Leon Turnbull Photography

On Thursday I returned yet again to Table Mountain in Oroville. This was my fourth time there this winter. I really am obsessed with the place this year, so it seems. I just love it there. The terrain and landscape is so amazing. And there are so many waterfalls there.

This time my goal was to go back to Ranch Falls. I wanted to try to get down and see the lower plunge of the waterfall. From the last time I was here, I figured the best way to do this would be on the south side of the creek (opposite of where I viewed the falls last time). I arrived at the cliffs on the south side of the creek at the top of the falls looking for a way down. Along the edge of the cliff is a fence (supposedly there to make sure the cows don’t take a big plunge off the cliff?). I was able to get around at the end of the fence, being very careful, as one missed step could prove rather disastrous, then I walked back along the fence looking for a way down. I had to walk further than I anticipated, but I got to a less steep spot that proved promising and worked my way down. There was actually a trail leading down, and I’m sure it wasn’t a cow trail (unless they are more dexterous at getting around fences than I had thought), so obviously people had been down this way before. There was also a lot of … you guessed it … poison oak. As I worked my way down and back towards the waterfall below the cliff, I saw a rock ledge that looked promising for a view of the waterfall. The trail seemed to go right to it as well. I climbed up on the ledge and worked my way back to the far end, as far as possible to get the best view of the waterfall. About 10 more feet would have been perfect, but then I would be flying in mid air. So this is our view of the lower section of Ranch Falls. I measured the entire waterfall to be 157 ft. high. From this side, I could see no way to get any closer to the falls. The trail ended as far as I could see, and it was far too brushy to continue. But as I looked across the canyon, it seemed that it actually might be possible to get down much closer to the falls on the other side, though it might be a bit on the steep side. Time for a fifth trip back to Table Mountain?

Unfortunately this last storm did not drop too much rain. I estimated the flow in the falls about half as much as when I had been here a couple weeks ago. Ranch Falls was still flowing quite nice but Coon was just trickling. On the plus side, the wildflowers on Table Mountain were just starting to come out. Another month, I think, and they will be spectacular.

More info on Ranch Falls:
http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=952

I really like this shot. It is a super crazy angle, looking down upon Ranch Falls (aka Long Falls). From this freaky viewpoint, you can see the top 74 ft. high cascade section of the falls, and then where it starts a big plunge of another 70 ft. or so. The bottom plunge is not possible to see from here, though I did try. There is a rock outcrop here with deathly dropoffs on either side of it. There is also a small tree that you need to crawl under the branches to get up to the end of the precipice and view the falls. Did I mention that it was super windy when I was here? and extremely cold. My hands were freezing as I stood here taking my pictures. I suppose I should have left my gloves on, but sometimes it is hard to photograph with gloves on.

Anyway, I think it might be possible to get down to the bottom of Ranch Falls and see that lower plunge, but probably better to do it on the other side of the creek. Though not straight across, because as you can see it is very cliffy on the other side, but I think there is a way. And I’ll be back here to try it. It is a really cool waterfall (when it is flowing).

By the way, I have good news. After being out of work for 9 months and taking last summer off and spending most of my waking hours seeking out new waterfalls, I finally have a new job. So the bad thing is I won’t be able to go out hiking as much, but I do need to feed my family I guess, so I am grateful to God that I will be employed again. We are planning to take one final vacation fling next week as I don’t start for the new job for a couple weeks. I am thinking Big Sur. 🙂

More info on Ranch Falls here:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=952

We have not had much rain here in northern CA lately. January and the first part of February was quite dry. This was not good news as we really need more rain this winter, and it meant the waterfalls had pretty much dried out. But last week we got a big dump, and that got the waterfalls flowing again (for now). After the big storm I decided to head back up to Oroville and Table Mountain. There are still a few waterfalls up there that I have not been to believe it or not, and I wanted to get some of them off the bucket list. I only had a few hours, so I chose three to visit: Coon, Ranch, and Crevice Falls; all of them are fairly close together and can be reached on an easy 5 mile round trip jaunt across Table Mountain.

I arrived at the trailhead (though there is of course no trail), and it was still dark, so I got out my head lamp and headed across the field, watching out of course for the many cow pies along the way. In addition to the cow pies, I had to watch out for the many puddles as well from the recent rain. I was trying to look down at my feet for the cow pies, and at the same time look up for the upcoming puddles. It was Saturday morning, and the rain was “just” beginning to stop, in fact, it was still lightly raining when I headed out. After scaring away some cows (I am sure they don’t see too many people walking out in the night with headlamps on them), I arrived at Coon Falls. It was still well before sunrise. Rather than wait for the light, I decided to head on to Ranch and Crevice and come back to this one. Coon was flowing fairly decent (it does not have very much drainage), so that was a good sign. When I got to the creek crossing for Ranch Falls, I had trouble crossing it. There was a lot of water flowing in that creek. I continued on to Crevice Falls and shortly reached the viewpoint. It is an interesting viewpoint to reach. I had been here last year with my friend Rob when Crevice Falls was dry. We found a somewhat scary viewpoint where you need to cross over a bit of a “crevice” (not the “crevice” that the waterfall is on), and you are somewhat unsure if the ground is going to be steady because there is a humongous dropoff just to the left of this “crevice”. But in fact the footing is secure, and after crossing it, you walk out on this ledge with incredible dropoffs to either side of you. At the end of it, just stand in amazement.

