Leon Turnbull Photography

Wow. What a find this one was. Happy Valentine’s Day to me!

I actually wasn’t even planning to go here. As I was falling asleep on Friday night I changed my mind to come here instead of my original plan. I figured the other one would be a waste of time with probably not even any waterfalls. Good choice Leon. I love it when a plan comes together.

The trail (logging road) starts at about 7000 ft. There was snow on the ground but not much, so I figured I wouldn’t need my snowshoes. Of course there should be 8 feet of snow right now, not six inches. Sigh. As I descended there seemed to be a bit more snow but it was hard and easy to walk on. Actually it was completely icy in places which made the steeper parts a bit treacherous to walk on. I wish I had brought a sled. That would have been fun. Instead, I just walked along very gingerly, hoping I would not slip on the ice and slide 100 ft. down the mountain. I didn’t, but there were a couple “almosts”.

The last part of the hike is off the road with a big descent down to the river. It was steep but a piece of cake really. No snow. No treacherous terrain. When I got to the river all I could say was WOW.

I arrived first at the upper sections of the waterfall – Middle Fork Cosumnes River Falls (shown here). You can see this upper part on Google Earth but it doesn’t look all that big. I wasn’t expecting to find much here at all, a 30 ft high falls at most. What I found was a 322 ft high falls. Yes you heard that right. These upper two tiers are 200 ft. high, with two more tiers below (120 ft.). It is all one gigantic waterfall. Of course, you cannot see all four tiers in one shot. But that is all right. I spent a long time here taking many photos from all sorts of angles and spots. I could not get right to the edge of the water, as it was too treacherous. One bad slip and I would be at the very bottom of the falls (in pieces). Who knew this waterfall was here? No one that I know of. It is not documented anywhere, yet it is such a major waterfall. Needless to say it was a tough climb back up the mountain, over a thousand feet back to the car, but it was well worth the money. I saw two more waterfalls as well today (more to come about that later).

My wife thought I should name this Valentine’s Falls because I found it on Valentine’s Day (and the name Middle Fork Cosumnes River Falls is just way too boring – those are her words, not mine). Valentine’s Falls sounds good to me. Does it sound good to everyone else?

I had no intention whatsoever to go back up to Upper Rattlesnake Creek Falls. I only wanted to go back to the Middle Falls because I did not have a good photo of that one. It was in the full sun last time I was up here a couple weeks ago. As I started the hike this was what I fully intended to do.

It was cold and snowy in Cisco Grove. This was a bit surprising because it was not supposed to snow at this low elevation from this storm (5600 ft.). There was not much snow on the ground, but it was blustery and I was already wet from my previous hike to Canyon Creek Falls. This would be a fun hike. Not.

Actually though, I warmed up quite quickly. The sun was even making a concerted effort to come out (and potentially ruin my photo taking). When I arrived at the bridge over Rattlesnake Creek, I found it to be raging. My thoughts about not going to the upper falls changed pretty fast. Resistance was futile! The more I climbed up the mountain, the more I started to feel it. The upper falls would be spectacular, and it is only about 1.5 miles past the Middle Falls. I might not get another chance like this in a long time, so I arrived at the Middle Falls in due order (which was stupendous – picture coming soon).  The sun was still hiding behind clouds, so I took my photos and continued the climb up the mountain. There were tons of little side streams and cascades coming down the mountain and across the road, over the road, and under the road, and along the road. Nothing really picture worthy, but certainly very interesting. At the upper falls (6400 ft.), I was hiking through snow. There were a good few inches on the ground, and more water and streams flowing along the road, making my feet very wet. The upper falls were crazy. It was impossible to get up close to it this time, so I had to take my photo from further back, standing carefully on a slick rock beside the raging creek. The sun came out shortly after taking my photos, and I made the hike back down to the car, rather starving by the time I made it back because it was well after noon by then. It was an awesome day in the Sierra.

So after my hike at Mile Hill Creek, I decided I just had to go see 144 ft. high Canyon Creek Falls after all. I am still looking for that monster flow at Canyon Creek. Would I finally get it?

It was wet and rainy, a perfect day for a hike. The rain was mostly light though, so I did not get too wet … until I slipped on a log while crossing over a stream, and ended up with both feet planted right in the water. Doh. Why I thought that flimsy log would hold my weight, I have no idea.

