Leon Turnbull Photography

I took Friday off work with the intention of going on a big huge adventure in the Mokelumne Wilderness. It was going to be epic. Unfortunately, I came across very dangerous snow conditions. It is the end of June and there is still huge amounts of snow at high elevations. There was a big huge snow field with a deadly dropoff that I had to cross. There is no sense in dying. I had to retreat. I was bummed.

The next day, however, I returned to the Mokelumne Wilderness. I was much more optimistic about snow conditions for this second hike since the elevation would be a bit lower.

I would be hiking mostly on the Pacific Crest Trail. There was some snow on the trail, but nothing difficult, and the trail is very easy to follow. With so many people hiking this trail, it is clear to follow even if it is snow covered. I met a couple of PCT through hikers and chatted with them. They were happy and friendly. And why wouldn’t they be? They had just completed by far the most difficult section of the entire hike, making it through the Sierra Nevada (alive) after a huge winter snow pack. They said the creek crossings were challenging but not deadly. I thought that interesting because they must have come through at around peak flow. I would definitely think that some of the crossings would be impossible at that time. One of them told me about a very sketchy snow field that I potentially might have to cross in a few miles. Fortunately, I would be turning off the PCT before that point. Or would I?

There should have been a trail crossing the PCT and down to Pleasant Valley. It should be well defined. I saw it on Google Earth. Guess what? There was no trail. This was doubly odd because one of the through hikers I talked to said he saw the trail junction to Pleasant Valley. I do not know what he saw but there was most certainly no trail junction. I hiked right past the supposed trail junction. It was also extra difficult because in this area the PCT has been re-routed from the original trail. I found the old PCT and hiked along it for awhile, then went cross country,  came close to giving up, and then, miraculously, I found the trail to Pleasant Valley! Once on the trail, it is clear it has been traveled on somewhat occasionally because there are many rock cairns showing the way, but it is definitely very overgrown. You have to have an eagle eye to spot where the junction is with the PCT. It is not obvious whatsoever.

Once I came in view of the big waterfall, I needed to get off this overgrown trail, and cut straight down to the creek. It is steep, and you lose 1200 ft. of elevation, but it is not dangerous and there is a clear enough path going down.

I got all the way down to the creek and found a place to setup my tent. You cannot really see much of the waterfall from creek level, but there is a good view of it from 100 ft. higher up, so after dinner I climbed back up the mountain to take photographs. The total height of the falls is about 300 ft. high. It is a beautiful cascade. It does seem that others have been down in this canyon, but I have not heard of anyone else ever going down here. On this day and night, I was all alone at the bottom of this remote canyon in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

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I got up in the dark at 4:15AM, packed up quickly and headed up the mountain. I wanted to try to find a new waterfall. However, I totally underestimated the hike. It was an hour back up to the road. Then I had 3 miles to hike from there, however, it was off trail, with much elevation gain, through swamps, too much brush, and across icy hard (and dangerous) snow fields. It took far longer than anticipated. I was still at least an hour away from the falls when I realized the waterfall was already in the sun, and I had no chance to make it. I had run out of time, and I was past my turning around time. I needed to get back home. The animals I left alone all weekend would be starving by now. I will be back to this one some day when I have more time. Despite having to turn around, it was still an interesting hike with some great views of the Desolation Wilderness.

It was a very long hike back to the car. It was very hot as well (despite it being very cold in the morning). Thankfully, it was mostly downhill. I got back to my vehicle at noon, and home in time to have a big pizza for dinner. (and the animals were all fine of course).

This photo is the top section of Middle Bassi Falls from my campsite.

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I went up to Bassi Falls on Saturday morning. I did not get up early. I have been there many times before, and I have many good photos of Bassi Falls. Why would I go back to Bassi Falls? When the light would be very bad? The answer is: so I could get some video of the falls. I was not happy about the bad lighting, but I just did not want to get up at 3AM. So there.

