Leon Turnbull Photography

My adventure this past weekend started out at 4AM and ended up with a 7 ft. high waterfall. That’s a lot of effort for not much payback.

It is always a big effort getting up so darn early in the morning. But with sunrise now at 6AM, and considering it takes at least an hour and a half to drive anywhere interesting, it is a necessity.

My plan was to explore the Silver Fork American River at Kyburz. I was hoping to find a decent sized waterfall on that river. I had no idea, really, if there was one or not. I just had a thought that there might be one, there should be one, and I was meaning to explore it. I had a couple possibilities marked out on my map. When I got there, and arrived at those possibilities, I realized that my big effort was for naught. No waterfalls. But I didn’t want my day to be a total loss, so I scrambled down to the river anyway. When I got down there, I found a 5 ft. high waterfall. Eh. Not too exciting, but I took a photo of it. It was pretty steep scrambling down there and took more time than I wanted to. I had a second destination in mind as well.

That was Alder Creek, 5 miles down the road from Kyburz. When Rob and I were driving home from Bassi Falls the other day, way up on Ice House Rd., we noticed a waterfall off in the distance across the canyon. It looked like a big one. Was it really a waterfall? It was hard to tell from so far away. When I got home, I studied my maps, and saw that yes there a possible waterfall. But I wasn’t sure which drainage it would be. I thought maybe Alder Creek was the ticket. It wasn’t. The correct drainage was Mill Creek, and yes there is a waterfall on that creek. A big one. But I’m not sure (yet) how to get to it. I’ll be working on that. In the meantime, my idea for this day was to explore Alder Creek. I think there might be a waterfall on Alder Creek as well. I found a trail leading up the creek, and at first it looked very promising and very easy going, but then it stopped. At this 7 ft. high waterfall. Continuing to bush whack up the creek for another mile was not on my list of things that I wanted to do this day. Maybe another day. So anyway, I just stopped here at this mini falls for a quickie photo. Then off home I did go. And arrived back at the house to find my wife still sleeping. ha ha.