Leon Turnbull Photography

Hike Number Two of my vacation.

So I’m back home from my Christmas vacation. I go back to work on Monday. Eck. My goal for this vacation was to have six “successful” hikes. By “successful”, I mean that I actually find waterfalls on the hike. Well, I only had five successful hikes. Plus four unsuccessful ones. I am a bit disappointed because I really thought that I should have been able to get to some of those other waterfalls. On three of them the problem was just way too much brush which I could not pound my way through. (I was not expecting so much of the stuff).

I did see many waterfalls (some of the hikes had multiple falls), and that includes three new waterfalls. The first was Lower Cherokee Creek Falls (last post). The one shown above is the second of the new waterfalls: Upper Camp Creek Falls, 62 ft. high. This is a brand new discovery by waterfallswest.

I forgot how awful the Camp Creek road is. It is extremely narrow and steep and there are zero turnouts. If anyone is coming down the road you are dead. (and it’s not uncommon because there are workers from the powerhouse often coming down the road in their big trucks). It was late when I got to the Camp Creek bridge. I wanted to hike from there to the upper Falls, although driving the road would have been possible as well. I chose to hike it.

It actually wasn’t too difficult (for once) to get down to the waterfall. It was steep but not too bad. The problem was that there is no good angle to photograph the falls. I did my best. It is a beautiful slide, but you can’t get any angle in front of it. After photographing, I climbed back up to the road and literally ran back down the hill to Camp Creek bridge. I had no time and it was almost dark but I really wanted to go to the middle Falls at least (the third “new one”). At the bottom of the middle Falls is where they drain the water from the creek into the powerhouse. What this means is that you cannot get in front of the waterfall to photograph it. In other words, there is not any good angle to photograph this one either. I did not have time to explore so I took a quick shot and got out of there. It was dark when I got back to the car. It was a lovely afternoon in Plumas National Forest.

I hurt my back again just before Thanksgiving (yes, I have been doing my back exercises every day). It was not too horrible, but the two difficult hikes I had planned for the weekend both got squelched. I did a lot of reading in bed. By Saturday I was going stir crazy and anxious to go on at least one easy hike, so that is what I did. Lower Battle Creek Falls was my destination.

It was Saturday afternoon of the long weekend (Black Saturday?), so I expected to see a few other people on the hike. Whenever I drive by here I usually see cars parked at the trailhead. There was no one at all. I would have this easy hike all to myself.

It’s a short hike on a logging road down to the bridge and then a short trail down to the falls. When I first came here some years ago it was just an obscure path, not a trail. Few people ever came here. It is a trail now. Not just a trail, it is a super highway. It feels like you are hiking on the PCT. No joke. I’m not sure I really like that. There is erosion on the trail now in some places due to all the traffic, especially the last steep part down to the creek.

There is a shrine along the trail for some guy who died here more than 20 years ago (I definitely have not seen it before – in fact, it does not seem old at all). I don’t know (obviously) but I was thinking he probably died jumping off the waterfall (which would be stupid). I imagine plenty of kids do this in the summer. It seems to be a very popular place now.

However, it’s much better to come in the winter when no one else is around. The creek flow is low but the waterfall is a straight plunge of 32 ft so it is beautiful even at low flows. It definitely seems much more than 30 ft. to my eye. Over 40 ft high for sure, I thought, but I measured it again and it was still just 32 ft. It did not grow 10 ft. since I was last here. Oh well. It is very gorgeous anyway.

The super highway trail continues a bit below the falls. I followed it for awhile but then it abruptly ends at a cliff. Does it go down the cliff? That would be nuts. It seemed like it did go down but I did not try it. I returned to my car and got back just after sunset. When I got back, I noticed some trash by the road. Was that there when I started the hike? I do not remember seeing it there. I picked it up. There was still ice in the drink cup! So that means while I was on this short hike, some loser drove by, stopped at the turn out, dumped their trash, and then continued on. That is so bloody annoying and irritating. Other than that it was a beautiful EASY hike in Lassen National Forest, and my back held up very well.

