Leon Turnbull Photography

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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The next day I decided to pack up and hike back home. I was not exactly certain what I wanted to do, stay a second night, or hike back out? There were potential thunderstorms on the forecast for this day, and there was nothing else (no other hikes) I could do all day anyway, so I just decided to go home.

I got up very early and packed up my gear quickly. I wanted to be sure to photograph that upper falls in good light. It was only a half mile but still took over 30 minutes. That brush! I barely made it to the upper falls in time. I am calling this one Far Upper Big Granite Creek Falls. It is about 50 ft. high in two tiers. It is perhaps the lost one on this creek amidst the big waterfalls downstream, but it is a very cool and powerful waterfall. Yet another waterfall discovery by yours truly, the waterfall madman.

On that note, I have a comment to make. Other than Russell and Tom 13 years ago, I know of NO OTHER person that has ever been to the upper Big Granite Creek waterfalls. It is an extremely strenuous hike. There are many difficulties and many treacherous spots. I was almost certain no other person has ever been down there. And yet … there is a faint path along the creek, which I spotted occasionally from this far upper falls down to the big waterfalls. It is so faint it is basically non-existent. I assumed it was a bear trail. I was certain it had to be a bear trail. But as you get closer to the big waterfalls, it is more defined. The bears would not go down to these waterfalls (then again, maybe bears like waterfalls too). Seriously, it is obviously a human path down near the falls. This path was not made by two people 14 years ago. So who has been here? When were they there? Why have I not heard that anyone has else has ever been here? It is so faint, I wonder if it was made by people a long time ago, before Russell/Tom were there. It all just seemed very strange.

I made my breakfast at the upper falls, enjoying the moments with my coffee as the sun rose above the mountains to shine down on me and the waterfall. Then it was time to make the long, very difficult, 1900 ft. climb out of the canyon. When I finally got to the top, I could see the storm clouds starting to roll in. I was on an exposed ridge, and a thunderstorm was just behind me. I needed to get down off that ridge quick. Actually, the storm seemed to be going in the other direction. I had a tiny bit of rain fall on me, but nothing to write home about. Then …

My GPS died. To be more specific, my batteries died. I couldn’t believe it. Three sets of batteries should have been MORE than enough to last for 2 days. It wasn’t. Indeed, the last set of batteries only lasted about 3 hours even though they should have been fully charged. How could that have happened? Well, I was not on any trail or road. There was 10 feet of snow on the ground. I was lost … but … not exactly. I had a backup on my iPhone (Gaia GPS). With the Gaia map, I easily figured out which way to proceed and successfully found the way to my vehicle in short order. I have never needed to use it before, but if I did not have this backup, I would have been lost. There were no signs, no trails, no way to determine which way I needed to go. Honestly, I did not load the Gaia map on my phone before this hike, so I believe God was looking out for me here. This is a lesson learned (for me). Always make sure you have a good backup. This is critical for everyone, in my opinion. Remember that guy who got lost at Loch Leven Lakes a couple years ago and almost died? He not only did not have any backup system, he did not have a way to call for help either. Everyone needs to have a reliable navigation system (whatever it is) and a reliable backup. I can easily see (especially after this weekend), how someone can get lost in the wilderness. Even if you always hike on a trail, it is still possible to lose the trail and get turned around, but if there is snow or if you hike off trail, then it is doubly important. There is my two cents.

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Before we move on to the Ireland part of my overseas trip, let’s take a break and go back to my favorite area in the world: The North Fork American River. I have not been idle since I got back from the U.K., and indeed will not be idle in the near future. This is the best time of the year in California. The snow is melting, the waterfalls are raging, and the mosquitoes are not out yet. Since it is a big snow year, you know I will be out there enjoying it. How about you? By the way I still have tons of Scotland waterfall photos to process as well!

I first heard about these big waterfalls on Big Granite Creek thirteen years ago. Yes, that is correct. Thirteen years ago I started planning (or thinking about) this trip. It took me that long to get there. It was one of the most grueling and strenuous hikes I have ever done, and I am already planning a return trip. It was so incredibly amazing.

In 2006, the late Russell Towle and waterfallswest friend the Gambolin Man (Tom McGuire) came here. Tom almost died (literally) crossing the creek at the top of the waterfalls. You can read about their adventure if you do an internet search. When they were here, the flow in the North Fork American was at about 1800 cfs at the North Fork Dam. This past weekend the flow was about 50% higher than that (around 2500 to 2800 cfs). My best guess estimate was that Big Granite Creek itself would have a flow of at least 200 cfs. I think in actuality that it was quite a bit higher than this (at least 300 cfs). You do the math. Crossing Big Granite Creek would be out of the question. And yet … to get here you MUST cross Big Granite Creek. Was I foolish or suicidal or both to try the hike this weekend?

My 13 year plan in the making was to *NOT* go the same route they did. Obviously, I could not go the same route they did. I was hiking earlier in the year because of a couple big reasons: I would like to see the waterfalls at a bit higher flow. Also, and more importantly, I thought that with snow still on the ground, it would be easier to hike because the route is so very brushy. There is no trail. With snow covering up the brush, it should be easier. In retrospect, I think I picked the most perfect time to go. If there was any more snow, I don’t think I would have made it. But that creek crossing!

