Leon Turnbull Photography

My friend Rob likes to call me the waterfall madman, for some reason or other. I don’t know why. Well I suppose I am a bit crazy sometimes. Like this weekend, for instance.

My adventure today took me back to Clipper Creek in Auburn, and this time was indeed crazier than the last time I was here, about 2 years ago. My goal was Upper Clipper Creek Falls, oh humbala, is it even possible? I was about to find out.

I started hiking in the dark from the Confluence (by the way, what is up with the $10 paid parking here now? Ugh!). The first mile is easy smeasy, climbing up on a wide dirt road, under the Foresthill Bridge, the tallest bridge in California (hoping nothing drops on my head as they do construction up there), then to the first crossing at Clarks Pool. I kinda thought this creek would be very difficult to cross because of all the recent rain, but the creek was actually really low, so it was easy to rock hop across it.

After Clarks Pool, things get rather interesting. The “trail” continues for another mile all the way to Clipper Creek. The trail is quite overgrown, with a ton of poison oak, and of course, ticks. If you wait too late to come here, say February or March, you may as well just jump off that Foresthill Bridge instead. Your fate will be much the same. The trail will be infested with ticks and seriously deadly (or deadly serious – or both). By coming in December, I thought to avoid such deathliness. The ticks should NOT be out yet in December … Well, the ticks WERE out already in December. I saw probably a couple thousand of them along the trail, hanging off the branches (well, maybe not that many). I was constantly brushing them off the branches with my hiking pole so they wouldn’t leap onto me and crawl up my private parts or who knows where. I only picked up 3 or 4 on my body, and got them off before they were able to bite me, so I managed all right, but another month and you can just forget it. Write your last will before you come. And as for the poison oak? Well, that is just not avoidable at all, though I did try, especially to not touch it with my hands. I scrubbed myself raw with Tecnu when I got back home, and I can only hope it is enough to keep me from getting the itch.

I took a different route than the last time I was here. There seem to be quite a few “trails” along the ridge over to Clipper Creek. This in itself is weird, because I just can’t imagine anyone (except for crazies like myself) who would do this hike. In fact, I have serious doubts that anyone else went over to Clipper Creek in the last 2 years since I was there last. Yet there are these old trails. The one I went on followed a much lower contour than the one I took the last time. I don’t know that it was any better. There was still a lot of oak. And there were also quite a few scary drop-offs which I did not like one bit. It took quite a while. Finally I got to Clipper Creek.

It is only about a quarter mile to the upper falls, but it is much brushier from this point. More brush. More oak. More ticks. I was not sure I would be able to make it at all. And yet … there was a trail to follow. Of course it was overgrown. I worked my way up to a side stream coming down from the left which I had to cross. It looked like there was a waterfall on this creek as well, but I did not stop to investigate. I crossed and continued up Clipper Creek. I made it. The upper falls was exactly where I predicted it would be. The slope was very steep so I could not get down to creek level and I had to photograph it from the side of the hill very carefully, hoping the ground would not give way and send me tumbling off the cliff (to my wife if she is reading this: I am kidding!). But it was a steep slope. The upper falls is only 22 ft. high. I expected around 40 or 50 ft. I am not sure but my gut tells me that it may continue around the corner but I could not get past the cliff to see it.

I was really hoping to photograph the lower falls afterwards, but it took a lot longer to get to the upper falls than I thought it would. By the time I got back down, the lower falls was in sun, so I just skipped it (I have photographed it before so it was no biggie). On the hike back out, I tried to take the higher contour that I took last time. Somehow, however, I got on another “trail”, this one leading on a contour much much higher. It seemed to just keep climbing higher and higher, trying to pass above the cliffs. I just kept following it because the trail was not hard to follow, but it was a tougher route. Finally it seemed to just come to a dead end, when I was almost back to Clarks Pool. It was fine all the way, and now it is going to end? What the hey? I decided to just go straight down hill to the main trail, hoping it was not too brushy to get down. I made it. It was definitely a crazy day, but I am sure happy I found the upper falls on Clipper Creek.