Leon Turnbull Photography

Oroville received 4 inches of rain this past week. That means the waterfalls on Table Mountain would be flowing strong. But the Foothills received over 8.5 inches of rain, and the North Fork American River got up to almost 30,000 cubic feet per second. Indeed, I think the NFAR was the highest it has been since before the drought started. That is some pretty awesome stuff, thus I was hoping to hike somewhere in the area of the NFAR. However, when I woke up the forecast was saying it would be too sunny (unlike the previous night when I went to bed the forecast said cloudy).  Oroville, on the other hand, was supposed to be cloudy all day long. So I figured my best bet would be to go to Oroville.

I arrived at the Table Mountain trailhead and started my hike. It seemed partially cloudy (but not completely cloudy like the forecast said it would be – ugh). The big thing, though, was the fog! Do you think the fog was a good or bad thing? The killer cows were nowhere to be seen. It was odd. I only saw a few cows on my hike in, and they were quite a distance away. Perhaps they do not like the fog? I saw a few more on the return, but not nearly as much as usual. As I hiked, I thought the fog would add a fantastic element to Phantom Falls that I have not seen before, but as I approached the waterfall I began to wonder if it was too foggy. I would not even be able to see the waterfall at all. Indeed, when I reached the main viewpoint for Phantom Falls it was completely socked in. I could hear the waterfall, I could not see it. Not even the foggiest little sliver of the stream could be seen (pun intended). Phantom Falls was certainly living up to its name today. Well, I continued on to the brink of Phantom Falls, and as I got near, finally I began to see a bit of something through the mist. This shot was not taken from the main viewpoint, it is a closer spot. I think it is pretty cool. You may say that it was a bad day to hike to Phantom Falls: too foggy, you can’t see anything, boring, etc. Not me. It was the perfect day! Why go there on a day when it is just the same as any other day you’ve ever been there. “That” is boring to me. Today it was different and unique. It was fantastic.

I would have liked to stay at Phantom longer but I wanted to try to find another waterfall as well. The flow in Phantom Falls (not that you can tell from the photo) was quite high after the 4 inches of rain. I had to hike far upstream from the top of the falls in order to cross the stream this time, usually I do not have to go so far upstream. Unfortunately,  I could not find anything else today. I got down where I wanted to, and found plenty of poison oak to trample through, but no waterfall. Well, darn it anyway. I got the stupid itch (on my neck this time) for nothing at all. By the time I got back to Phantom Falls, the fog was gone, but it was too sunny to take more  photos. The fog photo works very well  for me.

Black Friday hiking … I woke up not knowing where I should go hiking (again). So many possibilities, so little time. I quickly decided on a destination: Oroville. I thought I could snag a few waterfalls up in that area, the first one being on Empire Creek, but…

The first issue was the road: it was rough! For some reason, I had thought this road was paved. Not so much. It was dirt and very rough. The ruts in the road were so deep they were up to my kneecaps! (slight exaggeration – but not by much). I starting driving down it, but before very long decided it was just no good for my SUV with little enough clearance. I parked along the road and decided to walk. This would make for a very long and difficult hike, instead of a quick and easy hike. It would be 10 miles round trip, and a total elevation gain of about 2400 ft. Yikes! Well, I had all day, and I was in no hurry, so I decided to go for it. I am definitely glad I decided to walk and not drive, because the road seemed to get worse as I descended down to the river. The scenery along the road was disgusting as well. People here just dump all their garbage off the side of the road. I saw everything you can think of, including an old boat. Absolutely awful and stupid.

I was not alone on this Black Friday hike, either. It was quite the busy road. Much of this area is private property, and people live down here, not so much in houses but in shacks. Someone even got a big camper down here, I’m not sure how, and it probably won’t ever be going back up that awful hill. I think these are more like summer homes, but it is winter now, and I still saw a lot of activity down here on this day. I figured I would be leaving all the homes and private property behind as I crossed the river and climbed 1200 ft. up the other side.

However, as I approached the creek and near the top of the waterfall, I found more private property. Way up here? Isn’t this public land up here? Not only was it private, but the owners were out and about. I was not sure if I could continue or not, or if I would be going through their property to the falls. There was a big large Keep Out sign. That is not a good sign. However, and very fortunately, I saw some of the people along the road, and asked them if I could continue to the falls. They said, yes I could. No problem. All righty then!

My Google Earth route told me it would be very easy to get down to the waterfall. It lied big time. It was extremely brushy as I approached the falls, and the worst part: the poison oak was absolutely and incredibly awful! There was no way around it. I was in the stuff up to my eyeballs. Literally. Empire Creek was striking back at me with a vengeance. It did not want me here. But I had come all this way, and there was no turning back now. I finally got down to the creek at the bottom of this beautiful 38 ft. high waterfall. It was marvelous.

