Leon Turnbull Photography

When life gives you liver, just take the onions instead. The philosophy of a madman. Ha ha.

I was not planning to go this waterfall at all. It was not even on the radar for this weekend but it turned out to be a pretty decent consolation prize.

I was planning to backpack down to the bottom of a certain secret canyon to see a certain secret waterfall. It was going to be awesome. The hike was about 9 miles one way. It was going pretty well. I had to make a couple detours and a couple off road bushwhacks but I made it to the top of the ridge. Now I just had to get down to the bottom. I had a good route mapped out. I was pretty sure I could do it but it is a 1200 ft. descent. It was killer tough. Very steep with lots of deadfall and bushwhacking. I made it down 1100 ft. I was cliffed out. You have got to be kidding me. There was no possible way to continue the rest of the way to the bottom. No possible route around the cliff. I was done. Oh man. I was bummed. I was beat tired. Now I had to bushwhack back up the 1100 ft. to the top and carrying my heavy backpack as well.

It took a long time to climb out. About 1 and a half hours. I was going very slowly. I bonked. Eventually I made it back to the top of the ridge. I certainly did not have energy to hike the 9 miles back to my car and go home. I had to find a place to camp. Near some water (which is quite lacking at the top of this ridge). A thought occurred to me. When I went to Onion Creek Falls last year I remembered hiking past a small stream on the way back. That would be a good place to camp for the night. It would be on the roadside (again) – another lovely camping location – not, but it was not far from where I currently was and there would definitely be water. In addition to this I could go to Upper Onion Creek Falls in the morning before I hiked back to my car. I had not been to this one before so it would be a good consolation prize.

The roadside camp was a little better than Breakneck Creek. At least this time I had a view overlooking the canyon. I setup camp, made my dinner, watched a movie, and went to bed.

The hike to Upper Onion Creek Falls in the morning was supposed to be very easy. So I thought. It would be an easy road walk to the top of the falls then a fairly easy descent down to the creek. Umm, not even close madman! I should know better by now, you would think. Firstly, there was no road. I had to traverse the mountain along a steep ridge through much brush. This is not what I wanted to do this morning at all. I was still tired from the day before. Secondly, when I finally made it to the falls I found not an easy descent down to the creek but instead an extremely cliffy hillside. There was no possible way to get all the way to the bottom of the waterfall. I very slowly and very carefully worked my way down the cliff. I had to use my rope at the end but I finally got down to a spot where I had a good view of the waterfall. Essentially I was hanging on to the edge of the cliff for dear life while I took my photos. But it worked.

Upper Onion Creek Falls is a fantastic waterfall and it is a lot bigger than I expected. I estimated it to be about 80 ft. high. It is a beauty but the access is crazy to say the least.

I hiked back up the mountain and found an easier way back to my campsite to collect my backpack. It was 9 miles back to my car and it was not easy with over 1000 ft. elevation gain but I made it back to the car by 2:30PM. Along the way I saw my first two bears of the year. They saw me first. I would not have even seen them but I heard a loud scratching sound and when I turned to look to see what the heck it was I saw one of the bears climbing down a tree. The second one was still up in the tree looking at me. They were young ones, perhaps a year old. I tried to get my camera out but he scampered down too quickly and then they were both gone. Ah well, it was a great ending to a very tough backpacking trip in Eldorado National Forest.

As for that secret waterfall? I will definitely be back some day to try again.

I have lately noticed a lot of blatant disregard from hikers breaking the law. And then posting it on social media! I’m talking about hiking on closed trails and flying their drones in national parks. If caught doing these things you could get a very large fine. Or worse. The trails are closed for a good reason (due to fire damage or ice fall or whatever it is). If something happens when you are in there and you need to be rescued then you are making others risk their lives to come rescue you. And by posting your illegal hike on social media you are also now encouraging others to break the law. What happens if they get seriously hurt or die? These people just don’t care about breaking the rules. Am I being too much of a stickler? Perhaps but I don’t really think so.

Anyhow … we finally got a bit of snow this weekend. Unfortunately it was not much; we sure do need a lot more this month. The forecast indicated there was a good chance this first waterfall on Canyon Creek would have snow on Saturday morning. It is fairly low elevation so it is extremely rare that it has snow but I thought it would be awesome to see it covered in snow. So off I went.

It was a very sad day in our household. Our youngest cat Strider passed away suddenly. He was only five years old. He was perfectly fine the day before and we think he had an aneurysm or something like that. He was a very adorable cat and died way too young. But I did not know about this when I left for my hike in the morning. (he died while I was gone).

I arrived at the trailhead and it was indeed snowing, and it was sticking also. It snowed the entire hike down to the falls. I was definitely thinking that my wishes for a snowy waterfall were going to come true. The good thing about the snow is it means no ticks! The bad thing is that the trail is a lot trickier with some very dangerous spots. The first part seemed to be a better defined trail but there were also a large number of new blowdowns on it so this made it quite a bit more difficult and harder to follow (it is hard enough not to get lost on this trail). Before too long I arrived down at the creek crossing. I made my way easily across the cold creek (I do sure miss the bridge here), then up the other side and to the first waterfall viewpoint.

It was still snowing but down here at 2500 ft. it was not sticking. There was a little bit of snow on the ground but not on the rocks at the waterfall so my snowy waterfall wish did not come true. However …  across the canyon the waterfall was in fog and this made the scene very cool. An unexpected surprise indeed.

