Leon Turnbull Photography

This week is looking pretty good. By the end of it, we could have 4 or 5 feet of snow in Tahoe, and double that in northern California maybe. About time, I say.

But four feet of snow is nowhere near enough. As I drove up to Tahoe on Saturday, looking for some snow to play in, I did not find very much. At Kyburz, where that huge snow measuring stick is that goes up to 12 feet high (you know what I mean, if you have driven by it), it was measuring a big whopping zero. I essentially did not see any snow until 6500 ft. elevation. I was initially hoping to find a nice snowy waterfall, and I was beginning to wonder if I would find any snow at the falls at all.

Upper Glen Alpine Falls was my destination. I was here in the winter a couple seasons ago, and it was completely buried in the snow and could not be seen at all. I was pretty sure that would not be the case this time around. The road on Fallen Leaf Road is gated two miles in during the winter, so that means you have to hike the remaining three miles along the road, and then it is an additional mile to the falls. I did not want to hike that three miles, so I brought my bike along, which would make that section go by very quickly. My calculations showed that the sun would be hitting the falls very early, around 7AM (30 minutes after sunrise), so I tried to arrive very early. It was still dark, but it was 15 minutes later than I wanted to be. I packed everything onto my bike as quickly as possible and set off down the road. I purposely left my snowshoes in the car, as I did not think they would be necessary with so little snow. It was 20 degrees outside, but I was warm and toasty in the brand new winter jacket (and much needed) I just bought on sale at REI.

Along the road, I noticed that the almost full moon was setting beside Mt. Tallac with a beautiful reflection in Fallen Leaf Lake. Well, I just had to stop to take a picture of that! (and I will share that photo soon). That took another 15 minutes, and it was now almost sunrise. I would have very little time to play with but I figured I could still get to the waterfall in time. At the end of the road, I locked up my bike to a tree, changed into my winter boots, and set off up the path. There was a beaten track through the snow from other people all the way to the Desolation Wilderness trailhead (the spot where you would drive to in the summer), so the going was very easy. But at the trailhead, the tracks stopped there. No one had gone any further up the trail, so I had to beat my own path. It was only a half mile to the falls from here, and should be easy because there was not much snow, right? Well, it started off easily enough, but as I got further in, the snow got deeper. It was now 3 to 4 feet deep in places, and softer as well, not hard packed. Maybe I should have brought my snow shoes after all! Indeed I should have, but I just trudged through the snow, more slowly now, but I kept going steadily enough. It was not very far to the falls.

As I approached the waterfall, I could see the sun was already on it. It was only 7AM, but I was already too late. But God does provide! I made my way down to the bottom of the falls, and as I did so, clouds rolled over in front of the sun. I now had plenty of time to photograph the waterfall. Thank you Lord! It was an awesome morning at Upper Glen Alpine Falls. The snow around the waterfall was really nice, and it was flowing a lot more than it was when I was here in the Fall. That is because all that snow we received last week is already melting. I took my time, enjoyed the view of the waterfall, then hiked back down to photograph the lower falls. The bike ride back to the car was much more tiring, as it is more uphill; I am sure out of biking shape. I was quite tired by the time I got back to the car. Time to go get some breakfast in Tahoe. Phew.

Codfish Creek Falls is not one I would normally go to on my own for a number of reasons. I have been to it many times before and usually I like going to new stuff. But on Sunday afternoon I wanted an easy hike that our whole family could go to and Codfish definitely qualifies.

I tried to go out to a waterfall on Saturday. With four inches or so of new rain in the foothills I figured Canyon Creek at Gold Run would be perfect. And it almost was. I like to call Canyon Creek, Tick City because it is infested with the little buggers in the spring. I once had to brush off about fifty ticks clinging to me after hiking about a mile down the canyon. I figured this trip would be no different. It is early in the season but the ticks are out already due to the warm weather and lack of precip this year. Out in force. I have heard it is the worst season for ticks perhaps ever (and I know that the last two seasons have been very awful). However, I did have some good news. This last storm brought low snow, about a foot to Gold Run. All the ticks were buried under it, making my hike more difficult but much more pleasant with no ticks. Unfortunately it also brought one more difficulty: that darn narrow freaky bridge crossing over Canyon Creek just above the first waterfall. As it was very early in the morning and very cold, the bridge was a skating rink, very icy, and very dangerous to cross. One slip and I would have plunged into the cold fast rushing creek below. Not good. I decided to turn back. A wise decision but it made me very disappointed.

So that is why I wanted to go out on Sunday. I needed to at least get to one waterfall this weekend even if it is one I’ve been to before. My family has been sick and didn’t really want to go, especially my daughter, but I managed to talk them into it and everyone had a really nice time.

There was a lot of people out on the trail to Codfish even though it was late on Sunday afternoon. This is another reason I don’t like to come here anymore and if I do it would be at sunrise before anyone else is out and about. Once we got to the falls I had to wait quite awhile for everyone and their dog to clear out of the way so I could have a view of the falls with no one in the way. In the meantime the kids had fun throwing plenty of rocks into the creek. I was able to easily get right into the creek to take this photo. After an inch or more of recent rain here I thought the creek would have quite a bit more flow on it. Not so.

The last reason I may not come here much in the future, though, is a new one: there is now a $10 fee to park here! What the heck? You have to now pay ten dollars to go on a one hour hike?? Let’s be honest folks, this is totally ridiculous. And let’s just consider how awful the access road down to the river is, which requires a high clearance vehicle to drive on, and the facilities consist of one small dirty outhouse. So what is my fee going towards anyway? I would not likely mind to pay perhaps a $5 fee (at most) but $10 for a one hour hike is way way over the top. Nuff said.