Leon Turnbull Photography

It was the biggest storm so far this winter. I suppose that is not saying much because we have had zero big storms this winter, and it is now mid March. Nonetheless, this was a big storm and it was starting early Saturday morning. I usually get up and hike Saturday morning, but I just was not feeling it. Should I go out somewhere in the rain? That did not appeal to me very much. Should I go up into the snow? The temps would be very cold, and the winds were supposed to be huge, so that did not appeal to me much, either. However … thanks to you know what, my wife had nothing to do today since all the normal Saturday activities were canceled. So I wondered if she would want to go snowshoeing with me? If she agreed, it would give me some much needed motivation to get out in the wilderness and do some hiking. Guess what? She agreed!

And bonus … we could practice our social distancing as we hiked out in the wilderness. There would certainly be no one else out hiking today in the biggest snow storm of the year. We would have Bassi Falls all to ourselves. Social distancing … oh my. I don’t know about all this, but there is one thing I will say: I hate hate hate that I can’t buy the bread I like for my lunches next week because everyone has lost their minds.

Bassi Falls was where we decided to go since it was pretty easy to get to. The road is normally plowed, so I expected it to be in good shape for driving. I also expected there to be about a foot of new snow on the ground, and another foot falling from the sky. Not exactly. Firstly, the road was not plowed at all. This made the drive a little bit interesting. The road was very slick, and there was quite a bit of snow on it, especially when we came back down the mountain later. Any more and I would not have wanted to drive it. However, there was not a foot of snow on the ground, and we did not need our snowshoes whatsoever. The main reason I chose Bassi Falls in the first place was because I was pretty sure there would be a lot of snow. There was not.

I thought we could cut off some time on the hike by taking a short cut. This was a mistake, and I really hate myself for trying it. It was definitely not a short cut, and in fact it took much longer than the normal trail, and the worst thing is it took too much out of my wife. Also, stupidly, I did not load my maps properly into my GPS, so I was not entirely sure which way to go at some sections. Tara eventually decided to turn back to the car. I continued on and arrived at Bassi Falls.

Just as I got to the falls, the blizzard started. It had been pretty nice up until my arrival at the waterfall, but now the wind was howling, it was cold, and the snow was falling very heavily. (as you can see in the photo). The granite rock was also very slick (I did fall once), and it was very tricky crossing the stream to get closer to the falls. I did not spend much time here at Bassi. I just took my photos and then started hiking back. It was a great and blustery day in the Eldorado National Forest.

This is Blue Hole Falls, where I camped for the night.

It was supposed to be down to below freezing in the night. I wore an extra layer because I expected it to be much colder than the first night. It was not even cold at all! It was very pleasant in the morning, and I took my time packing up, eating breakfast, and enjoying the beautiful morning that God provided.

I had 6 miles to hike back to the trailhead. It felt like a very long 6 miles. I have hiked this trail along the Salt Springs Reservoir 3 times, and every time, it felt agonizingly long. It is not difficult, it is just long, most likely because I am always tired before I even start the hike back.

There were ticks on the trail, but not too many. There was poison oak. Somehow, I touched it, but I do not know how. I certainly don’t remember touching any. The worst thing, however, as I already mentioned, were the gnats. They were just so incredibly annoying. Ugh.

Anyway, I arrived at the trailhead about noon. I saw no one the entire weekend. I ate my lunch, and made the long drive home. It was an epic weekend in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

I decided in the morning that I would try one last time to get to Fantasy Falls, this time by yet a different route. If I made it, I would camp at Fantasy Falls that night, and if not, I would hike all the way back to the trailhead and drive home. I would probably never come back after this to try again. If I failed, I was resolved there was indeed no way to get to Fantasy Falls. It was all or bust.

I’m not going to say the route I chose. Suffice to say, I did not go down the cliff on the other side (because that would be suicide). The route I did choose had many sketchy sections, and one extremely sketchy section. It was one of the more dangerous hikes I have ever done. If my wife is reading this, it was really not dangerous at all, I’m just saying this for effect. Okay? (and everyone else is thinking, huh?) It took two and a half hours to hike the one mile or so from Island Slide Falls to Fantasy Falls (and the same back). But guess what? I made it!

I was absolutely ecstatic that after four hard tries, I finally made it to Fantasy Falls. Previously ONLY accessible by extreme kayakers. Now accessible by waterfall madmen as well.

Interestingly enough, I did see rock cairns along the river leading up to Fantasy Falls. What does this mean? Obviously hikers have been here before. But how? I am absolutely certain no one has ever gone there via my route before. It is too crazy. I am equally certain they did not go down the cliffs (unless they were canyoneers and rapelled). I suppose that canyoneering is possible, but if not that, then how? Well, I do have an idea how one could hike here and without too much difficulty. Hint: It was not in February. Whoever it was, never documented the journey. As far as I know, I am the only one who has ever done this trip on foot.

As you look at the photo, you may be thinking it is just a very small waterfall, and not very exciting. You would be wrong about that. Actually, this section shown here is at least 25 feet high. There is a lower tier as well, about 10-15 ft. high, so the total height of Fantasy Falls is about 40 ft. high. It is difficult to get both tiers in a good photo, but I took many pics and spent over 1.5 hours at the falls.

As I was taking photos and fiddling with my camera to get it set up as I wanted, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a large animal coming down the rock beside the waterfall. I looked up and I saw it run down the rock right beside the falls, and dive into the water. It was a river otter! It all happened too fast for me to get a photo, of course. I waited for it to surface in the pool below the falls (with my camera ready this time), but it never did. I saw it splash once, but then nothing. Where did it go? The only thing I can think of is it went over the lower falls and down the river. So that was a cool experience.

