Leon Turnbull Photography

Mud Creek lived up to its name this past week. A large section of the Konwakiton Glacier on Mt. Shasta broke off sending huge muddy flows into the Mud Creek drainage, and flooding over a road miles below. The event only lasted a few hours, but it got me thinking about visiting Mt Shasta again. I figured that with melting glaciers, plus the recent rain and snow we had in California, that the waterfalls on Shasta might be actually flowing quite nicely, and perhaps even quite strongly.

So after work on Friday, I packed all my weekend gear into the Gator (that would be our pet name for our SUV), braving the crazy busy traffic, and headed up I-5 all the way to Mt Shasta, finally arriving there well after dark. Mud Creek was not the only waterfall on Mt Shasta that I wanted to visit this weekend. I had high hopes of finally seeing Whitney and Coquette Falls. Surely these creeks would also be experiencing good decent flow from the melting glaciers and recent rain. The area got 2.5 inches of rain at the end of this past week. But alas, as I stopped to examine Whitney Creek with my head lamp that night, I found it bone dry. Huge disappointment. Whenever I have ever driven by here, no matter what time of year, Whitney Creek has always been dry. I am certainly beginning to wonder if this waterfall ever flows at all.

I drove on back to the McCloud campground and set up shop there for the night. And promptly froze half to death that night. My weather app told me it would be in the mid forties that night, and it said the same thing in the morning. Wrong! It was 34 degrees when I woke up in the morning. Even though I was in my (supposedly warm) sleeping bag and wearing layers of clothing, I was freezing the entire night, and slept very little.

The next afternoon I drove up to the Clear Creek trailhead. Before the hike I tried to get a little nap in the car. That did not last long before a couple drove up to the trailhead and parked right next to me. I could hear them talking as they prepared to start out on their backpacking trip. So much for sleeping. The girl was having a major ordeal getting ready. Apparently, there was a huge spider living in her hiking boot, and she was freaking out, and trying to get her husband/boyfriend to get rid of it for her. I am guessing you do not get out hiking much if you have spiders living in your hiking boots. After much time and consternation, they finally left. I am not sure where they were backpacking to, but it was certainly at a much higher elevation, and it would be well below freezing that night. Good luck to them in surviving. Well, I definitely was well past being able to nap, so I ate my lunch and started off on my own hike. No spiders in my boots, guaranteed.

At the viewpoint, you are 1 mile away from the 100 ft. high Mud Creek Falls. It is a magnificent waterfall, with an even more magnificent backdrop, 14,179 ft. high Mt. Shasta. The only way to photograph it is with a long lens, and that is why I lugged my very heavy 100-400mm lens up the mountain with me, which is not something I would normally do. One of these days, I will get up closer to this beauty. I think I now have an idea how to do it, so that will certainly be in my future plans. The waterfall was flowing fairly decently, and I think most of it was from snow that was melting from this past storm. No major glacier events today. It certainly would have been amazing to be up here during the event last week. Of course, it happened during the night so it would have been tough to see it then. Ha ha. From the viewpoint, I could also see that Clear Creek had some water flowing as well. There is a waterfall on this creek as well, and I wanted to try to get to it if possible.

I continued hiking up the trail and caught up to the spider couple, resting ahead, and no doubt clearing out more unruly creatures from their hiking boots. Just before I got to them, however, I cut off the trail and headed down down down. I found a bear path traversing along the mountain side, but eventually I had to leave it because I guess these bears do not like waterfalls. I went straight down the mountain. It was steep, but not cliffy or dangerous. In a surprisingly short amount of time and without too much difficulty, I found myself at the Clear Creek drainage with a glorious view of the 144 ft. high waterfall on Clear Creek. It was not flowing too well, but considering this creek was no doubt dry as a bone a week ago, it was not bad. It would be an awesome waterfall to visit in the spring, and I am sure I will be back here. I will be sharing that photo next, but in the meantime enjoy spectacular Mud Creek Canyon Falls.

This is the lower falls on South Fork Bailey Creek, just outside Lassen Volcanic National Park. In total it is 122 ft. high, however you cannot get a clear view of all of it in one shot. This is the upper part, and it continues below this point for a bit and a bit. It is certainly a big beautiful cascade. I was pleased to find the creek flowing so well, I think it pretty much dries up in the summer, but there was still quite a bit of snow up on Lassen and Brokeoff when I was here, and it was melting profusely.

After going to West Sulphur Creek I continued on to Mill Creek Falls, hoping to get there before the sun started blazing down into the canyon. I figured I had enough time to hit up both West Sulphur Creek waterfalls and get to Mill Creek on time. I figured correctly.