I was amazed for sure. Crevice Falls drops through a huge crack in the cliffs of Table Mountain, mostly hidden from view. You cannot see the entire waterfall, only the top part of it and some of the bottom. I looked around for other viewpoints of this waterfall, but this was the only good view of it. I should say, actually, that there was another ledge that could have provided a better view. But to get onto it, I would have had to JUMP across a gap onto a very narrow rock ledge, and across a 150 foot drop to the bottom of the canyon. Umm, no thank you.

What really amazed me here though is finding a second waterfall beside Crevice Falls. Indeed, it is more spectacular than Crevice Falls itself, plunging 129 ft. off the cliff. I had no idea this second waterfall even existed. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least. I am quite sure it only flows at all after periods of high rain, so you really need to be here to see it immediately after a good rainfall. And I highly recommend doing so. It is a very magnificent place.

http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=953

This past weekend I went back to Table Mountain in Oroville once more, this time to visit Beatson Falls. My goal was to be there at sunrise, and that meant I had to start hiking in the dark. It is interesting hiking cross country on Table Mountain in the dark. There are no trails to follow. The major concern is avoiding the cow dung, easy enough to do in the daylight (if you are paying attention), but definitely a challenge to do in the dark. With my headlamp though, I think I managed to avoid all the large brown obstacles. I was hoping I would not run into any groups of killer cows in the dark but that was not to be. I came across a couple such groups, but fortunately they scattered as I approached. The one other concern in the dark is getting lost. It is hard enough to find your way in the daylight. But with my GPS in hand, I did not really have any problems. The one big problem on the way to Beatson Falls is a ravine that you need to cross. It was a bit tricky in the dark, but I managed.

I arrived at Beatson Falls just a few minutes before sunrise. But I really needed to be there about 15 minutes earlier. The light from the rising sun made for an incredibly difficult exposure. Together with the wind blowing my tripod and the long distance from my view point to the falls, it was definitely a challenge. So, I am not completely happy with this photo, but it was the best of the shots that I took.

I did not visit any of the other waterfalls in the vicinity of Beatson Falls. I knew that they would be just trickling, since we have not had any recent rains. Plus, the sun was fully out, so I wouldn’t get any decent shots anyway. Nonetheless, I did have a very pleasant morning outing in Oroville.

Well we are back from our Christmas vacation. I did not get out and do any shooting at all this time while up in Canada. There was not really any time to do that, plus I did not really feel like it anyway. I have seen all the waterfalls there that you can get to in the winter, and I had no desire to go back to any of them. Plus, it was super cold while we were up there, and that alone was enough to keep me inside as much as possible. We did get out and play though. The kids went skiing twice, ice skating once, and went sledding a number of times. So they had a lot of fun, and that of course if most important.

On the way back home, I did try to go hiking once in Oregon. I took my son and dog along with me in search of a winter waterfall. However, we came to a very narrow, snowy, and scary bridge. My dog Kaya would NOT cross it. She hates going across bridges to begin with, and this one was a bad one. I could not entice her to cross. So we had no other option but to turn back. And on the return hike, we came to the first bridge (which she crossed the first time without too much difficulty). But on the way back, she got scared and would not go across it. Oh great, now what do I do? I could not entice her back across this bridge, and there was no other way across the river and back to the car. My only option was to carry her across the bridge (she is a medium sized black lab, and not particularly light). Fortunately, she obliged this alternative, and let me carry her across the bridge without squirming or wiggling while I did so.

The only time I did go out hiking (successfully) while we were up in Red Bluff visiting my wife’s parents. I went out and saw three waterfalls in the Montgomery Creek area east of Redding. I had hoped to see more (there are still a few waterfalls in that area that I have not been to), but various circumstances prevented me from seeing more. On the first day I went out, it was raining. Hard. It was not even supposed to rain that day at all. The first waterfall I went to was on Hall Creek. It was actually a nice one, but I could not find any good vantage points to shoot the falls, as there was just too much trees and bushes in the way. It also took me MUCH longer to get to that one than I anticipated. Once I got back to the car, Kaya and I were pooped, and then it started raining. I waited quite a while for it to stop, but it just kept going and going. I drove up to Kinner Falls next (pictured here), and walked down to the river in the rain. It kinda let up a bit as I took this photo, but I think it was still raining, and this was the only decent shot I got that day. I was actually quite impressed with Kinner Falls. The only photo I had seen of this one made me think it was not very visible from across the Pit River (which is the only place you can see it). But it is really a very beautiful 139 ft. high falls.

On a different day, I went back to the Montgomery Creek area, and went on a seriously crazy bushwhack along Marble Creek. Poison oak, thick brush, ravines, steep cliffs, you name it. It was only about a half mile, but it took a long time to get down to the falls.  In some spots, the brush was so thick it was almost impassable. I almost gave up a number of different times. But then it would open up again, and I even saw a trail. Was it a very old human trail? or a bear trail? I was not sure. Near the end, I saw a very well defined human trail which must have been made by loggers (it did not lead anywhere, but just sort of ended at a ravine). Anyway, the waterfall itself was a beauty, a 34 ft. plunge into a very narrow canyon. Unfortunately, all the photos I took of it were out of focus and crap. I have no idea why either, this has never happened before, but I’m sure it must be user error somehow. And I’m not sure I will ever want to go back to this one, as it was just too difficult. Sigh. Well, all these waterfalls (including a pic of the crappy out of focus one) are now posted on my website:

http://www.waterfallswest.com#recent