Leon Turnbull Photography

Here you go folks: A brand spanking new waterfall just found in Lassen Volcanic National Park. It is a nice one and a significant drop too at 50 ft. high. Thank you very much, Mr. Amazing and Crazy Waterfall Hunter at waterfallswest.com!

I say that last sentence in jest because of a recent high profile news article in which a certain canoeist in Canada found a previously unknown waterfall while canoeing down a remote river. He claimed it was 40 ft. high but from the picture I saw, it was clearly only around 20 ft. high, and likely less than this! Now he is getting paid money by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to find waterfalls in Canada. I did not say anything about this previously, but I really thought the whole thing was very lame. I mean, heck, I find new “uncharted” waterfalls all the time. Last waterfall season, for instance, I found Upper West New York Canyon Falls (and it is 150 ft., not 20 ft.), not to mention quite a few others as well (oh I could mention some of them: SF Rubicon River Falls, Upper Clipper Crk Falls, Upper Iowa Cyn Falls, Upper Devils Falls, Iowa Hill Ditch Falls). And I am not the only waterfall hunter that finds new waterfalls. It is not difficult if you know where to look, and have a lot of determination. So it kind of bugs me that he finds a 20 ft waterfall and now gets paid for doing it. One thing I guess I can say about him is that he is a lot smarter than me if he can scam RCGS into paying him to find 20 ft. high waterfalls.

This season (which has only just begun) I now add yet another one to my list, which I am naming West Sulphur Creek Falls. Although not far from a main trail, it is hidden and rather remote. I am quite certain that no one currently in the park service has been to this waterfall or even knows of its existence. I saw no evidence that anyone had been down there in the recent past. Of course I am not foolhardy enough to believe that I am the first person to ever lay eyes on it (I am only slightly foolhardy). In fact, I saw what seemed like a very old road down there but it was so old I am not sure if it even was a road, and certainly has not been used in over 100 years. And if anyone did see it in the past, it was probably just swished away, discounted, ignored, snubbed – even though it is a significant drop at 50 ft. high. That is because it is hidden in an extremely steep canyon, surrounded by cliffs on both sides. The cliffs seem even steeper than those at Mill Creek Falls – and we all know what those are like (see my previous post). It was very difficult to get any view of this waterfall at all, I was standing on a hairy scary precipice, and even then, the top part of the falls is obscured by tree branches, so from this viewpoint it is not very photogenic, but it would be sweet if you could get down to it. It may or may not be possible to do that; I would like to come back and try someday, but I did not have time on this day as I had to get to Chester to meet up with my family for lunch. Oh and by the way … there are more “uncharted” waterfalls in Lassen NP, and some of them may even be a lot bigger than this one.

It is of course rather a huge shame and disappointment that Lassen NP is now closed because of the government shutdown (as well as all other national parks). So now you can’t even go to this waterfall (at least for awhile). It is very irksome for sure. Even the trails are closed. I just don’t understand that. I could understand closing the facilities, but why the trails? Why can’t we still go in there and hike? This is our land, people. Not the government’s.