In the end I decided NOT to camp at Fantasy Falls after all. It was a very tough hike to get here, and if I had to hike this very difficult section in the morning, and then continue all the way back to the trailhead and drive home, and then go to work the next day, well needless to say, that would be just plain crazy. It was 12:30pm when I was finally ready to leave Fantasy Falls, and I made it back across the multiple of sketchy sections (which was easier than I thought it would be going back), and then back down to the river at Island Slide Falls, and continued hiking back to Blue Hole, arriving there at 4PM. It would be just a short 6 mile hike from here back to the trailhead the next day. It was a tiring but very rewarding day. Would I ever come back to Fantasy Falls? Yes, I think I definitely would go back here now that I know how to do it. The Mokelumne Wilderness is an absolutely amazing place.

It was a long weekend. The weather was good. So I went backpacking. I wish it was raining. We have had a horribly dry February, and I’m not confident anymore that we will have a miracle March this year. I will take what I can get. If the weather is good on a long weekend in February then I will go backpacking to waterfalls that I know are flowing well. So off I went into the Mokelumne Wilderness.

When I picked up my permit on Saturday morning, I saw there was one other envelope for someone else backpacking this weekend. The ranger had written on the other person’s envelope: Have an awesome adventure! On my envelope she just wrote: Remember to sign your permit. I was very upset about this. Just kidding. But seriously, I am 100 percent certain that my adventure was way more awesome then this other person’s adventure, wherever he or she was going. So where was I going, anyway?

Salt Springs Reservoir: My goal was to hike to Fantasy Falls. The very remote and very mysterious Fantasy Falls. I have tried twice before (day hiking), and failed. We will talk about this more a bit later.

I started hiking at about 8:30am. There was no one around at the reservoir, and I saw no one the entire weekend. Not surprising, really. It is winter. Who wants to go backpacking in winter? But still, one might see fishermen there. It is a long weekend after all. But nope. The reservoir was very low. Extremely low. It should be much fuller by mid February, but we have had a horrible winter thus far. We really need that miracle March again. Please let it rain, Lord.

It is about a 6 mile hike to the end of the reservoir (though the end of it was empty). There were ticks, poison oak, and gnats. I expected the ticks and oak, as I have been here before. But the gnats!?!? They were bad. Not nearly as horrendous as at Tehipite Valley, not even close, however they were very annoying. Why are there gnats in February? There should not be any gnats in February! I can deal with ticks. I can deal with oak. I can deal with gnats (except at Tehipite). I cannot deal with all three at the same time. Anyway, I had no choice but to deal with all three of them. I managed to avoid getting any ticks on me, and I had thought I had completely avoided the oak, but apparently not. I do have a rash.

When you get to Island Slide Falls you come to a dead end. There is no way to continue up the river to Fantasy Falls. The cliff comes straight down into the river bed. I could not cross the river. It was flowing at about 250 cfs and was not crossable. The only way is to go up and over the cliff. Getting up is not a problem, but getting down the other side is a problem. Actually, it was a huge problem because the other side is one immense and entire cliff. There is absolutely no way down. I scoured the entire length of the cliff and I found zero possible ways down. Now it was almost sunset. I had no choice but to retreat and go back down to Island Slide Falls, and camp there for the night. This was strike three for me. The first two tries were day hikes: the first time I ran out of daylight and did not even attempt getting over the cliffs. The second time I went the wrong way and again had to retreat. This time, I really thought I had a great route and was very confident I would make it all the way. I was not counting on that huge cliff and there being no possible way to get down it.

Well, I found a nice little spot close to Island Slide Falls. I barely had enough time to setup camp, eat my dinner, and take photos of the falls before dark. It was a very tiring day, but it was beautiful beside the waterfall and the North Fork Mokelumne River, and the sunset on the river was spectacular. It was a long weekend and I still had a couple more days. What could I possibly do the next day?

This weekend would be more of a scouting trip than anything else. It is almost mid November and it still has not rained. No rain in the long range forecast. I am depressed. However, I still wanted to go on a hike and find a new waterfall. I was pretty sure this particular waterfall would not be dry, and I hoped it would have decent flow. But would it?

It is a very long drive, I would not want to come out here to see a dry waterfall. The last 3 miles are extremely rough, and I decided to drive them instead of walk. My car did not appreciate it, but my body did when I got back to the car. I would not have to walk an additional 3 miles in the pitch blackness. At least I made sure to put batteries in my head lamp this time.

It is a pretty easy hike to the waterfall, all downhill for 3 miles, and all of it is on a dirt road except for the last part. Coming back up afterwards is a different story, but it is only 1000 feet gain, so it is not really too difficult.

I came to the first crossing of the river, one branch of it. It was completely dry. This is not a good sign. It is obvious that in the spring this branch has tremendous flow, the road is even washed out here from a flood. Perhaps it is from the flood of 2017, or perhaps some other time, I do not know. What I do know is that coming out all this way to see a dry waterfall would make me a very unhappy camper, but this is the smaller branch of the two, so maybe the other one was not dry. This is a river after all, not a creek. I would not expect it to be dry, however it is pretty close to the source so who knows.

As I approached the top of the waterfall, I could hear water. It was not dry! I crossed the river at the top of the falls and made my way down to the bottom on the other side. There was a lot of ice in the river even though it was a very warm day. I thought this was a bit odd.

I was not expecting much, but I had hoped the flow would be a bit better. Nonetheless, it was still very pretty. One very pleasant surprise: the waterfall was much bigger than I expected. When I found this on Google Earth, I estimated it was only about 40 feet high. It is not 40 feet high. It is a towering 69 feet high! In the spring this will be absolutely spectacular. I will definitely come back. It was a very successful scouting trip in Tahoe National Forest.