Leon Turnbull Photography

This is easy to reach 69 ft. Potem Falls. I came here first thing in the morning before heading to Bear Canyon Falls (previous post). With the low flow it was easy to cross the stream at the bottom and get to the other side for a somewhat different sort of angle than the usual stuff from here. It is still quite a pretty waterfall and was flowing a bit better than I expected it to be. Of course it is an incredible waterfall when going at full tilt.

It seems that the dry weather will be continuing into January and the foreseeable future. There is nothing in the long range forecast. This is so disappointing and frustrating. This is the third straight year now, and this one is far worse than the previous two thus far. Folsom Lake is only at 19 percent capacity, and we already have mandatory water restrictions. If we do not get rain, we are headed for major drought next summer in California. But there is still time for a comeback. Pray pray pray. Please send us rain, Lord!

Well I didn’t have to spend Christmas alone at home like I did Thanksgiving, when I was laid out on my back all weekend. I thought it might happen, as my back was still not healed and driving up north had me concerned. It was going to be a painful trip. How on earth could I even think about hiking? But I WAS thinking about hiking. Heck, even if it was just an easy little one, I was emphatic that I would go hiking this weekend.

I went to Potem Falls first. That was certainly easy enough. Potem Falls was flowing ok, definitely not great, and it was easy enough to cross the stream, but nonetheless it was flowing better than I expected it to be. I will share that photo soon enough.

There is another waterfall near Potem that I have had my eye on for quite awhile. Bear Canyon Falls. Apparently it is only accessible by boat from Lake Shasta. But I was determined to get to it by land. And so I did. It was not exactly what I would call a hard hike … if I had a working back. However, it was harder than I wanted to do, all things considered, and it put my back to the strain. But I came out of it none the worse for wear and that was all I wanted. I did not want to make my back any worse than it was to begin with.

Like I said, it was not a particularly hard hike. However, there is no trail, there is poison oak, there are ticks, and at the end a very steep descent down to the creek. Well that is only partly true. There was only one tick. But that is because it was so darn cold out. And there was a trail. Actually there were two trails down Bear Canyon. They were human trails too, but they were very very old trails, and very very overgrown. They seemed to follow the canyon all the way down to the lake. I was able to follow them for the most part, but it was a challenge. How long ago did these trails see any usage? Years and years and decades and decades no doubt.

I made it down to a cliffy section and I could see where the waterfall was. Now how to get down this cliff to the creek? I found a path and carefully made my descent. It was not too hard, but there was quite a bit of oak to navigate through. Once down at the creek, I had to cross it to get any sort of view of the waterfall. I guess you could say the waterfall was BEARLY flowing. Haha, get it? Actually it was flowing not too bad though it would be very interesting to see it in high water. Nonetheless it is a highly intriguing waterfall, and highly challenging to view or photograph it. It drops through and under some huge rocks hanging over the creek in two segments, and it seems almost as if the waterfall falls underground. It is very dark under those rocks, and you cannot get up close to it or get a complete view of the falls. This is why I chose such a tight and zoomed in composition for my photograph. I think this best shows some of the intriguing-ness that I am talking about. It was a very nice hike to a very interesting little waterfall.

Last time I tried to go to Curtain Falls on the Middle Fork Feather River was four years ago. The flow in the river was 230 cubic feet per second and I could not cross the river, the flow was too strong and too deep. But my memory told me it was just slightly too strong at that time and I almost made it. This year I decided to try it again. The flow was at 200 cfs so I thought that since it was this much lower, I could manage to cross it easily. Humph. I was skunked again.

It is a long hike down to the Middle Fork Feather River, losing 1600 feet in elevation in 2 miles. That means it is a pretty tough hike back out of the canyon, and when you have nothin to show for it, tis not such a good thing.

