Leon Turnbull Photography

The view of the North Fork American River from the Canyon Creek Falls viewpoint is simply stellar. It is of course my favorite river on this planet. On this morning the river was raging at around 7000 cubic feet per second. By Sunday afternoon, it actually got up to 30,000 cfs. Wow, I wish I would have gotten out to see it then. If it was clear, you can see Lovers Leap from here, which also has some waterfalls on it, if they are flowing. You can also see some ephemeral falls at the top center of this photo, and in the lower left, the main Canyon Creek trail going down towards the river. It is a very awesome view.

My rainy day started out looking for waterfalls on Monumental Creek. Instead I found this.

I learned about this location from the late Russell Towle, well off the beaten path, towering pinnacle rocks called the Monuments, from which the creek was most likely named. There are four or five of them in this area, and the largest one shown here in my photo is certainly over 100 feet high, rising right out of the creek bed; it is an amazingly phenomenal structure. I knew about these Monuments from Russell, but did not know exactly where they were. They were not hard to find even though it did require scrambling up a steep slope through very wet brush.

But I came looking for waterfalls, not monuments. Russell also mentioned several waterfalls on this creek. However, whenever someone says “waterfall” and does not mention any sort of height, I should know by now that the “waterfall” is not likely to be one of significance. Nonetheless, after studying my topo maps, I thought it was possible there might be a 20 footer on this creek, and thus I figured I must at least go check it out. I did not, in fact, find anything of significance. The biggest of the “waterfalls” was only about 5 feet, and you can see it in this photo, a tiny ant speck in the midst of the towering monuments. Even though it was raining quite hard, I had to take a photo of these incredible pinnacles. I continued from here further up the creek, but still found no waterfalls of any significance. Reluctantly, I retreated back down the canyon and headed up to North Fork Falls, just a few miles away.

I have been to Horsetail Falls probably nine or ten times before, yet I (surprisingly) had never been to the very bottom of the falls before. From the spot of my previous photo (of the upper falls) there is still one more drop below that, a 35 foot cascade. After shooting the main upper section first, I set out to remedy this calamity on my way back down. There is a path through the bushes leading down to this lower section but the final part is a bit on the steep and slippery side. I decided I could butt slide down it because it was not really too bad and I was pretty sure I could easily get back up since there were plenty of bushes to grab onto (and indeed it was easy getting back up). Well I made it down and imagine my surprise when I found a waterwheel here (a waterwheel is formed when the fast rushing water collides with rocks or holes, then sprays out and upwards in a large arc). I had no idea Horsetail Falls had a waterwheel. I have never seen any photos from this location before but it is certainly an incredibly sweet place. Discover something new every time, that may be my new motto.

I took some photos but I was not happy with them, so I returned here again the next week (yesterday), anxious to explore this area more intently. There was actually quite a bit more water flowing in the waterfall than the previous week, and more bugs (but not mosquitoes). Strange. Anyway, I put my water shoes on so I could make my way down right to the bottom of the falls, then crossed over the rocks to the far side, as far as I could possibly get. The stream was rushing too fast to cross completely or even get in the middle of it, but I was able to get some fantastic perspectives. This is an amazing secret little spot. So remarkable. So beautiful. Who would’ve thunk that Horsetail Falls had so much more to offer. Once again, I was the last one off the mountain, and I returned home happy happy happy.

Well it has been awhile, but I am just now back from a vacation. We drove up to Canada to visit my family and celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. As I write this, I am sore, tired, and sick. I did not see as many waterfalls as I would have liked, and I did not take as many photos as I would have liked, but it was not for lack of trying. More to come on this later.

On the drive up, I was hoping to get a good sunrise shot of Mt. Shasta. In order to accomplish such a feat, I got up at 2AM and drove up from Folsom. I picked my family up in Red Bluff (at my wife’s parents’ house) at around 5AM (she was not all that pleased about the time). We arrived in the Mt. Shasta area and it looked to be rainy and overcast, and the mountain was not visible, so we kept on driving. North of Weed, we came to a vista point at sunrise time. The clouds were clearing up, and it was a cold, but pleasant sunrise. Though the color was not very interesting as I had hoped, we did get some nice alpenglow on the mountain. It was a good start to our trip.

Another person almost dies going over a waterfall. The report indicates he was trying to cross the river above Corlieu Falls and fell down a 30 ft waterfall. Corlieu Falls is much bigger than 30 ft high, so I guess he just fell down one of the tiers of the waterfall.

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/24/3791270/volunteer-firefighter-rescues.html

In other news … It is a bit late to tell you this but if you are heading to the CA state fair this weekend, my photo “Pool of Cold Fire” is featured in the Placer County display. Be sure to check it out if you can.

Also, I have several photos printed in Ann Marie Brown’s newest edition of her California Waterfalls book. I was quite excited to be a part of her latest edition. Her book is still the ultimate (printed) source for CA waterfalls.