It is a pretty easy hike down to the overlook at Canyon Creek, and I made it in good time, picking up a couple ticks along the way – which I promptly sent along their way, over the cliff. I hope they had a nice flight.

It is a bit difficult to know exactly what the river flow was when I arrived because there is a delay in the water reaching the gauge at the North Fork Dam. The North Fork American River peaked at just over 10,000 cfs from the Rain-Ocalypse Part II, but that was in the middle of the night. By the time I got down here, I estimate it was around 6000 or 7000 cfs. We picked up 8.5 inches of rain in the Northern Sierra foothills, but it was all spread out. The river level was up and down all weekend. The river looked to be raging and much higher than when I was here in December (when it was around 4000 cfs), but Canyon Creek Falls looked exactly identical to how it looked in December. I could not even tell any difference from comparing my two photos. I guess I was hoping it would look a lot more impressive with higher flows, but it seems not. Nonetheless, I will still keep coming back here in the future. It is an amazing place. Unnamed waterfalls were streaming off the mountains. I could barely make out Lovers Leap in the distance through the fog. The Big Waterfall itself was almost in fog and I was fortunate that I was able to see it. It was an incredible day in the North Fork American River canyon.

My plan was to hike to Fantasy Falls on the North Fork Mokelumne River. I did not make it. But it was still a great day.

It is a long long long drive out to Salt Springs Reservoir. Along the way I saw two skunks and three raccoons in the road. That is a lot more wildlife than I usually see (not counting deer, squirrels, and birds). The first skunk was hilarious. As I drove up, he waddled off down the middle of the road with me following. He would not get off the road, even though there was plenty of opportunity for him. I could not pass him because the road was too narrow, so I followed him for a long time; finally he got off to the side so I could pass. The first raccoon did the same thing, except he took off at lightning speed. I did not think racoons could run so fast. According to the “internet” their top speed is 15mph, but I am certain this one was going quite a bit faster than that.

After all that adventure, it was time for an adventure of a different sort. I arrived at Salt Springs Reservoir in the dark, but I could not find where the picnic area was. There were no signs, except for one very unhelpful one. I even started walking down one path thinking it must be in that direction, but soon realized I was going on a very wrong path. By the time I finally found the correct trailhead, it was already getting light and I had wasted quite a bit of time. Argh. It is a very long 5 mile hike to the end of the reservoir. And mostly boring. How exciting is it to walk along a big reservoir, a reservoir that is incredibly low. How low was it, you ask? The reservoir is 5 miles long in length and quite wide of course, but right now it is only 3 miles long in length and probably only about 1/4 full in those three miles. Two miles from the end, there is no reservoir. There is just a river. The river was flowing pretty good, and actually too strong to cross (as I would find out later), but at this time of year, the reservoir should be mostly full, not so completely empty. Stupid drought. I’ve sure been saying that a lot lately.

At the end of the boring five miles you will find the Blue Hole (pictured here). At first I was not going to take a photo of it, thinking that it was too small, but I decided to go down to look at it, and when I got up to it, I thought it was just so cool, the way it slides down and hits a big rock ledge in the middle, sending the spray straight at you. So I just had to take a picture. I also measured it and found it is 24 ft. high in total, so actually it qualifies for inclusion on my website.

From the Blue Hole, the boring hike along the reservoir ends and the real fun begins. There is no more trail and it is another two miles up to Fantasy Falls; I really had no idea if it was possible to get to it via hiking. I had heard and read nothing about anyone ever doing this before. As I examined it on Google Earth, it looked feasible except for one particular spot, which looked extremely iffy. Then a few weeks ago, I found an entry on the internet where one guy claimed he hiked 4 miles up from the Blue Hole. Yet he mentioned nothing about Fantasy Falls, which he must have passed. I even wrote to him about it, but his response made things even more unclear. He said that the picture on his website was of Fantasy Falls, but it was clearly not a picture of Fantasy Falls. I highly suspected that he did not hike 4 miles up the river, and that he never did make it as far as Fantasy Falls. And now, after hiking up there myself, I am pretty sure that is true.

