Leon Turnbull Photography

This is the Lower Middle Fork Tuolumne River Falls. An incredibly stunning 182 ft. high waterfall (and before last year, was almost completely unknown). This image was taken back in the spring though I had not posted it before now.  It is located in a spectacularly beautiful area with three amazing waterfalls practically side by side. At least it was a spectacularly beautiful area. Is it still? Of course it is! Nevertheless, this area has been hit hard by the Rim Fire, one of the largest fires in the history of California. It will certainly be interesting to go back here after the fire is done, and see how the area has changed. It will undoubtedly be significant.

It seems that a lot of people are upset by this fire. So much more so than any other fire I remember. Yes this area will be different now. For better or worse I don’t know. Fire is a natural and necessary part of the ecosystem. Fire is not a bad thing, but yes there will be a lot of damage. The fire is much bigger than it should be, and there are many factors why. Nonetheless, the waterfalls will still be there. The lakes and rivers will still be there. It will still be beautiful. As for myself, I’m looking forward to going back to this area.

Well this was certainly a fine and pleasant surprise. And not exactly what I had planned either. Or rather not at all what I had planned.

My objective for Friday evening was to go back to Fordyce Falls. PG&E still has Fordyce Creek cranking out at 450 cfs. I’m sure any day they will turn off the faucet, so I wanted to get out there before that happens. Unfortunately there just happens to be a little forest fire in the area. A big one, actually. The American Fire is raging in the North Fork American River Canyon near Foresthill. Fordyce Creek is up near the top of the pass at Yuba Gap, so it is not exactly in the same area but the smoke is hovering over the pass. It was really quite a sight to see driving up I-80. There is a huge mushroom cloud ominously stretching out across the sky. The light is strange, and the color is remarkable. The hike to Fordyce Creek begins at Fuller Lake which is on the edge of the cloud, so I would be hiking right into that looming disaster. I really felt it would be unwise to make an 8 mile hike through all that smoke. It did not seem too bad at Fuller Lake, but to hike 8 miles through the midst of it would be extremely unhealthy. It would probably be like smoking 10 packs of cigarettes all at once. I’m not a smoker, not even for a waterfall. I decided to go back.

But I wanted to do something. After all, I drove all the way up here. I thought maybe I could go for a hike back in the Colfax area. I remembered this waterfall I had heard about on Osita Creek, so I looked up the directions on my iPhone. It is an easy hike, the weather was very warm, and the bugs were obnoxious. I had absolutely zero thoughts of seeing a waterfall here. I was certain the creek would be bone dry, I was only wanting to scout it out for the winter. Essentially, wasting time because I needed to go on at least one short hike.

I had read that this waterfall was only 20 ft. high and that it was man-made. This is the main reason I had never been here before. I had no desires to see any small, man-made waterfall. Boring. Well, I had three fine surprises in one: the creek was flowing half decently of all things, it is much more than 20 ft. high, and it is *not* a man-made waterfall. I did not bring my measuring stick so I am not sure exactly how high it is. Normally I always carry my tape measure (I mean, laser rangefinder) but this time I was not planning to go to any new waterfall and I was trying to save as much weight as possible for a 8 mile hike to Fordyce Creek. Bummer. I estimate though that this waterfall is at least 35 ft. high, perhaps closer to 40 ft. That is about twice the height I had read. Usually when someone says a waterfall is 20 ft. high, it is much less than that. This time it was the opposite. Weirdness indeed. Also, I was happy to find it is not man-made at all. It does flow through a man-made tunnel under the canal at the top of the falls which is unfortunate and detracts from the beauty, but it is still a natural waterfall. As for the flow, I was just shocked to see it so decent in this dry year. Still though, it will be much better to see it in the winter, and I for one will surely be back here.

I went back to Horsetail Falls again after work on Friday. It is the only waterfall around here that is still flowing decent. This is what I like to do in the summer, … go to Horsetail Falls. It sure seems I go here a lot anyway. Well, I guess it is a pretty sweet waterfall. Heh heh.