There was 5-10 feet of snow on the ground when I began the hike, climbing up to about 6900 ft. in elevation. The snow was very hard packed. I did not need my snow shoes, yet I carried them up anyway. I anticipated needing them, and indeed I would need them. My pack was much heavier than usual for this hike. I was carrying about 8 pounds of extra gear that I would normally not carry, but I expected that I would need all this gear: snowshoes, water shoes for the creek crossing, rope, and extra food. I thought I was prepared enough, but should have brought more, and this is one of the reasons I want to go back.

When I got to the top of the mountain, you need to descend down the other side. It is a 1900 ft. drop in elevation down to the waterfalls. It is a very steep descent in some places. I came to the first steep part, and I realized I would need to put on my snow shoes. I should have had my micro spikes! I left my spikes at home, thinking snowshoes would be good enough, but spikes would have been better. However, on the return trip the next day the snow was much softer. Snowshoes were much better in that situation. I should have had both. I was very careful on this first section of the descent with my snowshoes. Plant one foot solidly in the snow at a time. I made it down the steep section. My snowshoes broke. Well, not exactly. The binding on one of the shoes was hanging on by a thread. If it broke off, I would be screwed enormously. Would it hang together until I got home the next day? (it did, thankfully).

I continued on. I came to the end of a little (still frozen) lake at which I needed to cross the outlet stream. There were steep snow dropoffs on both sides of the creek. It was with great difficulty and after much scouting, when I finally found a way across. On the other side, I needed to climb up the side of a steep cornice. This was very hairy. Again, spikes would have been better than snowshoes. I almost turned back at this point. Not because of the cornice or stream crossing, but because I knew things were about to get much worse. There were going to be two more very steep and probably cliffy descents, much worse than the first one (when I first put on the snowshoes). I was almost certain that it would be far too treacherous to go down these in my snowshoes. I decided to just continue on to the top of the cliffs, and see what it was like. And then….

The snow disappeared! Now that I was on the south side of the mountain, the snow was all melted. I was able to walk down the cliffy sections in my hiking boots. It is a good thing too, because I certainly would not have been able to go down if there was snow, but with no snow it was very easy. This was a huge blessing, and an unexpected one, because I thought there would still be a lot of snow at this point. I carried my snowshoes all the way to the bottom. It would have been nice to leave them at the top, but there was no good obvious place to do so, and I thought I still might need them further down. As I got to the bottom, I was still not confident I was going to make it all the way to the waterfalls. That creek crossing!

This is where I planned to cross Big Granite Creek. I was a few miles upstream of the big waterfalls, and somewhat near (but not precisely near) the creek source. I did not even get my feet wet! It was simple to just rock hop across the creek. Easy smeasy!

After crossing this creek way up near the source, my plan was to just follow it all the way down to the waterfalls. At first it was pretty easy. There was even snow down along the creek, and since it was hard packed it was easy (easier) to just walk on top of it. I had left my snowshoes at the creek crossing. I would not need them anymore. And then …

When I came to the first of the waterfalls, things became much more difficult. It became extremely brushy. I am not referring to the big waterfalls, but there are a couple others much further upstream. I knew about these waterfalls and I planned to photograph them – which I did (these are new discoveries, and were not seen by Towle/McGuire). It looked easy enough on Google Earth to get around them, however they were NOT easy to get around whatsoever. Once again, I almost turned around here. I could not figure out how to get by the waterfalls. It was just far too brushy, and I was also well past my physical limits. It is only a 6 mile hike one way. It took 8 hours to hike this 6 miles (each way). That is over 1 hour for each mile. It was grueling, and I was absolutely exhausted. I was going to just find a spot to camp along the creek somewhere (but it was so brushy, I did not even see any possible campsites).

So in fact, I actually did turn around and start heading back upstream to find a campsite. I took one last look back over my shoulder. Wait! Is that an opening through the brush? I may as well go check it out. It was an opening indeed. Right around this point, I saw two bears, the first two I have seen this year so far. They looked to be juveniles, perhaps brother and sister, and when they saw me they ran away from me, leading me on the path through that brush. Thank you, my friends. And they were my friends. All bears are my friends: I LOVE seeing bears in the wilderness. We were way high above the creek, but there was a good opening through all that brush. I then had to drop back down to the creek, away from the bears, and down to the bottom of the waterfalls, a couple hundred feet down. I got down, but still there was no place to make camp.

I continued downstream, looking for a campsite. It was still very brushy down here and difficult hiking. I finally found a decent place. There was not much room for the tent because it was very rocky, but it was a nice open area near the creek. It would do for me.

At 5PM, after dinner, I went downstream to see the big waterfalls. Big Granite Creek was absolutely raging, and as I knew, there would be no way to cross if I came the Towle/McGuire route. Now for the crazy part …

I came to the first big waterfall. I knew it was a dangerous and tricky descent to get down. This is why I brought my rope. If your name is Russell Towle, you may have no need of a silly rope, but for me, I always play it safe. I did not know if I would need the rope, but I did need it, and I did use it. I do not think I would have tried it without, but with a rope, it was not too horrible getting down.

This first big drop on Big Granite Creek (shown here) is my favorite.  It is absolutely spectacular, about 150 ft. high, and just so incredibly powerful and magnificent. Below this, there are more big drops. I needed more rope to descend down the next sections. You can also see the tall and majestic West Snow Mountain Falls free falling into the main channel. It is an overpowering experience being at this location. You can see why I am already planning the return.

 

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