Leon Turnbull Photography

This must be the coolest 14 ft. high waterfall I have ever seen. It is Shackleford Falls in northern California, near Fort Jones. It is super easy to get to, there is a lot of flow in the creek throughout the year, and the photo possibilities are practically endless. I was running around here like a giddy schoolboy, and could have spent a lot more time here than I did.

I came here on Black Friday, one of three waterfalls I visited that day. I was hoping to at least get to one more, but I ran out of time and energy. My first hike of the day was a grueling 9 mile jaunt, half of it through deep snow, and that really played me out. I will post a photo from that hike later, but I really wanted to post this cool little waterfall first.

Black Friday is my favorite day of the year to go hiking. Everyone else is either sleeping in, or else they are out standing in line in the cold, waiting to go shopping. No one is out hiking. That was certainly the case on my first hike, but I did see a couple people here at Shackleford Falls, and also I saw a bunch of people at the third waterfall I visited. What the hey? You people are not allowed to go hiking on Black Friday, did no one tell you! Only I am allowed to go hiking on Black Friday! I have dominion over Black Friday hiking in northern California. Ah well I guess I can’t stop people from getting out and enjoying an awesome day in the outdoors, nor would I want to. They perhaps even got the great idea from me, anyway.

After my killer 9 mile hike, I stopped here at Shackleford. The sun was forecast to disappear behind cloudy skies, and although it tried valiantly to do otherwise, by the time I got to the waterfall, it was bye bye sun, right on schedule. That meant I was free for the rest of the day to photograph waterfalls to my heart’s content, without having to deal with harsh sunlight. Leon was a happy camper (thank you, God!).

I was even happier when I saw this little waterfall (especially since the first waterfall I saw that day was nothing very exciting). It is only 14 feet high, but it is so amazing. There was snow and ice all around it, icicles hanging off the side cliff wall, icy rocks submerged in the water, great flow for late in the year, easy to get to and climb around (just don’t fall in the icy water), and the coolest part was the ice wall directly in front of the waterfall (which you can see in the above photo). The water from the falls just sprays against that wall, and it freezes up so coolly. To get a good view of it, I had to climb up on the icy and very slippery rocks close to the waterfall. There is a lower cascade you can’t see here (I will probably post that photo showing it as well, later). If I were to slip on the ice and fall in the drink, it would have been a very cold slide down that cascade. I imagine in the summer that people do slide down it. The waterfall may not be as amazingly cool in the summer without the ice, but I still think it would be a pretty nice one to visit.

It started raining as I was driving back from Big Kimshew Falls. I was looking for some Fall color to photograph, as there were a lot of nice color trees turning along the road, but I was looking for something beside some water. Then I came to this river crossing, the West Branch of the Feather River, and I saw this big yellow tree that I really liked, hanging over the water. So I stopped and went back to the bridge to take a shot in the rain. I couldn’t get a comp without the grey sky in it, because of an ugly flume in the way. But this view works pretty well too, I think.

It was a very cold morning. It was probably about 30 degrees or so. I started hiking up the West Hat Creek trail to Paradise Meadows. There was fresh snow on Lassen peak from a recent storm, and that snow was now melting, and the creek was flowing quite strong again. Almost like spring. Except for the cold. Anyway, after a short hike I arrived at the upper waterfall on this creek. Now what? I thought.

It was easy to see that the one and only position to photograph this waterfall was … you guessed it … right in the middle of the creek. Did I say it was a very cold morning? I did not really want to get in that creek, but nonetheless, I reluctantly took off my hiking boots and put on my water shoes. Then I started wading into the creek. Holy crikey! Is that creek cold or what! This was real snow melt from Lassen Peak, and snow melt is always so much colder. If you have stood in a creek flowing from snow melt, you know what I am talking about. I stood in the middle of that creek, and my toes were going numb fast. Wooh! Well, I do have to say though, that it was a very good test for my new tripod. And it held up very well to the coldness. As for my toes, well that is a different story. But I survived without getting hypothermia. haha.

This past weekend, we headed up north and I went over to Lassen Volcanic National Park, again. I was leading a workshop on Saturday, but on Friday I headed up by myself to check out conditions. I was pleasantly surprised.

My plan was to head up West Fork Hat Creek to Paradise Meadow again. I was concerned the creek would not be flowing much, if at all. But thanks to a recent storm, there was fresh snow on Lassen Peak, and the creeks in the park were all flowing again quite nicely from the snow melt. They were also darn cold. That will be a subject of a subsequent post.

In the meantime though, I took this sunrise photo before I headed up the Paradise Meadow trail. It was sunrise as I got to the trailhead, and there was some pretty nice alpenglow light on the peak. I couldn’t resist taking this photo, even though there were not any great colorful clouds around the mountain.

On another note, I seemed to have hurt my leg quite badly. It started hurting the day before I went to Lassen, but it is much worse right now. I have absolutely no idea how I hurt it. But it is putting me out of hiking commission. Bummer. Yet I am still hoping to get out this next weekend to see some Fall colors.

Ash Creek Falls is one of the most spectacular waterfalls dropping off majestic Mt. Shasta. It is approximately 330 feet high, and an amazing sight especially with the mountain as a backdrop. Getting to the waterfall, though, is no picnic.

I knew of a couple possible different routes to the waterfall, neither of them very easy. I was looking for an easier route, and I thought I had found one. Indeed, via my new route, it seemed that I could drive to within a mile of the falls, then make an easy trek up the ridge to the viewpoint. I had everything mapped out and ready to go. I made the long drive up from Red Bluff and got to my road, upon which I found that the road was blocked by a fallen tree. Doh! Oh man, did I drive all the way up here for nothing? I got out my maps again, looking for another route. And I found one. This road would take me within a couple miles of the falls. But again, as I got to the road, I found it blocked by more fallen trees. Doh again! Well, as it was, I was within 3 miles from the falls already. What if I just walked up this road to its end, then try to make my way up the canyon to the falls? Time was running out in the day if I wanted to get there and back before dark, but I figured I would have enough time to do it. Maybe.

The first part was easy. Just walk up the logging road to its end. After that, things got a bit tricky. It was not particularly difficult to hike through the forest, up the ridge alongside Ash Creek Canyon. But there were no trails, and it took some time trouncing through the forest. But I was making pretty good time nonetheless. Then I came to what seemed like a dead end. The canyon walls came to a convergence on the elevation level that I was on. In order to continue, I would have to climb up a very steep ridge to get onto the next level above me. However, I thought I had run out of time, and I seriously considered turning back as it was getting rather late in the day. But I decided to give it a try. I had 30 minutes to get up this ridge and over to the falls before I figured I should turn around. Getting up the ridge was steep, but it was not as difficult as I anticipated, and once at the top, it was less than a mile of semi-easy trekking to get to the viewpoint. So I made it. And I was very pleased that I made it. It is certainly a magnificent waterfall, even from such a distance away. If I had more time, I think I could have gotten a lot closer to the waterfall, and I also would have liked to stay here for sunset. But I sure did not want to hike back down through the forest in the dark by myself. So I quickly took my pictures, then retreated back down to the car, arriving just before dark.

Here is a closeup shot of the falls with my 100-400mm lens.