Even though I was not super early, I was the first one to arrive at Bassi Falls. Bassi Creek is well past peak flow now, but it is still not crossable. An important point to note for later. It was not long before the hordes showed up. It was a Saturday. It was summer. I knew it would be busy at Bassi Falls, but I was not expecting all of this. By the time I left at 10AM, it was already super packed around the falls, and when I got back to the car, the parking lot was overflowed. Yikes! There was a time not long ago, when no one went to Bassi Falls, not even in summer. You needed a four wheel drive to get to the trailhead, so that was a big deterrent, plus no one knew about it. What happened? Is it because of Facebook/Instagram? I do not know. I do know it is extremely popular now. I was just talking to someone on Instagram who had a recent photo of Bassi Falls and they said they did not know the name of the waterfall and wanted to keep it secret. Secret? What is the point of that? That ship has long passed by, many years ago. Also, how can you come here (apparently, more than once) and not know the name of this waterfall? There are multiple signs saying “Bassi Falls”. You would have to be blind not to see them. And if you are blind, how could you see the waterfall?

It is also interesting to note (and I pondered this as I was sitting on the rocks by the waterfall), is that there is no trash at Bassi Falls. It is such a popular location, yet the lack of trash is very evident! This is an oddity! But it is a very happy oddity. Now having said that, as soon as I got up to leave, I immediately noticed two pieces of trash on the ground (which I picked up of course). Nonetheless, that is all I noticed. I did not look very hard, and I’m sure I could have found more if I did. Still, I was pretty happy to find extremely little garbage at Bassi Falls. In fact, it was so shocking that I was thinking I must be on a different planet.

My main plan for the weekend was to backpack to Middle Bassi Falls and camp there for the night. I was also hoping to find a brand new waterfall as well. I would not be going up to Middle Bassi the same way as I have done before. This was to be a new route, one that would put me on the correct side of the river (creek), in order to properly view and photograph the waterfall. The way I have gone in the past, you cannot view the falls very easily, and remember, the creek is still not crossable right now. I would not have to cross Bassi Creek with this new route, but is it even possible?

I just had my little car with me. The road is dirt and is really ok for cars, but there are many sharp rocks on the road, and I was really worried I would get a flat, which would be really bad way out here in the middle of nowhere. I parked two miles from the trailhead and walked the rest of the way. I saw zero people on this hike in these two days, except for one couple which I will mention below.

It is an extremely steep climb, gaining 1400 ft. of elevation. It is a huffer and a puffer. Once this is climbed, you need to drop off the road and down to Bassi Creek, losing 700 ft. of elevation. I was thinking this section could possibly be brushy and impossible to negotiate, but I mapped my route out on Google Earth, and thought I could do it. There was definitely a lot of brush and it would indeed be impossible if you do not do it correctly, but I did it correctly and there was not so much brush that I could not get through it. Really, it was not a problem at all. There were no trails. No human trails, that is. There were bear trails. I saw bear evidence (ie. Poop) even down at my campsite. It was not too fresh, but clearly bears (or bear) went down this way to get down to the creek (right beside where I had my tent setup). Lovely.

I found a perfect camping area at the top of Middle Bassi Falls. Well, not exactly perfect because it was not exactly flat, but it was good enough. There was a stiff breeze all afternoon and evening. I was not expecting this (according to the forecast), but it was extremely welcome, and it kept the mosquitoes completely away. I had a long wait until sunset. The falls would be in the sun right up until the end of the day. I tried to nap, laying down on the rocks, but there were a lot of ants and I constantly had to brush them off of me. At one point, I felt one on my leg and brushed it off, except it was not an ant. It was a bee! And it stung me! Ugh. Needless to say, I did not get any sleep.

I had some interesting visitors while I waited. There was a couple on the other side of the creek, who obviously came up the creek from the big waterfall downstream. I have done this before as well. It is extremely brushy going that route. Not recommended. I am sure that they wanted to cross Bassi Creek to get a better view of the middle falls. As I said above, you cannot see it very well from that side. It would certainly be foolish to attempt a crossing, however. They looked up and down the creek, but could not find a good way to cross it. I am sure they were wondering how the heck I got across the creek! Eventually, they gave up and went back down towards the big waterfall. I was all alone once more (just the way I like it). All the while this was happening I was giving the play by play to my wife (I had cell service here). Ha ha.

