Leon Turnbull Photography

I slept to the sound of the roaring waterfall. I would have slept better if I had brought electrolytes with me but I stupidly forgot. Nonetheless I still slept all right. It was supposed to be 38 degrees at night but I’m not sure it even got that cold.

The flow of the creek was noticeably lower in the morning. The creek is very wide with multiple channels and I had to go to the very far channel to get my water (which I did not have to do the previous day). The waterfall still looked good even if the flow was a bit lower. I estimate it is 30 ft. high. The kayakers call it the Pothole and I don’t know that any of them have ever run it. I’m sure they would just slam into those rocks at the bottom if they tried (at least that is what it seems to me). The kayakers may not like it but I sure do. I took more photos, ate my breakfast, drank my coffee, packed up, and then headed up the hill at 8AM.

I quickly shedded my clothing once the sun came out. It was another very warm day. About halfway up I stopped to check out another cascade on the creek. (which I thought would be more impressive than it turned out to be). Continuing the tough climb up the ridge, I finally reached the top, then down the other side and eventually back up to the main trail. I arrived back at the car at about 11am. It took just as long to hike back as it did going in the previous day. There were no new tracks in the snow so that means no one else came up on Saturday.

I believe now I have seen all the waterfalls on West Cherry Creek. That does not mean I will never come back here again, it is such an amazing place, but I don’t really ever want to come back to this same trailhead because the road is so awful. I still have a couple waterfalls to see on the other branch (the main Cherry Creek) so perhaps I will be back to Emigrant Wilderness next spring. It was another glorious trip to my precious place in West Cherry Canyon.

It is November so it must be time for a backpacking trip. I don’t know why I said it like that. But seriously, the weather was looking really good this weekend (ie. not raining and warm) and I have been wanting to go out on another backpacking trip so why not go this weekend. Indeed. But where?

One of my all time favorite canyons is West Cherry Canyon in the Emigrant Wilderness. My precious. I have been there three times before and I had wanted to go a fourth time. You probably don’t remember but on my last trip I made it down to the lower falls, however I was too late and the light was awful so I did not take any photos (also, there was a naked guy camping there). Well I did not make it back in the spring this year so perhaps I could go in winter instead. The creek normally would not be flowing in winter but with the recent mega bomb cyclone I figured that it should actually be flowing decent. Unfortunately the gage is not functional at the moment so I had to take a wild guess on the flow based on other nearby rivers. My guess was 150 – 200 cfs. I would not want to go to this particular waterfall if it was less than 150 so I hoped my guess would be a good one.

I forgot how horrible the road to the trailhead is. Maybe it was my imagination but it seemed worse. The trail was definitely worse. A lot more downed trees blocking the trail than last time. It is not an official trail and is not maintained by the forest service so it is just going to continue getting worse and worse each year. Kinda sad because it is a great trail (not counting the overgrown sections) and it gets a fair amount of use. In fact, surprisingly, there had been another hiker here within the last week (since the last storm). There was a bit of snow at the trailhead (not much) and I followed his tracks for awhile. He seemed to be going down to the creek but exactly where I do not know.

My route would take me down to West Cherry Creek and then further downstream, which required climbing up a ridge and down the other side. This part is difficult and is quite brushy and you need to weave in and around the brushy parts and the steep parts. It took a long time. I made it down to the campsite just past noon. This photo shown is *not* the waterfall where I camped. You need to wait for part two to see that one. Good news: there were no naked guys camping here. I had the place all to myself. More good news: the waterfall was flowing strong. I think my guess was spot on: 150 to 200 cfs.

I set up camp and ate my lunch and then relaxed in the warm sun in the afternoon. West Cherry Canyon is just so amazingly beautiful and I was so glad I could enjoy it to its fullest. At 3PM I went for a little hike. Other than the waterfall at my campsite there was one more waterfall I needed to see about a mile or so downstream. It was a lot harder to hike down river than I anticipated and it took a full hour to do it. That means I would not have enough time if I wanted to get back to camp before dark. I quickly took my photos of the waterfall (shown here) and then hiked back as fast as possible. I still wanted to photograph the falls at the campsite before dark but it was after sunset when I got back to camp. I took a couple quick shots of it (and more of it in the morning) and then I went to bed.

It was only 5PM! I can’t go to bed at 5PM! I got ready for bed, worked on my feet for awhile (blisters), and then I watched a movie. What would the next day behold? Stay tuned…

The first time I was here was in late 2014 at very low flow. I have always wanted to return when the waterfall is flowing decent. Now would be a good time, I thought. After 13 inches of rain it should be roaring, I thought. The Aftershock following the Bomb Cyclone last week.

It was not my first choice to go here this weekend. However, I only had time for a short easy hike because I had to get home to drive my daughter to dance class. Well as it turned out, she tells me at the last minute (after I get back home) that she is not going to dance today. Great. I could have done the other hike I really wanted to do. Thanks for not telling me, Nekoda. Teenagers. Sigh.

Well on the other hand, a short easy hike is about all I could do anyway. I put my back out in the morning before I left the house. I have to deal with the cats when my wife is not home and bending down to clean the litter is always an adventure with my back. Dang! The pain! Ugh! I should not go hiking, I thought. I must not go hiking, I thought. But I have to go hiking! It is the only day I can go hiking for a couple weeks and it just rained 13 inches! A short easy hike then. I can handle that. I hope.

