Leon Turnbull Photography

I did not feel like doing a very tough hike this weekend, so I decided to stay close to home and try out one of my favorite little waterfalls in the Auburn area, American Canyon Creek Falls. It is only 15 ft. high, but it is such a cool little waterfall, dropping through an extremely narrow crevice into a deep beautiful pool, and it is a fun hike down to it as well.

Another good thing about doing an easy hike close to home (instead of a killer tough hike) is that I can drag my son and dog along as well. I did not actually have to drag them along. They both came quite willingly this time (of course, the dog is always more than willing to come along, but sometimes the son is not so willing). This time, however, Jadon was quite happy to join me on a hike, and in fact he seems to be enjoying the hikes more and more lately. That makes Dad very happy.

We arrived at the trailhead at around sunrise. On the previous day, the forecast said it was going to be raining in Auburn all night, and most of the morning. I was expecting to get quite wet on this hike. However, when I woke up I discovered that Auburn received very little rain that night and there was no more expected that morning. This latest storm did not drop too much precipitation at all. This made me a bit anxious about the creek flow. I thought it might be nothing more than a trickle. I did not have to worry though, the waterfall was flowing all right. The lower flow also made it easier to cross the creek at the waterfall. When I was here last time with Jadon, the creek was flowing much too strongly for him to make it across, so he did not in fact see the waterfall. This time, he could make it across easily, and he finally got to take a gander at this little beauty.

Whenever I come here, I think I will try to get a different perspective of this waterfall, photograph it from a different angle. I do not know what I was thinking, I should know better. There really is just one and only one angle to photograph the waterfall. It drops through such a narrow slot, if you take just a half step to the right or left, it is out of view behind the rocks. There is no other possible way to photograph it. Ah well, it is still a gorgeous view. And I must say, I am quite pleased with my photograph this time as well.

I also wanted to take Jadon down to the lower falls on this creek. It requires more of a scramble however, down a steep bank. We started down it, but after slipping a couple times Jadon decided emphatically that he did not want to venture any further down to the creek, saying it was much too steep. It is not really all that steep and I know he could have made it, but I did not want to push him so we turned around and went back up.

We took it easy going back up the hill to our car. I saw one tick on the way. This is not good at all. It is far too early for ticks to be out. This one was just a tiny little thing, a baby, but in a couple months, they will be huge and all over the place. Anyway, we made it back up to the car, having seen no one on the trails the entire morning. Jadon (and Kaya as well) were quite tired by the end of it, but all in all we had a very good day, hiking in Auburn together.