I decided not to continue down to the Big Waterfall because there is one extremely sketchy spot where you definitely do not want to slip and with the wet rocks it would have been very dangerous. I retreated up the canyon, across the creek, and got back to my car by about 11AM. It was a beautiful foggy and snowy day in Tahoe National Forest.

So it begins. This week we are finally receiving our first big snow storm of the season. Over six feet of snow on the mountains in just a single storm. Wham! This will help our snow pack tremendously though we will still be well below average after this week. Let’s bring it on for the rest of this season. Please!

Speaking of beginnings, we bought a white Jeep Grand Cherokee this week. We named her Yeti. I’m not really sure the name will stick like the Gator but anyway it’s a nice car. I like it. Where should I take her on her first adventure? Foresthill of course! It is my favorite place, it would be a great choice for Yeti’s first time in the mountains. That is not the main reason I went back to Foresthill, however.

I wanted to return to this waterfall because of a couple reasons: I thought it would be flowing really well and I wanted to explore further downstream. Also, after this week the area will be inaccessible until spring. It snowed four inches earlier this last week. The snow levels were very low elevation. The road was very icy and snowy. Yeti’s first time in the snow. She handled it well. I drove up to Tadpole and parked there. Interestingly, the only other car up there that early was a dark green Ford Expedition. Wait, is that the Gator??? No it was not. That car continued up the road to the top of Canada Hill. My plan was to go to West New York Canyon.

I was walking through 4 inches of snow for the entire hike down to the waterfall viewpoint. There was snow all the way, 1500 ft. below where I started the hike. A couple stupid things: I should have worn my big hiking boots instead of my hiking shoes. My feet were frozen for the whole hike. Secondly, I should have brought my spikes. I did not really need them (fortunately) but it would have been good to have them in case. I was not expecting any snow at all down at the waterfall.

The very last part down to the viewpoint is steep and I had to be careful but it wasn’t too bad. I was not able to explore further. It was far too dangerous to continue because of the snow. Perhaps if there was no snow I could have gotten down. I don’t know but I’m sure I will be back to try sometime in the future. There is definitely another waterfall down there.

The flow in the creek was low and not as nice as I hoped. I think that is because all the precipitation from the last storm fell as snow not rain and the snow is not melting. Still, it was very pretty. The snow around the waterfall was gorgeous. It was a great day in Tahoe National Forest and Yeti agrees.

I am calling this one Far Upper Wabena Creek Falls. It is a pretty little thing, 32 ft. high. A little cutie pie. It was surprisingly easy (or not difficult) to get down to this one (and the big waterfall as well). I was expecting a lot of cliffs. There were not any cliffs at all. (if you go the right way – which I did). I was also happy to see the creek still flowing decent. My backup plan was to go down to the river at Palisade Falls, which I really did not want to do. That would have been a hard hike.

When I discovered this waterfall on Wabena Creek in summer 2020 it went right to the top of my list for visiting this year. I knew it would be an incredible waterfall. If I could get to it…

The plan was to try to go there in the spring of this year but it just never worked out. I never had a chance to go. I guess it is going to have to be spring of 2022, I thought. However … it is December. We still do not have any snow. It did rain a lot in October. Would Wabena Creek be flowing now? It seemed a bit unlikely but perhaps worth a try anyway. I had a backup plan if I got all the way out there and found the creek was dry.

It was to be the last adventure for Gator. That is the name of our dark green SUV. It is a name that fits the beast perfectly and stuck for 17 years. It is time for her retirement now. I am glad I picked Foresthill for her final outing with me. It is without a doubt our favorite place to go. It is shocking that I can drive up there in December. I have never been able to do that before. As I drove the last 10 miles on the rough dirt road from Robinsons Flat I suppose I even got a little bit emotional. I’m strange. It was a good last drive for her. There was no snow, but there was mud, creek crossings, and steep sections to drive up. I did not put it in 4 wheel drive because she has been having trouble with that in her old age. It was not needed anyway. The only thing missing was a bear sighting. Ah well.

The first order of business was to go to the Far Upper falls. (next post). It is a quick jaunt from the road down to the creek. I could see that the creek was flowing decently. Perfect. This is going to be a great day. It was not difficult to get down to this waterfall, a pretty little 32 ft. drop.

Now I had to climb back up and traverse the ridge down to the big waterfall. Surprisingly there was a path. I think it must be a bear path. I don’t know of any humans that have ever been down here before. How would anyone even know about this waterfall? It has never been documented by anyone (before now). Not even the late Russell Towle made it here as far as I know (and he went everywhere). I am the last adventurer. The path seemed to abruptly end at a wall of thick brush or perhaps it went through it. Must be bear. Now I had to drop straight down to the creek. Would it be too cliffy? As I descended I came to a terrific viewpoint of the big waterfall and I took some photos from there. I was not sure if I’d be able to continue, getting down to the creek and then up to the falls. I definitely had to try. Getting all the way down to the creek was easy enough. No cliffs. No problem. I worked my way upstream to the falls and got blocked out by a mini waterfall but I was not to be outdone. I crossed the creek and climbed up above the cascade on the other side. That was the only obstacle. I made it!

Upper Wabena Creek Falls is absolutely magnificent. 143 ft. high. It is a monster. Being able to stand right at the bottom of this incredible waterfall is so utterly amazing. It was a very awesome day in Tahoe National Forest for the waterfall madman and Gator.