Leon Turnbull Photography

We just returned from a great three day camping trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada region of California, to Devil’s Postpile at Mammoth Lakes. I’ve been wanting to go here for some years now, not to see this semi-half-interesting columnar basalt formation, but to see the fabulous waterfalls in this area. So this year, we were finally able to make a family trip out to the area to see them.

And of course, it would be a mighty shame not to attempt to photograph the actual Devil’s Postpile formation, since I am there already. This columnar basalt was created by a lava flow some many many years ago, and is certainly very striking in appearance. The distortion in the photo is intentional, but to be honest I spent very little time here photographing it. The mosquitoes were horrendous when I was here, a couple hours before sunset. I was swarmed upon as soon as I arrived. And frankly, I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. So it was a quick setup, click the shutter, and bye bye Devil’s Postpile.

I hate summer for two reasons: (1) the heat, and (2) the mosquitoes. I normally don’t do much hiking in the summer months for these reasons, unless it is somewhere with none of the little buggers around. Frankly, I was a bit surprised to say the least that there were mosquitoes at Devil’s Postpile. We were here the first weekend the Monument was open (it is closed over the winter because of the snow), and I did not expect any mosquitoes so early in June. There weren’t that many around really (except right here at the Postpile), but I can’t imagine what this place would be like later in the summer, or why anyone would want to come here at that time either. Eck.

We just returned from a family camping trip to the Eastern Sierra region of California. I found 15 new waterfalls, and have many new photos to process from that trip. This is not one of them.

About one mile above Lower Glen Alpine Falls at Lake Tahoe you will come across this little gem. Upper Glen Alpine Falls is only 32 ft. high, but it is a little spitfire when it is flowing well in the spring. It is a very easy half-mile hike from the Desolation Wilderness trailhead, and is located right beside an old, abandoned cabin. Fortunately no one lives there anymore, and it is fine to cut in front of the cabin in order to get right down to the falls. It is a neat little waterfall that should not be missed. I would have liked to get right in the water to shoot this one, but four things prevented me: (a) the water was quite deep, (2) I was wearing jeans, (3) the water was flowing quite fast, and (4) the water was freezing cold. Oh yeah, just say it. I’m a wimp. Anyway, instead of doing that, I clambered down the bank as far as I humanly could and still be able to set up my tripod for a photo.

Cascade Falls is yet another waterfall in the Lake Tahoe area. This one is 149 ft. high, and drops into pretty but inaccessible Cascade Lake. Property around the lake is privately owned and the public cannot go here, which is a big bummer. You can see Cascade Falls as you drive up towards Eagle Falls. It is a big one. But you need to be careful to keep your eyes on the road if you are the one driving!

It is fairly easy to get to the top of Cascade Falls. It is only a 1 mile hike from the Bayview campground. But the only view you’ll get of the waterfall is looking down from the top. The granite cliffs are scary steep here. It was kinda freaking me out taking this photo, and I didn’t want to get too close to the edge. The rocks were also wet and slippery from the rain, adding to my anxiety. It is funny how some people have no fear of heights and can get right to the edge of a waterfall like this, while others won’t go within a 100 ft. pole from the edge. Or with me, for example, I can get right to the edge of Eagle Falls no problem. But here at Cascade Falls, I didn’t feel comfortable getting any closer than I did here. Well, better safe than sorry. One missed step, and I would have been vulture food.

Since I grew up in Canada, I am a huge hockey fan. My team is the Vancouver Canucks and I have been a die-hard Canucklehead since I was a wee one (and it has mostly been die-hard with them over all those years). The team I can’t stand the most (for various reasons I won’t delve into) is the Detroit Red Wings, and of course, they just won the Cup over Pittsburgh.

The only good thing about this is that Dallas Drake plays for the Red Wings. Dallas is from my hometown of Rossland, British Columbia, and I actually played minor hockey with him in Rossland many many moons ago. Dallas is the first Rosslander to ever win the Stanley Cup (and actually, the first Rosslander ever to even play in the NHL), so it is pretty cool that he won it. These days, Dallas is a hard-working, hard-hitting, checker on the Wings and doesn’t score much (and he does his job very well). But back in the old days, Dallas was one of the play-making stars of our team, and could turn any opposing goalie inside out and upside down. We actually had quite a few great players on our team, and others that perhaps could have made it in the NHL as well (excluding myself). But Dallas was the only one who was determined enough to make it. So congratulations Dallas! This was well-earned, and all of Rossland is excited for you.

I was back up north again this past weekend because I had to go back to my father-in-law the dentist again (part 2 of 3). It was Sunday evening, and I met up with my friend Brian again to go out shooting. We didn’t really have too much time before dark, but I had heard of a lower waterfall on Battle Creek near Mineral, and thought we might have time to try finding it before dark. I kinda had my doubts though. The person who told me about it said it was about a mile scramble downstream on the creek. I figured we might be hiking back in the dark. But Brian was game so we went for it.

When we arrived at the creek, we started hiking down the south side of Battle Creek. The going was very easy. After a short while though, the road we were following started heading up and away from the creek. We figured we’d better find a way down to the creekside, and so we found a steep path leading down, and scrambled and tumbled down the bank to the creek. Once down at the creek, we realized we were at the top of the very waterfall that we were looking for! It wasn’t a mile downstream, but only about a quarter mile. And it was a dandy of a waterfall, 30 ft. high, plunging off a steep cliff into a fabulous pool below. But we quickly realized we were on the wrong side of the creek. There was no way down to the bottom from the south side of Battle Creek. But it looked like there was a path, albeit a steep one, on the other side, where we could get down to the bottom of the falls. But how to get there? We started going back upstream of the waterfall, looking for a way across the creek. The creek was flowing pretty strong and deep but we found a potential spot. I got on my water shoes, and Brian got on his bare feet. And thus, we forded across the creek. It was almost waist high at the deepest point. I was crossing very tentatively because I was afraid of slipping and drowning my camera. But I finally made it across. I looked back and Brian (in his bare feet) came whipping up quickly behind me like it was no big deal. It must be because he is so much taller than me (or something). Anyway, we got our hiking boots back on and went back downstream, and down the path to the bottom of the falls. It was quite steep, but it was do-able. And it was really a fabulous waterfall. I was very pleased, and especially, that it was not too difficult to reach. (and more importantly, that we wouldn’t be hiking back in the dark). We both got back on our water shoes (or bare feet, in Brian’s case) and promptly got back in the water for picture taking.

On the return trip, we stayed on the north side of the creek, where there was a nice little trail leading all the way back to the bridge at the campground. Easy as pie! Along the way, we came across a grave stone, for some one named Steven Callahan (or something like that). I guess maybe it was some kid who died here, maybe going over the waterfall. Who knows.