This weekend I was off to the Highway 70 corridor in Plumas National Forest for the first time this season. I suspect it will be the first of many times this winter. Where else can I go this winter? The other side of Oroville (Feather Falls) is closed due to the fire this summer, and I suspect it won’t be open for at least 1 year. The Bay Area? The coast? Much of the central coast is also closed from fire. I will probably go to the Bay Area, but only if it rains a lot, otherwise it is pointless to go there. So that mostly just leaves the North Fork Feather River in Plumas National Forest.

For this trip I really wanted to make it to Lower Chambers Creek Falls which I have not been to before. I figured it would be a sure thing and a fairly easy hike. Ummm, not so much. I made it (as you can see), but it was definitely not a sure thing.

I have tried this hike before, after my friend Jeremy first told me about it a couple years ago. He followed the creek up from the highway. I did that, and failed. You cannot go that way if the creek is high. It requires multiple crossings of the creek and this is a large creek. I thought of a different route, going down from the Chambers Creek Falls trail. There is an obvious path there, and it is marked with ribbons, so that must mean it is an easy way down to the falls, and others have gone down there that way. Right? Nope. That obvious path ended abruptly in about 10 seconds. A wall of insurmountable brush was before me. Well, that is not going to work at all. I tried a different spot. It also was incredibly brushy. The entire area is very brushy. (understatement of the year). My route was indeed brushy but I was able to keep going for awhile. Did I mention there was a lot of poison oak as well? I almost turned back. I did not think I would make it down. But I continued. I had to give this my best effort. I did not want to fail again. I made it through the brush (finally), and got down near the top of the waterfall and found … CLIFF. All around me was a huge cliff and I could see no way down. This time I did give up. I decided to retreat back up the mountain. There was just no way to get down the cliffs. However … on the way back up I saw one more possible route down and decided to give it one last try. Lo and behold! It worked! I was able to follow this route all the way down to the creek below the waterfall. Whew! That was incredibly difficult and tiring just to get down to the creek (and let’s remember, I still have to go back up!).

Lower Chambers Creek Falls is a very gorgeous 73 ft. high waterfall dropping into a beautiful pool. It is an amazing spot and you can climb out on the rocks in the middle of the creek and get right in front of the falls. I enjoyed my time here, ate my lunch, rested, tried to sike myself for the climb back up the mountain. I could not do it. You see, the flow in Chambers Creek was very low. I was expecting the creek to be uncrossable, but instead it was very easily crossable. This is a large creek and they received 5 inches of rain here this past week. It should not be this low, but I guess that tells you we sure need a heckuva lot more rain. Anyway, I thought … maybe with the creek so low it would not be all that difficult to just follow it back down to the highway. That should be much better than climbing back up the mountain. So that is what I did. There were definitely a couple tricky spots, including down climbing a small 15-20 ft. waterfall, a couple creek crossings, a bit of brush, but overall I think I made the right decision. It was certainly a lot better than climbing back up through all that brush. Once down to the bottom, I had an easy one mile walk along the highway to my car at the Chambers Creek trailhead. It was a brushfest day in Plumas National Forest.

It was my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday celebration, so we all went up north for the weekend. I have not been up there since COVID started. So of course, I wanted to take one day and go hiking. My choice: Pit River Falls. I knew that PG&E was doing a release on the Pit River and the waterfall would be flowing well (1100 cfs). I *needed* to see a waterfall that was flowing well (after my disappointing Yosemite trip).