In the evening, the sun finally dipped below the mountains, and I went down to take my photographs. The middle falls is not very comparable to the huge waterfall downstream (it is only 28 ft. high), but the creek was rushing fast and furious down the granite rock, and it is a very exciting slide. It was a (surprisingly) cold night, but I slept fairly well. I would have to get up very early the next morning.

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One thing I can tell you is … You go to be free … Come Together … Right now … Over me.

So what happens when one incredible creek splits into three significant channels and then comes together at three separate waterfalls? Absolute magnificence, that is what.

The middle falls on West Cherry Creek looks huge from below. It is a strange thing. I thought there is no possible way I’m going to be able to climb up it. When you get up to the bottom of it, I found that it is not that big and it is not difficult to climb to the top. I suppose the actual drop is about 50 ft. or so, but it is hard to gauge the actual height. As I said the creek splits into three separate channels up at the big waterfall, and flows separately for quite a while until it comes to the middle falls, where it joins back together at three waterfalls. My favorite waterfall of the three was the one on the 3rd channel, on the other side (shown above). I got to this spot at the bottom of the falls on the 1st channel, and used it as a foreground for my photo. It is an amazing location. In order to see the main waterfall on the middle channel, I had to climb up above the falls, then cross the first channel. I had to go quite a ways above the falls before I found a safe place to cross the first stream, then hiked back down to the main falls (I have many more photos to process).

I slept very well, and took my time packing up in the morning. I was not in a rush to leave. I did not want to leave, it was so beautiful. But alas, eventually it was time to hike out of the canyon. It is a steep 1300 ft. climb back to the logging road. It took two hours (1.5 miles), the same as coming down. I felt good, and did not even feel that tired until some point along the long downhill slog of five miles on the logging road back to the car. Now I was tired and ready to go home.

There were hundreds of butterflies along the road. It was very cool. They would fly all around me as I walked along. They were smart enough to get out of the way before I would step on them. It made the boring walk on the logging road quite entertaining.

Finally, I got back to the car. I saw that someone had been up the road, and cut back some of the downed trees blocking the road. But he missed one of the trees, which I thought very odd. Why did he not cut this one, and how on earth did he drive by it? So weird. Anyway, I made the long drive home, stopping of course at Pizza Factory in Groveland, as I always do. It was a glorious trip into the Emigrant Wilderness.

 

 

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Last year, I took my son backpacking to West Cherry Creek, the upper part of the canyon. I said at that time that West Cherry Canyon was one of the most stunning places I have ever seen. This year, my top goal was to backpack into lower West Cherry Canyon. This past weekend I accomplished this feat, and again, I found the lower canyon is just as magnificent as the upper canyon. It was absolutely glorious and I found three fantastic waterfalls.

I am watching this Youtube channel of a Sierra backpacker whom I really like, but in his latest video, he said something that I found a bit odd. He basically said that he has nothing more to show on his channel. He has seen it all and shared it all from the Sierra Nevada. Really? The truth is he has not even scratched the surface of the Sierra Nevada. There is so much more to see. No one can see it all in a lifetime. Not even John Muir. I wish that all the followers on his channel would come over to my “waterfall madman” channel instead. I assure you, I have plenty more to share from the Sierra Nevada.

Lower West Cherry Canyon is a perfect example of this. There are no trails down into this canyon. I saw no evidence that anyone had ever been down there (well, almost none). I was a bit surprised by that. As I said, it is one of the most stunning canyons I have ever seen. I wanted my son, Jadon, to come with me again, but he refused to come this year. It was a little harder than upper West Cherry, but I am sure he could have done it.