With rope in hand, and after getting down to the crazy waterfall on upper West Sulphur, I figured getting down to the base of Mill Creek Falls would be a cakewalk. I figured wrongly! I made my way from the overlook at Mill Creek down to a large rock, just above a 7-8 ft dropoff. There was no good foothold from here and even with a rope, it was just too much of a dropoff to continue down the rest of the way. The entire bottom area was all misty anyway from the spray of the falls, and I would not have been able to get a decent shot from the bottom, so I decided to just shoot from the rock. This is further than I have ever gone before down here, although it certainly would have been awesome to make it all the way down. Just a bit too crazy for my blood. Somehow, Mountain Goat Rob made it all the way down without a rope. I don’t know about that guy. He is a bit nuts. Will I ever try this another day? I don’t know, though I am sure I will be back to this waterfall again. It is a beauty, and it was flowing stronger than I have ever seen it before.

I had initially wanted to go for a hike in Lassen Volcanic National Park but when I arrived at the park in the early morning hours I found that my trail was closed. Even though their website indicated that it would be open. Good thing I had a plan B.

Plan B however was back outside the park. So after using the park facilities (TMI) I drove back out. On the way to the trailhead I saw my first bear of the season. And it was a big one. It scampered up into the woods when it saw me coming. My daughter said what’s so exciting about that??!!?? Well, she has a good point. It would have been much more exciting to see one while I was hiking. Ah well I was still very happy. They are my favorite land animal and I don’t get to see them very often.

I continued on to the trailhead. Or I tried to. Until I came to a gate with a big huge no trespassing sign blocking my way. What the heck? This was the last thing I expected to see here. This is supposed to be public national forest land I had thought. But I was not to be outdone. I did some quick thinking. There must be a way around this. How about the other side of the creek? That seemed like a good plan. I crossed the creek and followed it, winding its way this way and that way through Brokeoff Meadow. I found an old logging road and followed it for awhile. When it ended I continued through the woods. Considering that it is a short easy hike to this waterfall I was actually surprised not to find any trail here. I am also surprised that no one knows about these waterfalls. Two awesome waterfalls quite easy to reach and no one has ever heard of them before? Well now you know about them. Courtesy of waterfallswest.com.

I was in a hurry. After my initial foray into the park and then the private property detour I was running late. I thought that these waterfalls would get very early sun, especially the upper one. I reached the lower falls, which was still quite well in the shade. It is a big long cascade 122 ft high and quite impressive. I took some quick shots and climbed to the top of the falls. I had to cross the creek and managed to drop my hiking boot in the creek when I took it off. Oh how nice. At least it didn’t float downstream over the falls.

Once across the creek it is an easy trek up to the waterfall. And it is a beauty, an awesome waterfall dropping through a narrow crack in the rock, fanning out wide in a huge 67 ft drop, then cascading for another 21 ft. It is perhaps the best new waterfall I have seen this year. Although it is spectacular it is very difficult to photograph because the top part is hidden behind the rocks. However, you can get right up to the base of the upper section, and this is where I took this photograph here. It was a bit misty.

I still had a lot of time before I had to meet my family for lunch so I continued to the top of the falls and upstream. I knew there was nothing else up there but it was fun to explore. I believe I crossed into Lassen Natl Park. The waterfall is right at the outside edge of the park but not quite in the park, so once you get to the top you will be in the park. It sure was a great hike out in the Lassen wilderness.

Hanging on the edge of a cliff in order to get a photo of a waterfall? Who would do such a thing?

Well I had in mind to go back to West Sulphur Creek in Lassen Volcanic NP one last time. I really wanted to find a view of that upper waterfall. Could I do it? Last time I managed to get to the brink of the falls but no view could be found. It is seriously hidden away with sheer cliffs on each side of it. No way to get down. No way to view it. But if there is a will there must be a way, and I had the will, but did I have the skill? Could I get down the steep cliffy hill? Would it be such a thrill? Or would I once again come up nil?

I arrived at the park very early of course. It is a short hike down to the West Sulphur Creek Falls viewpoint. It’s hard to believe no one knew about this waterfall before I discovered it last year. Now however, I saw signs that more people have been down here. Fans of waterfallswest?

I thought there might be a way to see this crazy thing on an overlooking ridge in between the two waterfalls. But it was steep and I would need a rope. A long rope. I almost psyched myself out beforehand thinking it was too crazy steep to get down. I was nuts to try it. Am I suicidal or what? But it did not really look so difficult once I arrived on the scene. Just down one rocky section then continue down the ridge and voila, great waterfall viewpoint. Piece of cake, right? I should have listened to my inner psyche after all. It turned out to be steeper than it looks from up above. The rope was an absolute necessity. I’m sure there are folks out there that would go down without a rope but I’m scared of heights. I have nightmares (seriously). Loving waterfalls and being afraid of heights do not mix very well. It was craziness to go down this ridge and I made my way very carefully. Finally I got to a tree out near the end of the ridge and I could see my waterfall. Could I go any further to get a better view? Ahh, I think not. I was happy to get my shot of this waterfall but I don’t think I’ll ever want to go down there again.

Now what crazy waterfall should I go see next?