Leon Turnbull Photography

Finally. This one has been my nemesis for a couple years now. And after a couple tries, I was finally able to get to it. This is Eagle Lake Falls at Lake Tahoe. It is 174 ft. high, and it is extreme spectacular-ness.

Now … I suspect that most people have never heard of this waterfall before at Lake Tahoe. Eagle Lake Falls? What the heck? Everyone (and I mean everyone) knows about Eagle Falls at Emerald Bay. It is one of the most photographed waterfalls in California. Most people would also know about Upper Eagle Falls as well. But there is another waterfall on the same stream, and this one is actually bigger than Lower Eagle Falls (which is 140 ft. high).  I want to even say that this waterfall is better than Lower Eagle Falls, but I will refrain from saying that for now.

I would say that the vast majority of visitors to Eagle Falls, only visit the Lower Eagle Falls, and perhaps the Upper Eagle Falls. Only a fraction venture above the bridge at Upper Eagle Falls, and visit Eagle Lake. And only a fraction of that fraction venture further than Eagle Lake. But there is a whole world of exploring to be done in the Desolation Wilderness. The Desolation Wilderness is actually a fairly popular backpacking area, so a fraction of a fraction is still quite a lot of people. Nonetheless, it is a beautiful place that not too many people will see. And if you hike above Eagle Lake, and if you are looking for it, you can see this waterfall above Eagle Lake from the trail. But it is a long way off, and an extremely steep descent, and there are no trails venturing down to it. That is where I come in. Waterfall Hunter.

I saw this waterfall first a couple years ago when I was hiking up in the Desolation Wilderness. From a distance it did not look like a huge waterfall. In fact, after studying Google Earth and my topo maps, I kinda figured it was maybe 50 ft. or so high. Nonetheless, I still wanted to add it to my collection of course. I tried accessing it first from Eagle Lake, by hiking over the rocks and talus slides along Eagle Lake to the end, then going upstream from there. I made it to the end of Eagle Lake, but then ran into a dead end, with steep cliffs and very thick brush. There is a lot of thick brush at the end of Eagle Lake. I did not make it to the falls.

Hmmm … how could I possibly make it to this remote and seemingly inaccessible waterfall? I studied my maps and GE some more, and came up with a new route. My new route was to access it from above, venturing off the main trail above Eagle Lake, and coming down to the falls from above. GE showed a lot of probable brush in the area, but it looked like the cliff beside the falls was not too steep from GE, and I could access it from there. Yeah, right.

So off I went up to Lake Tahoe on a Tuesday afternoon in late July. When I arrived at Eagle Falls, there was a lot of people around. I was lucky to get a parking spot at the trailhead. I could see that Eagle Falls was still running quite well. And I could also see there was still snow on some of the mountains. Shocker. Usually, by this time of year, Eagle Falls is reduced to a trickle. Thank you, 140 percent of normal snow pack. This was definitely a good sign.

It was quite a warm day (80 degrees) for a hike up into the Desolation Wilderness, but up up up I went. When I got up above Eagle Lake, I left the crowds behind me, and I came into view of the waterfall for the first time. I could see that the cliff beside the waterfall was definitely far too steep to make a descent. It seemed so much tamer on GE. There was no way I would be descending down that. Nonetheless, I continued on, hoping to find another route down once I got there. I came to another dilemma once I reached the spot where I was to break off trail and head down to the falls. It was steep! It did not look too promising, and I was considering giving up my quest for the day. But … I had come all this way up here, so I decided to try it. As I descended, I actually found a path. People had obviously been down here before. It was a good path in spots, and in others, it was hard to follow. But I was following it. It was not my original planned route, but it was leading me down to the falls. As I descended, I could see the waterfall, and I could easily see that it was definitely a lot bigger than I had anticipated. It was certainly no 50 footer. This was very cool. I was feeling very good.

Then … as I crossed a brushy ravine and headed up onto a ridge, I could see the waterfall in plain view ahead of me. It looked like I was going to make it. Then all of a sudden … I came to a dead end. A big cliff dropoff right in front of me. Crikey! I had almost made it all the way to the falls, and now I was stopped. Well, I could still take my pictures from this spot. The view of the falls was excellent from here. But I was definitely bummed that I did not make it all the way to the waterfall. After taking my pictures, I did find a possible descent down the cliff. But I could not tell if I would be able to continue all the way or not. Maybe it was possible. But it was now getting very late. I had run out of time. If I went down now, I would be hiking back in the dark. So I decided to not try it this time, and come back another day.

I started heading back up to the main trail. It was a very steep and slow ascent. The high elevation was definitely getting to me, and I was even feeling a bit dizzy as I ascended. Finally, I got back to the main trail. Now it was all downhill back to the car. I was quite bagged though from this very strenuous hike, and I drank all the water in my camelbak before I made it back down, and I arrived just after sunset. Some light clouds had rolled in surprisingly over the Bay, and I was actually hoping for a nice sunset at Eagle Falls. But I arrived there a bit too late (but the clouds did not really color up too nicely anyway, so I didn’t miss very much). I was totally bagged from the hike. I stopped at McDonald’s to refuel myself with a couple chicken sandwiches and ice cream before making the long drive home.