I was hoping to go an easier way to Pit River Falls this time. A photographer friend mentioned awhile ago that he went up from the powerhouse and I wanted to try going this way. It should be much easier than going down the cliffs. However … I arrived at the powerhouse and found everything gated and fenced off with menacing no trespassing signs. How did my friend go there? I went to the campground, which seems to be the only public access to the river, but I found no route from there. There were a bunch of kayakers camping there (it is a boon for them when the Pit River is flowing and they can go kayaking over the waterfall); surprisingly, one of them was awake, so I asked her (I think she was just using the facilities and wanted to go back to sleep) – but she did not know anything helpful anyway. I spent about an hour trying to figure a way but could not. I am not sure but I think maybe PG&E has closed off access due to COVID. I only say this because I know they have done this at other places. I am not sure about here, but regardless, the No Trespassing signs scared me away.

So now I have wasted an hour and there was just one hour left to get to the waterfall before the sun got on it. My only choice was to go the hard way. It is a short hike, but it is very steep. The first time I did this, I twisted my ankle badly and was out of commission for 6 months. The second time fared better, with no twisty ankles. This would be the third time, and thankfully again, no twisty ankles. I made it down to the falls before the sun and it was roaring. I spent the next 15 minutes scooting around and taking photos from all possible angles, and just really enjoying the beauty and power of the waterfall. It is 33 ft. high but it is very wide, spanning the entire river. It sure beats going to nearby Burney Falls (in my opinion).

I took my time hiking back up the mountain and got back to my mother-in-law’s place by noon. Then the long drive home in the afternoon. I was very tired and went to bed early. Eleven hours of sleep felt so good. It was a marvelous morning at Pit River Falls in northern California.

I have seen a couple posts recently from people going to waterfalls in California that are dry. They were shocked that they were dry, even though it is late summer. For example, Dutch Creek Falls in Coloma is a rain fed creek. It has not rained in California in over 3 months. Yet this person thought it would be flowing very well (he said so). Bassi Falls flows from snow melt but the snow has been long gone for a couple months now. It always dries up in the summer (or becomes just a trickle). One person was shocked it was dry. And of course there is always the person that goes to Yosemite and wonders why Yosemite Falls is dry in late summer. Come on people. If you don’t know, Go to my website! I have this information on my website and I tell you the best season to go see it. Sometimes I have more information about flows as well (such as for Bassi).

So why is Mud Creek Canyon Falls on Mt. Shasta still flowing? How did I know it would be flowing when I went there at the end of August? It is because it is a glacier fed waterfall (mostly), and glaciers melt in the summer. It does flow better with snow melting in the spring, but nonetheless, I knew it would still be decent in late August. So there you go. Please check my website!

With regards to the fires, all southern California forests are now completely shut down, and all camping is shut down in the northern forests as well. I had a big backpacking trip planned this month in Kings Canyon NP, and as of now, it looks like that will have to be postponed. I am running out of photos to share! The El Dorado fire in southern CA was started by some idiots playing with pyrotechnic devices. I strongly suspect the Creek Fire was also started by people over the long weekend. (there has not been any lightning recently). Although quite a few fires this year in CA have been started by lightning (this is quite unusual, actually), more than 90% of all forest fires are started by humans. So thanks (not) to those of you people that started these horrendous fires and forcing the Forest Service to close everything down for the rest of us, not to mention the people that have lost their lives or homes.

In other news, and not related to waterfalls, I am upset about something that happened recently and thought I would share … I had a certain friend (who apparently is not a friend), and we had even discussed going hiking together in the near future (which, if you know me is a rare thing since I much prefer to go by myself). Well, then he found out my political views differ from his, and immediately, just like that, he unfriends me and blocks me. I asked him about it, and he replied basically he cannot stand me because of this. Just like that? One day he wants to hike with me and the next he hates me? I expect politicians to behave like this but not regular people. Essentially, he said he hates or strongly dislikes half the country! This is not American. In America, we should be supporting and loving each other, recognizing and accepting our differences (our beliefs or whatever it may be), and not get so stupidly offended if someone says or does something you don’t agree with. I am more American than him and I am not even American! I hope no one else reading this is like this other person when it comes to politics or religion. Love one another. End rant.