Th rest of the week, however, was not a very happy one. It was about 6 hours from the time I was in the oak until I got home and scrubbed down. That’s a long time. I only got one rash spot on my body (which is pretty amazing in itself), however it was in the worst possible location: my eye. Ugh. My eye was all blown out like a puffer fish. Was it worth going through all that oak to see this waterfall? Humm … humm … well yes I suppose it was. It is certainly a real beauty. Nonetheless, I won’t likely ever come back here.

By the time I got back to the car, I was very very tired and certainly did not have the energy to go on another hike. So I only got to the one waterfall on this Black Friday, but it was a terrific hike. Except for that darn oak.

I think this was the third hardest hike I’ve ever done, after Wabena Falls, and another hike I did in British Columbia a few years ago. It was all worth it.

The elusive and mysterious waterfalls on the north side of Mount Shasta have had me pulling my hair out for awhile now. Whenever I drive by Whitney Creek on Hwy 97, it is always dry. It does not seem to matter when. Spring, Summer, Winter, whatever. In the spring it is dry. Why? You would think there would be some snow melt on this creek in a good year (which we had this year). It was dry this spring, but the actuality is that these waterfalls do flow in the summer, and when I drove by on our trip to Canada, I found that Whitney Creek had water in it. Finally. Three weeks later I came back.

The plan was to hike up to Coquette Falls. It is 2300 ft. elevation gain in about 3 miles. Ugh. Cough. Phhttt. What was I thinking? I literally almost did not make it. There was not a trail the entire way, and I came to a very brushy area, which was so bad, I almost turned back. My legs got scratched up ridiculously, but I determined to persevere, and eventually came to a road, which got me up the rest of the way. The hike up was relentless. With about 300 ft. (in elevation) to go, I could not continue any further. I was done. But I could not stop now, I was too close. I kept going. Ten steps up, rest, and repeat. It took over 3 hours to get up this viewpoint of Bolam Creek Falls, 82 ft. high. It is a glorious spot, with incredible views of Shasta and Shastina, rarely seen from this angle, and far away down into the valley is Lake Shastina.

When I arrived, the waterfall was in shade (as expected), but the rest of the area was not (as expected). I found a little tree that was blocking the sun, and I setup shop there to take photos. It would have been nice to have my big lens, but that would have been ridiculous to lug that heavy thing up the mountain. I most certainly would not have made it if I had been carrying it. There was not much in the way of clouds, but I waited until one little one passed in front of the sun, which helped manage the lighting on the scene. I waited quite a while more, but no other clouds presented themselves to help me (that was not very nice of them). I tried to eat food, but I could not eat much. I was too spent from the hike to even eat, except an apple, my pudding, and half of my sandwich.

I could see that Coquette Falls was completely dry, so I did not go up any further. I seriously could not go any further anyway. My legs would rebel. Sadly, I think Coquette is dead. The glacier is not melting into that drainage any longer, there is not enough flow left from the glacier melt. I really wish I could have seen it when it was still going. Does anyone know Dr. Who’s phone number? The other waterfalls on this side of Shasta are dying as well. Bolam still has decent flow in the summer, however, but how long does it have left? I’d like to come back up here in the future and explore further, but that would be nuts. Of course, I said the same thing after I first went to Wabena Falls, then I went back to it. At least it was all downhill back to the car.

I got up super early for this one: one last hike on the Memorial Day long weekend. Way too early indeed. 3AM early.

The trouble with this hike is, and it’s why I have not done it before, is that the sun gets on the waterfalls very early and it is a very long hike to get to them, which makes it almost impossible to get to them in good light. However, I found a better way. I just was not sure if I could do it this early in the season, but good news: there was no snow on the road and I could drive all the way to the new trailhead. This might actually work after all.

Indeed, it turned out to be a very easy hike to the waterfall. Only 1.5 miles instead of 5.5 miles. That’s a darn good shaving. Very little elevation gain, and only a little bit of cross country hiking was involved, nothing too difficult. I got to the falls in good time and it was flowing great. It is 41 feet high and it is a beauty.

In case you are wondering, I purposely made a longer exposure of this waterfall than usual. Some people do not like the silky waterfall look with longer exposures, and that is perfectly fine, and I agree that in some cases it is better to use a shorter exposure. Mostly, though, only with powerful waterfalls, not with smaller waterfalls. I am adamant about this. A short exposure with smaller waterfalls like this one will make the falls look choppy and uninteresting. Be a better photographer. A longer exposure will give the image a very artistic feel, and that is what I was trying for with this shot. I think I succeeded.