I could not quite drive all the way to the trailhead. There was a fallen log in the middle of the road (not from the recent storm). It added about 1.5 miles to the hike (round trip) so thankfully that was not too much additional walking for my aching back. Most of the hike is along a dirt road (easy), but the last half mile is off trail (hard) and involves traversing along a steep hillside trying to find a path through the manzanita brush, and then a final steep descent down to the waterfall.

Upper East Fork Falls is a gorgeous 34 ft. high cascade. It was certainly flowing well but it was not roaring. I thought the river would have a lot more water in it but nonetheless it was still fantastic. And very pretty too with the surrounding fall colors. It was a very lovely Fall hike in Tahoe National Forest and my back held up for it.

Seven years. A lot can happen in seven years. For instance, an unused road can become completely overgrown in seven years. For instance, a trail can become almost completely impassable in seven years. It has been seven years since I have been to this waterfall, and honestly, I think the last one to hike this trail was myself (not counting the bears).

It is the weekend of the bomb cyclone in northern California. That is apparently a real thing. All I know is that here in Norcal we are getting a huge storm. We had about two inches of rain on Friday and about 10 more inches are coming on Sunday. Thank the Lord! We need this rain so much. I ventured out on Saturday before the big one struck.

The road to this falls is impassable in the winter and after Sunday it will not be drive-able for certain. I thought that it would still be ok after just a couple inches of rain and it was definitely all right but there were still many puddles I had to drive through, a lot more than expected. Not only that, the road seemed much rougher than it was seven years ago.

The last half mile of the road was completely overgrown with many downed trees. I have actually driven down this road in the past but that is impossible now. The actual trail down to the creek is even worse. Multiple blowdowns across the trail, more than I could possibly count. One section was completely blocked with trees down across the trail on a very steep slope. I had to figure out a way to climb up and around it (which I did, with difficulty). There was a lot of overgrowth on the trail, including poison oak. There was certainly a lot of bear activity but I saw no evidence that any human had been down here since I was last here. And then there are the ticks. It is October. It is not tick season yet but I saw quite a few of them along the trail. I was shocked. I considered turning back on multiple occasions as I trudged down the trail very slowly but I persevered and eventually came down to the creek.

Silver Falls is a gorgeous 41 ft. drop. I took many photos from many different vantage points. Hiking back up the mountain afterwards was not easy, a 1300 ft. climb out of the canyon, but I felt good and it almost seemed easier than going down. It was a very enjoyable hike before the bomb cyclone in Eldorado National Forest.

Hello, old friend. This is now the fourth time I have been to East Fork Falls.

The last couple weekends I have struck out on my hikes. This weekend I needed a sure thing. Enter East Fork Falls. Why do I keep going back here? Well, I like it because this river flows year round. Even in horrible drought such as this year, the river still flows. It is a tough hike but a good one and a fun one, and the waterfall is pretty accessible (ie. not too crazy to get to). It is located in a stunning location, dropping into an incredible emerald green pool and towering cliffs all around. It is also close to home. I strongly considered going to the Eastern Sierra to see the fall colors but I just did not feel like driving so far. I decided to go to East Fork Falls at the last minute instead.

It is fantastic that we have rain already this year. It has been many years since we have had an early start to the season, and looking at the forecast it seems that by next week many of the winter waterfalls will already be flowing! It is only mid October! Praise the Lord for this, we surely needed it this year. Yet, we still have a weak La Nina this year, the exact same as last year, and despite the early start to the season I am still not feeling very optimistic for our winter this year. Maybe we will be surprised this year (like in 2011). I am praying hard for a good winter.

Anyhow, I was up at 4AM and was on the trail by 6AM in the dark. I hoped to get to the upper falls after the lower falls, so that is why I wanted the early start. I arrived down at the bridge over EFNFNFAR and thought: well, this is different. There was a brand new bridge over the river. Interesting. Not only that, but the old, incredibly overgrown road is now completely cleared. It confused me a bit, mostly because it was dark and I couldn’t see much but I knew this was not how it was last year. The good news is that this makes the hike a bit easier, but the bad news is that it means they are going to be clear cutting down here in the near future (probably next year, I imagine).

The road does not go all the way down to the river and the last section is still off trail and difficult. It seemed a lot brushier this year as well, especially near the river. I made it down to the river about sunrise. Now it is time to get in the water and wade up to the waterfall. As anticipated, the water was freezing cold so I brought my neoprene socks to keep my feet nice and toasty. They were not actually toasty but they were not freezing  either. I also bought new hiking shoes and I must say that I really like them. My feet (as you may know) have been in much pain over the past 6 months or so. Even after resting for most of the summer they were still in pain when I went out backpacking in late summer. It occurred to me the problem may be my hiking boots (even though it is the same brand and boot that I have always worn). So I decided to try some new shoes. With these ones I can just wade through the river and they dry off fairly quickly. And guess what? I have had zero pain on the last two hikes I have done. I am very happy so far.

I took a lot of time taking photos at the waterfall . With the lower water levels I was able to get a different composition than usual (shown here). I guess I took too much time taking photos. I figured if I was to get to the upper falls I needed to start hiking back up the mountain by 8AM at the latest. It was already 8:30AM by the time I was done taking photos. I would not have time to get to the upper falls. Well, that is all right. I had a very enjoyable time at the lower falls. Also, I was supposed to get home to take my daughter to dance class. Now I would not be late for that and she would be happy. Everyone wins.