Leon Turnbull Photography

So with all the rain we had here in northern CA this past week, you know the waterfalls would be roaring this weekend. Or so I thought. I was watching the flow of the North Fork Dam at Lake Clementine closely all week long, as that is a very good indicator on how the waterfalls in the area are flowing. But it never got much above 1500 cubic feet per second (cfs) all week, which is a heckuva lot lower than I was expecting with all the rain. So what did that mean? I figured it out by the end of the week, namely that most of the precipitation we had was coming down as snow in the mountains, so it was not contributing to the flow in the rivers. All the waterfalls at the lower elevations would be flowing great, and that is where I needed to go.

But where? I did not have much time this weekend to go very far, so it had to be close. I decided on my old favorite Canyon Creek Falls at Gold Run, which should be flowing very well as it is at a lower elevation in the foothills. Or so I thought.

With the weather breaking on Saturday, I decided to try a different spot on Canyon Creek, one that I had not been to before. This new spot would also possibly give me a great sunrise view overlooking the North Fork Canyon, if I was fortunate enough. Or so I thought.

On Saturday morning, I woke up bright and early, and it was raining in Folsom. What? I checked my cool new little weather app for my phone, and saw that it was raining up in the Gold Run area too. Actually, it looked like Gold Run was on the edge of the snow line. Hmmm. But the app also told me that there would be a break in the rain around 8AM. Or so I thought. Off I went, giving up on the sunrise option because of the rain, and just decided to find that new waterfall viewpoint, planning to arrive there right around the upcoming break in the weather.
I arrived in Gold Run … and it was snowing! There was about 4-6 inches of snow on the ground. Gold Run rarely gets any snow, so this was a bit unexpected. And with the snow on the ground, I was worried about being able to find this new trail at all, not to mention that parking would be a big issue.

So I made the Executive Decision.

I decided to change plans and take the regular route down to Canyon Creek Falls. With the snow falling, I thought it would be really beautiful down by the falls. This would be a rare opportunity to see these waterfalls with snow. Or so I thought.

It just so happened that when I was here last year with my friend, Rob, there was snow at the trailhead as well. Rob and I got very wet hiking through that snow, but since you lose a lot of elevation on the hike, there was none by the time we got down to the falls. I got very wet again today. There was snow all the way down to the first waterfall on Canyon Creek. Crossing the bridge over Canyon Creek was a bit crazy. It is a very narrow little thing (two 2×4 boards), over a raging creek, and there was 4 inches of snow on it. I slowly trudged across the bridge, clearing the snow on the way, in order to prevent slippage. On the other side, you have to crawl up a rock face, that was in full slick mode on this wet day. I made it safely, and continued on the the first waterfall on Canyon Creek.

It was snowing hard, and as you can see in this photo, it was incredibly beautiful with the snow on the trees and rocks around the waterfall. The flow in Canyon Creek was pretty good, about the same as when I was here last year. But it was not crazy flow, as I was hoping. This again is due to the snow at the lower elevations the past couple days. I still need to come back here when it is going overboard. I did not go to the bottom of the falls this time, as I did with Rob last year. That would have been crazy today, with the snow and steep slippery slope.

I did, however, continue on down to the Big Waterfall. I will post that shot later. By the time I got down to the Big Waterfall, the snow had turned to rain, and there wasn’t much snow down there, unfortunately. It is definitely rather difficult to get down to the Big Waterfall in the rain when the ground is so slick. There is one particular spot right before you get to the waterfall that has a steep and deadly drop-off. I took one look at it and said no way would I try that. I wondered if I would have to turn around after getting so close, but I was able to get around that spot by a different and much safer route and made it to over to the waterfall. I did, however, take a tumble in the mud, getting myself completely drenched in mud, including my tripod and my camera! The camera still worked, fortunately, and I was able to take a couple shots of the falls. I’m still hoping that my lens is not ruined. I then made the long, slow trek back up the trail. The snow was melting now, and was mostly all gone back when I got back to the first waterfall. By the time I got back to the car I was wet, cold, tired, and very muddy.