I decided not to go down to the bottom of the falls, as the view from up above is stellar anyway, but also I wanted to try to get to the upper Falls in good light. I figured I could go to the bottom afterwards if it was still in shade when I got back down to it. However, finding the upper Falls was troublesome to say the least. It is not in the place where it is supposed to be, in fact there is no waterfall at all where it is marked on all the maps. Did it even exist? No wonder I’ve never seen any photos of it. I had to do some serious off-trail exploring through the snow, but eventually I found the upper falls and it’s a nice one as well. Photo is coming later.

By the time I found it, I figured the lower Falls would be in the sun so I decided to go back a different route thinking it would be much much easier. Big mistake. It was not only harder, but I got lost. Not really, but I definitely would’ve been seriously lost and likely still out there if I did not have a GPS.

The first trouble was that snow, which covered most of the trail. The second trouble was that the actual trail did not precisely follow the USGS topo maps. Despite the snow cover, I was able to follow the trail fairly closely and even if I missed part of it I always found it again quickly. Until …. I came to a big Meadow and swamp, where I lost the trail completely and there was no finding it again. The trail supposedly went right through the middle of the swamp, but who knows if it really did or not. Not wanting to go back, I just hiked along the Meadow to the end. It was not so easy to do but I made it to the end of the meadow, where I found the trail again. And just in time. The trail proper took off in a different direction down a gully on the other side of the ridge. Well all right, it will be a cakewalk from here, right? Nope. At the bottom of this little gully there was another swampy area. And I lost the trail again! This time was much worse. I got completely turned around from where I was supposed to be heading. However, all I had to do was just follow my trusty GPS and it led me in the right direction and back onto the trail proper. No problem. The rest of the hike was indeed a cakewalk.

I have been thinking a lot lately about that guy and his dog who got lost hiking in the Sierra Nevada. In addition, there was some other person who got lost out east on the Appalachian trail and died, within a mile of the trail. But I don’t really get it. There is no excuse for getting lost in the wilderness if you are properly prepared. These people did not have a GPS. Why would you not have a GPS? Or at least a Compass and know how to use it? If you do not have a GPS, you can download maps onto your phone (even if there is no cell coverage), and you can buy solar powered chargers for your cell phone, right? So there is no reason at all for getting lost. I always take my GPS, with extra charged batteries, plus I have downloaded Maps onto my phone for emergency backup situations, and a SPOT device for real emergencies. So there you have it. Be prepared, don’t die. That’s a good philosophy. Am I right?

http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=lower-canyon-creek-falls-926

I arrived at Shasta in the afternoon and ready to start my hike. Soon after I started, I encountered snow. Snow patches at first but then solid steady snow at 6300 feet. I would be gaining 1500 feet in elevation, which is hard enough as it is, but with most of that through snow it would be more difficult. I was not expecting much snow at all until about 7000 ft, so this was a big surprise, and at some spots I was hiking through 7-8 ft of snow under my feet! No joke.

But it was fun! The snow was very solid and I was not sinking through, and even though it was very warm out, the snow was not melting much, if at all. I was not a little worried the waterfall would still be snow covered, and not flowing at all. I followed many bear tracks up through the snow. I was one with the Bears. It is funny that I have seen so many bear tracks this year, but I’ve never seen the bear that goes along with them. Just as well, I suppose. The snow is what made the hiking fun and it was easy enough to get all the way up to the creek on logging roads (easy is relative when you have to gain 1500 ft. however). Once at the creek I just had to climb up the steep snowbank for a little, and I would be at the waterfall. Easier said than done. This last part was definitely a bit treacherous, but I made it up close enough for a decent view of the 45 foot high falls. No one has previously documented this waterfall before, and it is quite a pretty one. I had to wait, as expected, for the sun to go behind the ridge. It took quite a while, so I ate my dinner, sat in the cold snow, froze my bum off, and waited and waited and waited. I still did not get all the sun out of my frame but I think this shot is quite decent.

It was easier to hike down the mountain of course, but it was still tiring. It is not so fun when you are tired. I think I saw some new bear tracks that were not there on the way up, I am pretty sure, but the bear was not anywhere to be seen as usual.

After this, my plan was to camp out somewhere around Mount Shasta, deep in the woods, all by myself. This was in order to do an early morning hike somewhere else. However, the hike I wanted to do was not going to work. That creek was completely dry. This was mind-boggling to me. All the other creeks on Shasta are running with decent snow melt, why is this one dry? I had to come up with a plan B and that was to hike to Ash Creek Falls next morning, which is not something I wanted to do again, but I had no better options. I did do the hike to Ash Creek Falls in the morning, but I did not take any photos because it took longer than expected and it was in the sun when I got there. It was still a good hike. It involved a lot more snow hiking too. By the end of it all, I was doggone tired.

http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=upper-squaw-valley-creek-falls-shasta-2037