Leon Turnbull Photography

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.

This is a bonus 20 ft. high waterfall I found on West Cherry Creek in between the other two falls. I had no idea this one was here. I was thinking there would be another good one above my camp; that one turned out to be nothing however this one is a pretty nice drop. In the past I have skipped waterfalls such as this one. It is just a minor falls and I do not have time to stop and photograph it. I was still a long way from camp and it was almost sunset. I have always regretted not stopping in the past. I will likely never be here again in my life. So now I always try to make the time to photograph these ones. Sometimes also when I am at a waterfall I get my shot and think I could get a different angle if I go over there but I don’t because I am out of time. I have a good shot of it, do I really need another one? Again, I always regret doing that so now I try to take the time to get that other shot if I can.

Thankfully this one was right by my path and easy to get up close to. I took a “couple” quick shots and hurried on back to my campsite.

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.