The weather was a lot cooler than when I came here a few weeks ago with my son. Twenty degrees cooler, actually. 63 degrees when I started the hike. Now that is sweet. The water flow, however, seemed quite a bit down since the last time. It is still quite nice though, especially considering everything else is bone dry. In fact, I may even come back again in a couple weeks.

I went to the bottom of the falls again, which is a very cool spot, no doubt my favorite little spot at this waterfall. I have been here before and gotten decent shots, so basically this time around I was just playing around. I was going for some super long exposures of the water. This one here is a 60 second exposure. I did longer ones too, but this was my favorite shot. My wife probably hates it. She doesn’t like the silky waterfalls that I like to do (which I almost always do in my photos) – so this one is probably light years over the top for her. As for me, I think it is very dreamy, but I also found that I don’t really have the patience for these super long exposures. Waiting around for two minutes per shot, whilst standing in the very cold water, umm, not exactly super exciting. Ah well, it does create a cool effect on the water. I guess I can handle it once in awhile.

I think I actually found a road that is worse than Bowman Lake Road. I know, I know, it is hard to believe, and I hate to admit it really, but yeah it does exist. Have you ever driven the road to Fordyce Lake? Well, just don’t, ok. Trust the waterfall guy.

I had never been up to Fordyce Lake before, though I have hiked Fordyce Creek from the bottom, but not all the way up to the lake. It is something like 10 miles one way, so it would be a tad crazy to go all that way to the lake in one day. I am crazy though, but not to do that hike. This week, the powers that be pumped up the volume from the Fordyce Lake dam. It was spitting out at 440 cubic feet per second, which is quite high and rather odd considering it is a drought year. I watched the gauge like a hawk all week long, and I was certain the tap would be shut off before the weekend. Please stay on, please stay on. Friday finally rolled around, and the dam was still cranking out the water. Sweet news!

After work I made the drive up I-80 to Cisco Grove and bounced onto the dirt road going to Fordyce Lake. It is 7 miles to the lake, and the road starts off bumpy and just gets worse from there. It is also a popular road. There was a heckuva lot of traffic on this crazy road, and they all seemed to be zipping up the road at outrageous speeds (ie. much faster than me). I even saw regular cars driving up the road. They weren’t zipping mind you, but it is definitely outrageous to drive up this road in a small car. About a mile before the lake, the road starts going downhill, and gets much worse. Monster ruts. Big rocks. As I started driving down, I realized this was going to be bad. At that point, I did not think I could back up the hill, and I certainly could not turn around. I thought maybe I could go on, and it seemed I had no choice. Big mistake. Within moments, I bottomed out the SUV. I was stuck, and stuck good. I could not go backwards now, that is for sure. There was no one else around. What happened to all that traffic I saw? Where did they all go? Were their little cars swallowed up in one of the ruts? For awhile, I was thinking I might be stuck there all night. Well, it was not too long before some guys in a big truck came up the road from the lake below. They were able to push me out of the rut and once out, I backed up the hill to the top without difficulty and parked. Whew! I realized later that it is actually a good thing I got stuck where I did. If I had managed to get down to the bottom of the road, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to drive back up later that night (when no one would be around to help). Even some trucks I saw afterwards were having troubles going up this hill, including the guys who helped me. I think sometimes God helps us out even in our stupidity, and this was certainly one of those times for me.

Anyway, it was now much later than I anticipated and I still had to walk a mile to the lake. I had grand plans of hiking down the creek quite a distance from the dam but it was too late for that now. I decided on just going to the first waterfall on the creek, Eraserhead Falls, which is the main one I wanted to see anyway. I cut off the main road onto a OHV trail which went down to the creek near the waterfall. There were jeepers down there at the bottom playing around on the big ruts and big rocks. Unfortunately for me, they were right near the waterfall. So my peace and quiet at the falls was ruined by the sounds of the jeepers. They weren’t doing anything wrong, it is an official OHV trail, but it is just a bummer they had to be right there where I wanted to be and at that time. Go home people, this is my waterfall.