This time around, however, I was more concerned about different things. I thought crossing the river would be easy. But some people had reported to me that the trail was in serious disarray. Deadly serious. Impassable. The last section of the trail involves climbing down the side of a cliff on wooden stairs. Since the last time I was down here, the stairs and railings had apparently disintegrated, rotting wood, making the climb down impossible and deathly if you attempt it. One of the persons who told me this is someone I consider a hardcore hiker, so I figured if he could not make it down, then it must be really bad indeed. I have not heard of anyone else going to Curtain Falls in the last four years except one other person, and he reported much the same thing. Could the trail really disintegrate in such a short time? I wanted to go find out, but I was worried about those stairs. Not to mention that I really did not want to walk all the way down there and then not even be able to get to the river. But I figured if I could get past those stairs safely, then I could definitely get all the way to Curtain Falls.

Well I hiked down to those stairs and … they were actually ok. Yes they are rotting and falling apart, and they certainly need repairs, but it was not a dangerous thing to go down them by any means. Ok then, down to the river, go upstream, cross and get up to the waterfall. Easy. Right? Not! Firstly, it was much crazier scrambling upstream and I almost didn’t even make it up to this little pool where you need to cross. I think the reason is because the normal passageway is now plugged with logs so I could not get through it. I had to go a different route, which involved doing a mad scramble up through a crack in the rocks, using my rope to haul me up and praying that the log I was standing on with my full weight did not give way. Holy crackers that was nuts. But I made it up (and back down that crack afterwards, which also was an adventure). When I got to the pool I could see that there was not going to be any river crossing. It was once again flowing too swift and deep. It did not seem to be any better than four years ago either. So I had to take a picture of this baby waterfall and call it a day. If I ever try this again (and I will, count on it), I will not be coming here unless the flow in the river is down to 150 cfs. This is a controlled river, and I have not seen it under 180 in the past year or two, so I don’t even know if they ever let it get so low, but I will have to pay more attention to the flow over the next year and wait for the right opportunity.

The hike back up was outlandish. Not because of the elevation gain, I did quite well on the climb. But the bugs were horrendous, hounding me each step of the way, and driving me bananas. Isn’t it supposed to be winter yet? And there were ticks! Lots of them, oozing off the grasses overhanging the trail. I could not believe it. Ticks in November? I have not heard of such a thing before. There should not be any of these buggers around until the rains start well into December and January at the earliest. It was unbelievable, but at least I did not get any of them biting into my tender and precious skin. It was a gorgeous, but crazy and frustrating day in the Middle Fork Feather River canyon.

Here you go folks: A brand spanking new waterfall just found in Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is a nice one and a significant drop too at 50 ft. high. Thank you very much, Mr. Amazing and Crazy Waterfall Hunter at waterfallswest.com!

I say that last sentence in jest because of a recent high profile news article in which a certain canoeist in Canada found a previously unknown waterfall while canoeing down a remote river. He claimed it was 40 ft. high but from the picture I saw, it was clearly only around 20 ft. high, and likely less than this! Now he is getting paid money by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to find waterfalls in Canada. I did not say anything about this previously, but I really thought the whole thing was very lame. I mean, heck, I find new “uncharted” waterfalls all the time. Last waterfall season, for instance, I found Upper West New York Canyon Falls (and it is 150 ft., not 20 ft.), not to mention quite a few others as well (oh I could mention some of them: SF Rubicon River Falls, Upper Clipper Crk Falls, Upper Iowa Cyn Falls, Upper Devils Falls, Iowa Hill Ditch Falls). And I am not the only waterfall hunter that finds new waterfalls. It is not difficult if you know where to look, and have a lot of determination. So it kind of bugs me that he finds a 20 ft waterfall and now gets paid for doing it. One thing I guess I can say about him is that he is a lot smarter than me if he can scam RCGS into paying him to find 20 ft. high waterfalls.

