Leon Turnbull Photography

We are now in the Dog Days of winter, waiting for the next storm to arrive. Will we have another dry Jan/Feb/Mar as we had last year? Or will the storms pick up again at the end of Dec? We only need about 1 big storm per month to end up at average for the year. Pray pray pray.

From the lower Dogwood Creek Falls, I found a trail going up to the upper Falls. It was definitely a human trail but also incredibly overgrown. At one point I had to take my backpack off to squeeze under a log. But I made it. It was a little easier getting down to the upper waterfall with no cliffs and I did not need to use my rope. It is another nice one, 54 feet high. One foot higher than the lower falls.

I retreated down the mountain, trying to follow the trail back to the road. But it became impossibly brushy. I gave up. I decided to exit the trail and head straight down to the road. It was a bit easier that way. After driving down the horribly narrow road back to the highway, a stop at Jakes in Oroville was definitely on the agenda. It was another great day in Plumas National Forest.

My friend Jeremy told me about some waterfalls on Dogwood Creek quite a while ago but I did not make it up there to check them out until this weekend. The big deterrent for me was the horrible road. It is another one of those very steep and very narrow and rough roads with absolutely no turn outs. This one is even worse than the previous one I did recently. I prayed profusely again that I would not see another car as I drove up it and then back down later. Once again God obliged. Thank you Lord. Whew. Driving these roads is so stressful.

I arrived at the creek at noon and ate my lunch before starting the hike. There is a path going up along the creek so it is really not that hard. Until you reach the waterfall, that is. Then it becomes cliffy. Horribly cliffy. Impossibly cliffy. How was I going to get down to the creek and waterfall? I saw a possible route down but it would require rope. Thankfully, I brought my rope. There is no way I could’ve done it otherwise. I made it down safely and up to the waterfall. What a beauty! 53 feet high. A hidden gem. And much more difficult than I anticipated.

When I reviewed my friend’s photos afterwards, it seems he did not make it to this one. Maybe because it was so cliffy? But also it seems he went to some other falls that I did not see. I think I will be exploring this creek again on another day. Except for that darn road.

I did continue on to the upper Falls. Stay tuned for part two…

Blackbird fly, blackbird fly. Into the light of a dark black night – Beatles

Black Friday. The Bird is done. Time to hike. It is, as you know, my favorite day of the year to hike. There would be no one else hiking where I was going. Everyone is shopping. Everything is back to normal (it seems) after COVID. I did see a couple hunters, however. That was a surprise.

I have tried this waterfall twice before by different routes and failed twice before. This time around I would be trying the same route as the first time I tried it. Am I such a fool? The first time I went here by this route it was just impossibly brushy. There was no way I could battle through it. It was not even close. So why would I try this again? What is different this time? The Hirz Fire of 2018. That is what is different. The entire area was burned that year. Maybe it would not be so brushy now. Maybe I actually might make it down to the waterfall this time.

The road is horrible. I seemed to have blocked that out of my mind after the first time I went here. I did not remember it at all. It is not really bad (in terms of roughness),  it is just a very steep, very narrow road, with literally no turnouts for passing. Pray that you do not come across anyone driving this road (like hunters, for instance). I hate roads like this. It is just very stressful to me. I was literally going something like 5 or 10 miles an hour. When I finally got to the top, I decided to park and walk the rest of the way even though I was still a couple miles from the trailhead. I was done with the driving. I needed to get out of the car and hike.

It was a good decision. I had great views of beautiful snow covered Mt. Shasta as I hiked along the road.  I got to the trailhead, which is not really a trailhead, because there is no trail. I had to exit the road and descend back down the mountain about 1200 ft. to the bottom of the canyon (this time not in a car). Good news: The fire did clear out all the brush. It was quite easy hiking down the mountain. The poison oak was growing back already but I suppose that is not surprising. I wonder how long until the whole area is too brushy and this route is inaccessible again? It gets a lot steeper near the bottom but I found a way down that was not cliffy. However, the poison oak at the bottom was absolutely horrific. This section had not been burned in the fire. There was no way to avoid touching it. Ugh!