Well actually, it is not much of a waterfall to be precise about the matter. It is more of a rapid than a waterfall, and although it may look not too shabby in this photo, it is actually a pretty shallow descent, and not all that impressive. It is a long rapid for sure, but only 20 feet in actual height. I suppose it is the biggest falls on this creek though, the others are all well under 20 ft high. Anyway, I would really like to tell you that I will never ever drive that road again up to Fordyce Lake. It was a nightmare and a half. However … I discovered a new waterfall while I was here, and although it was not flowing much, it is a big one, and I definitely will need to come back here in the spring sometime to see it when it is gushing. So brave the road again, I will.

I am just taking a short break from Oregon waterfalls to bring you the latest from northern California. On Friday evening after work, I took my son and went up for a quick hike back to Horsetail Falls, the 790 ft. monster you can see from Hwy 50, if you are not driving that is – cuz if you are driving and look too hard, you might end up in the ditch. You know what they say, don’t text and drive. Also don’t gaze at huge waterfalls and drive. Anyway … the temperature in Sacramento was 100 degrees on Friday. Up at the trailhead it was 81 degrees when we started. Not too bad actually. I was thinking it might be a bit warmer than that. Surely it would cool off quickly once the sun went behind the mountains. That is what I told Jadon anyway.

Obviously I have been to Horsetail Falls many times before, but I still feel I have not completely explored all possibilities here for photography. It is such a very diverse waterfall with so many different elements. There are two reasons why I like coming to Horsetail Falls in the summer. Firstly, the mosquitoes are tame. There are never too many of the little buggers here and on this day we were not bothered at all. If you go to other areas of the Desolation Wilderness, such as Wrights Lake or up at Lake Tahoe, you will be devoured and left wanting. Not so at Horsetail Falls. Secondly and most importantly, it is essentially the ONLY waterfall in the Sacramento area that flows in the summer (or flows very well at least). But even so, I admit I was surprised at how strongly it is still gushing right now. There is much more flow this year then when I was here in mid July last year. Shocking really, considering this is the second year of our drought. Jadon remarked on this right away, and he was right. I had to look back at my pictures from last year before I could remember (old age, you know).

Jadon also said there were a lot more other hikers compared to last year. Well, that is something I surely have no idea about. I will take his word for it though. The really odd thing though is that three separate people commented to me, asking if we were backpacking. No folks, really, it is only my camera bag! Do I really carry so much gear on my hikes that I look as if I am backpacking?!?!? The funny thing about it is that I don’t think anyone has ever asked me that before, and then on this day, three people ask me in a row. It must be a conspiracy or something. But Jadon also said my camera bag looks like it could be a backpack. Well I suppose all that camera gear is sure heavy enough, I may as well be backpacking.

Because the creek was flowing much higher than I expected, I could not get to the spot where I wanted. I probably could have gotten down there but it would have been too dangerous for Jadon, so I decided to skip it and just take pictures from the usual location. Actually, although this composition is very similar to the one from last year, it is slightly different. This year, I went down on the ledge to get closer to the falls and a slightly better angle. Last year, I felt it too dangerous to go down there, but this year I felt perfectly safe about it. It is odd, and I am not sure why. I don’t think the rocks would have been any more slippery last year, but that is what I felt in my mind. Nonetheless, I was very careful to not get too close to the edge. Which is exactly what some other lady did when I was down there photographing the waterfall. She came up behind me and went right down to the very edge of the creek to take a quick snapshot. Really? One little slip is all it would take, and she would have been swept down the creek and over the last waterfall. Bye bye birdie.

When we got back down to the car, I checked the temperature. It was 79 degrees. It had cooled off a whopping 2 degrees for our hike back down. We were sweating galoshes by the end of the hike. Oh well. We had lots of fun at Horsetail Falls.