This season (which has only just begun) I now add yet another one to my list, which I am naming West Sulphur Creek Falls. Although not far from a main trail, it is hidden and rather remote. I am quite certain that no one currently in the park service has been to this waterfall or even knows of its existence. I saw no evidence that anyone had been down there in the recent past. Of course I am not foolhardy enough to believe that I am the first person to ever lay eyes on it (I am only slightly foolhardy). In fact, I saw what seemed like a very old road down there but it was so old I am not sure if it even was a road, and certainly has not been used in over 100 years. And if anyone did see it in the past, it was probably just swished away, discounted, ignored, snubbed – even though it is a significant drop at 50 ft. high. That is because it is hidden in an extremely steep canyon, surrounded by cliffs on both sides. The cliffs seem even steeper than those at Mill Creek Falls – and we all know what those are like (see my previous post). It was very difficult to get any view of this waterfall at all, I was standing on a hairy scary precipice, and even then, the top part of the falls is obscured by tree branches, so from this viewpoint it is not very photogenic, but it would be sweet if you could get down to it. It may or may not be possible to do that; I would like to come back and try someday, but I did not have time on this day as I had to get to Chester to meet up with my family for lunch. Oh and by the way … there are more “uncharted” waterfalls in Lassen NP, and some of them may even be a lot bigger than this one.

It is of course rather a huge shame and disappointment that Lassen NP is now closed because of the government shutdown (as well as all other national parks). So now you can’t even go to this waterfall (at least for awhile). It is very irksome for sure. Even the trails are closed. I just don’t understand that. I could understand closing the facilities, but why the trails? Why can’t we still go in there and hike? This is our land, people. Not the government’s.

Five years ago I went to Mill Creek Falls in Lassen Volcanic Natl Park with my friend, Brian Rueb. At that time, we both wanted (badly) to try to get down to the bottom of the waterfall. At that time, we both determined that it was foolhardy to do so, nuts, crazy, whacko, you name it. The terrain from the viewpoint on the trail is incredibly steep down to the bottom. As Brian put it, “things would not go well for you if you tried it”. However … shortly afterwards another friend of mine, Rob The Mountain Goat Macklin went to Mill Creek Falls, and he DID get to the bottom of the waterfall. Both Brian and I thought this was unbelievable craziness. But I know Rob well, and I know how he got to the bottom. No ropes. Just straight down the cliff. He is part mountain goat, you know – I am not kidding.

So five years pass, and I figure it is time to do this. In my mind I determined it could not really be as steep as I thought it was five years ago. The terrain is probably much tamer now. Five years of geology will have made the descent much shallower. There WILL be a way to get down. Well, not so much. I did come armed with a rope this time. When I arrived at the viewpoint, I quickly realized I would certainly need it too. The terrain was not any shallower, that was for sure. With the rope, I made it about halfway down to the bottom or perhaps a bit more than that. But the last section is much worse. There is nothing to hang onto, nothing to tie my rope to, and the descent is incredibly sketchy. It would be a long fall into nothingness if I slipped. I hummed and hawed for awhile, and decided to stop while I was still able to. I took this photo from halfway down the cliff, so the view angle from here is a little different and a little better than from up top along the trail. But darn I wanted to get to the bottom. Will I try again? In another five years? Yes I will. Next time … I will be bringing a much longer rope, one that will reach all the way to the bottom. Will that be enough?

The trail to Mill Creek Falls is not an easy one. It is 2 miles one way (though the sign says it is only 1.6 miles – it is not), and there are a lot of ups and downs on the hike (up 300 ft, down 200 ft, up 50 ft, down 100 ft – you get the idea). It is a huffer. But while as five years ago I remembered the hike practically killing me, this time around I found it to be a walk in the park. It may have something to do with the fact that last time I had climbed up Mt Brokeoff the night before, but I think it is mostly because I am in much better shape. I have lost 20 pounds in the past 6 months, and I feel great, I am in the best shape I have been in the last 14 years. It is so awesome to be able to bike to work every day now. It is such a big difference.

Another thing I noticed that was different from last time was the trailhead sign. This time around, there was no warning sign about mountain lions. It looked like someone had scratched it completely blank. Did the resident mountain lion move on to another part of the park to prey on unsuspecting hikers? Or more likely, perhaps it was the mountain lion himself that scratched off the warning sign – in order to make the hikers along the Mill Creek trail more unwary of being attacked? I joke about that but I did see some mountain lion tracks on the hike this time around. I am not kidding – I am pretty sure they were cat tracks. Hmmm.

Stay tuned folks because my next post from Lassen Volcanic Natl Park is going to be a shocker.