The first part of the hike is along a dirt logging road and is very easy, gently gaining a few hundred feet in elevation. I could have driven further, but there was a downed tree blocking the road, so that meant I had to hike five miles on the dirt road. No big deal. I had all day. There were actually many trees down on the road, so it was not just the one that was stopping me. I saw a bear. A big brown one. It was only about a hundred feet in front of me, and it did not see me at all! It just continued meandering across the road and off to the other side. Because it did not see me, I was able to get my iPhone out, and I got a small snippet of video of the bear before it went off into the bushes on the other side. I’m not too sure how well the video turned out, but at least this time I have proof that I actually saw a bear (in case no one ever believes me).  I wonder if this is the year of the bear for me? A couple years ago, it was the year of the coyote. I saw plenty of those creatures that year. So far this year, I have seen three bears in two backpacking trips, so maybe it is the year of the bear. I hope so!

After five miles, I came to the spot where I needed to drop off the road and down to the bottom of the canyon. It is a 1300 ft. descent, and as I said there are no trails. Not true! I started out following a bear trail down into the canyon. It was definitely a bear trail and not human, because there was plenty of bear scat all over the trail. At least it was going the right direction, but them bears do not generally go where I want to go. Eventually I lost the bears and continued straight down. Now I came across the remnants of what seemed like an old human trail. This was the only human evidence I saw all weekend down here. It was very faint and hard to follow, but I guess it means others have definitely been down here at some point in the past. The descent is only 1.5 miles to the bottom, but it took two full hours. It was difficult and very slow going. There was some brush near the top that took some time to negotiate. Near the bottom, it opened up into granite rock (with stunning views), but it became quite cliffy. It should have been flattening out and getting easier. Instead, it was the opposite. It took a long time to find ways around these big granite drop-offs.

Eventually, I got down to the river – er I mean creek. West Cherry Creek was huge. I am not certain if peak snow melt has occurred yet in the Central Sierra, so I’m thinking the flow in the creek was around peak flow for this year (4400 cfs on the inflow to Cherry Lake – of which the west branch is half).

My initial plan was to camp up at the big waterfall. However, I could easily see that it was going to be very difficult to get up there, and perhaps it might not even be possible. There was another big waterfall I would have to climb up and it was bigger than I imagined (the second of the three waterfalls). I was also very tired from the hike down. I decided to go downstream to the third waterfall and have lunch there. After a rest, I would hike up to the big waterfall and find a campsite. I also wanted to see if I could even get down to view the third waterfall (I was not at all certain it would be possible).

The third waterfall on lower West Cherry Creek is located at the confluence of West Cherry and Cherry Creeks. When I arrived there, I found the most perfect campsite. It is a stunning location at the confluence with tremendous views upstream and downstream. I could also see that it was going to be possible to get down to see the third waterfall after all. Without a doubt, this was going to be my campsite for the night. I had my lunch, then setup my camp and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. I absolutely made the correct choice.

After dinner, I went upstream to photograph the first two waterfalls. It was not too difficult to climb up to the top of the middle falls and continue up river. However, we had an obstacle to overcome. Below the first waterfall, West Cherry splits into three separate channels, all significant, and continues on these separate channels for some distance until they come back together at the middle falls (which, as you can imagine, is three different waterfalls coming together at one spot – an incredible sight and I will share those photos later). I tried to continue upstream, but it became too difficult because of that first channel. It was clear I had to cross it. In some spots, it would be impossible to cross this creek, but I found a safe spot to wade across, and once across, it was easy to continue up to the first waterfall. However, I had to cross that creek again just below the first waterfall. It was a bit more difficult, but I managed to get back across.

Now I had a marvelous viewpoint of Lower West Cherry Creek Falls, 60 ft. high, and raging to all ends. I had about an hour to wait for the sun, so I explored a bit above the falls, and then rested, snacking, and just enjoying the moment. It was glorious.

After this, I went back downstream to photograph the middle and lower falls, then went to bed, very tired and very happy. I slept extremely well that night to the sounds of West Cherry and Cherry creeks.

 

 

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