Once down at the creek I had to cross it and make my way upstream, climbing up the middle of the creek above a small cascade. This was quite tricky. I made it!

North Salt Creek Falls is quite a bit bigger than I anticipated, 51 ft. high, and it is incredibly pretty. This one is a winner, an absolute beauty. I had to stand right in the freezing cold creek to take my photos but it was worth it. Now I had to climb back out of the canyon, through all that poison oak, and back up to the road and my car. I prayed profusely to God that there would be no one coming up the narrow road as I drove back down it. He obliged. It was a marvelous Black Friday in Shasta National Forest.

Thanksgiving Day. On my way up north to visit the family for Thanksgiving I had to stop off for a hike. I always try to get in at least one if not two hikes on this long weekend. It is a necessity. A BEAR NECESSITY.

I found this little waterfall at Bear Lake quite awhile ago but disregarded it immediately. It did not look to be very big, and certainly looked to be less than 20 feet high. Then last year … my friend Jeremy went to it and I saw that it actually looked quite nice and he said it was about 25 ft. Disregard retracted. Let’s go visit this little gem out in the boon docks.

Getting to the waterfall is easy (if you go the illegal way) or quite a challenge (it you go the legal way). I did not go the illegal way. It is very brushy at first but I battled through it. I was expecting the last part down to the creek to be very cliffy but it was actually fairly easy. Then you have to cross the creek. This was a challenge. The water is currently at low flow but this is a very large creek. The water was deep, up to my thighs, with a strong pull. And it was cold. On the other side of the creek there is a ton of prickly brush. I struggled my way to get to the end of the lake, all scratched and bruised. Finally I could see the waterfall.

It turns out the waterfall is exactly 20 ft. high, thus it does qualify for my website. It is a beautiful oasis, a gorgeous lake with a stunning waterfall dropping into it. After immensely enjoying the waterfall for quite awhile, I made the trek back up the mountain to my car, then continued my journey north in search of Thanksgiving Dinner. It was a great day.

I initially had a different plan for hiking this weekend and it was a good one, but at the last minute I changed the plan. Why did I do that? I don’t know. I have to go where I am feeling it. By the time it got around to Saturday, I just wasn’t feeling the other one. But the new plan didn’t really work out so well either.

I got to the parking area just after sunrise and made the quick trek up to Bear Ranch Creek Falls which I have been to a hundred times before. I took a quick shot of it. From there I would hike up to the Middle Bear Ranch Creek Falls (pictured here). I’ve only been to this one once before. The first section of the hike seemed a lot better than before, as there is now a well trodden path up the mountain. I did not see much poison oak either. However, the second half of the hike seemed to be worse than before, much more overgrown and brushy, and a lot more difficult. Where did all those people from the first half of the hike go? I arrived at the beautiful 30 ft. high middle falls and I took a couple photos of it also. My plan was NOT to stop here. My plan was to continue onwards and upwards. There is another waterfall upstream for certain and I hoped to get to it. Really, I did not think it likely I would make it, but I definitely thought I would make it a lot farther than I did. I made it above the middle falls but the further I hiked the more brushy and difficult the route became. Before too long it became much too brushy to continue. I tried the other side of the creek. No good. I tried wading right up the creek but that didn’t work. Soon after, I came to an impassable spot with no way around it. All in all, I thought I would get a lot further than I did. I was certainly not expecting it to be any brushier than the section up to the middle falls but it was far worse. I was feeling disappointed but I did the best I could. I turned around and went back down. Along the way I somehow dropped my GPS without my knowing it. I went back in search for it, thinking it could not be too far. Of course I had to go back across a couple very sketchy parts which I did not want to, but I did finally find it. Whew. If I had not found it, I would not have been lost – always have a backup! But I am still very glad I did not lose it. It was certainly an interesting adventure in Plumas National Forest.