Yet there is a trail from the Blue Hole. It is very faint in places, and I lost the trail many times, but always came back to it. I finally got to the extremely iffy spot, where the cliffs come right down to the river. There was no continuing on from here. There were two options: cross the river, or attempt to climb up above the cliffs. I tried the river crossing first. I made it halfway across, at first it was just up to my thighs, but then realized I would not be able to make it the rest of the way. The river became much deeper and swift to continue any further. It was darn cold too. Strike one. What about the cliffs? Well, I made a few attempts in different places, and continually had to turn back down. Finally, on the very last try, I found a way up to the top, and I could see all the way up river (Fantasy Falls was out of sight, around a corner). The view of the Mokelumne Wilderness from the top of this ridge was absolutely stunning. The beautiful valley stretched out before me, with snow covered mountains way off in the distance, and towering cliffs looming over me from across the valley. I was in awe and wonder, and in a very real way it reminded me of this awesome song by Geoff Moore:
Every mountain, every valley
Your creation, it surrounds me
Every breath I breathe, every heartbeat
Every sunrise that You give to me
These and so much more, tell a story we cannot ignore
The evidence of God

I could also see that it might be possible to continue on and I actually might make it all the way to Fantasy Falls. However, by this point I had reached my turning around time. You should always have a turning around time, the time that you absolutely must turn back if you have not reached your destination. It took a lot of extra time attempting to find the trailhead, crossing the river, trying to find a way up the cliffs, and now I had reached the time limit. The waterfall was still a long way away. I estimated that it would be at least 45 minutes more to reach it, if not more. If had continued on, I would most definitely be hiking back in the dark. I had no light with me, I would have run out of water, and I would certainly be bonked from the hike as I was already at my limit physically, and I would probably be stuck out in the dark all night with the mountain lions (and skunks and raccoons). It was time to hike back. As it is, I made it back to the car only an hour before dark. Another 45 minutes up to the falls and back, plus time to photograph it, you do the math. Anyway, the good news is that I think it is actually possible to hike to Fantasy Falls, and I will definitely try it again now that I know the correct way to go. It probably won’t be anytime soon, but I will be back someday.

After Donner Summit, I headed back quickly to Cisco Grove for my second hike (well, as quickly as I could without getting a speeding ticket of course). It was a 3 mile hike, but I estimated that I had plenty of time before the sun would be shining on the waterfall. Yet I was still worried about it. The sun was already high and seemingly already shining brightly in the canyon. Did I miscalculate?

There was a big no parking sign at the trailhead, so I had to drive back up the road a ways to a big turnout. Could I park here? There were no signs indicating not, but I was not sure. As I was contemplating this, a cop pulled up behind me. I was going to ask him if it was ok to park here, but he took off. I guess that means it is ok to park here? Well that is just what I did (crossing my fingers that it would be ok). As an aside, when I came back down afterwards, there were three cars parked where the signs said no parking. I wonder if I could have parked there as well? I’m not sure I would want to take that chance, though. Another strange thing I saw as I started up the road, which passes a campground. There were a ton of people tent camping there. This is winter, high elevation, and the temperatures are below freezing at night. You would think maybe one or two crazies might be camping at this time of year, but the campground was almost full. I think it was some kind of special event or something, but it was very strange to see it.

Anyway, the good news was that Rattlesnake Creek had quite a bit of water in it. I was even quite a bit surprised. I am pretty sure the creek is dam controlled, so I guess the lake above was full and spilling. I was not complaining about it, anyway. I made a quick stop at the lower falls and photographed it from the road. I didn’t take much time as I was worried I didn’t have any time. I also discovered another surprise waterfall further up the road. I did not stop at it on the way up. Again, no time. I should have stopped, but I’ll come back to it some other day. I finally made it to the upper falls. It is hidden in a canyon, blocked from the sun, and it turned out I had plenty of time to photograph it, but not an overabundance of time so it was good that I hurried up to it as I did. It is a pretty fantastic 46 ft. high waterfall, crashing over the rocks into the little canyon, and it is nice that you can pretty easily get right up close to it. I’d definitely like to come back here when the creek is going at full tilt. It would be amazing. I spent a bit of time here enjoying the falls, then made my way back down the road where I found my car still there and not towed. It was a great day in the Sierra Nevada.