! Hmm, well I found a spot that seemed jumpable. Remember now, that I still have a bad ankle. It is much better, but is still not 100 percent healed. I would have to jump off on my bad ankle, and land on my good one. This is not something that is really of the smart variety. I succeeded with only a small protest from my bad ankle (and a slightly larger protest on the return back). But I did somehow manage to break my hiking pole as I jumped across. Argh.

Stornetta Falls is in an incredibly beautiful setting. It drops off at one end of a U shaped cove. The best view requires hiking around the cove to the other side so you are right across from the falls. A seagull guarded my backpack with interest as I went down to the end of the cliff and took photos of the waterfall. Thank you Mr. Seagull, and sorry I did not have any food in my pack for you. The waterfall is only 19 ft. high. I have seen reports saying it is 50 feet. Not even close. Still though, it is definitely a pretty waterfall, and even better because it drops right into the ocean. The Point Arena lighthouse can be seen in the distance from the middle of the cove, and I found this composition with the lighthouse in the background. It is incredible.