Leon Turnbull Photography

What is all this white stuff? I haven’t seen it in years in California, or it sure seems that way. Well, in truth it was just a very small storm, but very welcome. The snow pack in California is currently at under 20 percent of average for this time of year! This is horrendous, and it is much worse than last year. Even though we have had some rain and the reservoirs “seem” to be doing ok, we have not had the snow, so there will be no melting snow pack this year to help fill the reservoirs in the spring and summer. This is the fourth year of drought now, and it is the worst year by far. But this little storm is something, and we have another little storm coming next week. What about after that? We can only keep praying.

I really felt like getting up into the snow this weekend and seeing a snowy waterfall. It was something I just absolutely had to do. But where could I go, and what would be flowing? Well, it was back to Cisco Grove and Rattlesnake Creek for the third time this winter. It was absolutely gorgeous up in the Sierra with the fresh snow. I arrived at Cisco Grove and found 6-7 inches of white stuff on the ground at 5600 ft. elevation. This was a lot more than I was expecting to find. This storm dumped about twice as much as the forecasters said there would be. I am not complaining! It was a bit tricky navigating my vehicle into the parking space with all that snow, hoping I would not get stuck, but I managed to do it successfully. I was just hoping the plows would not come along and box me in later.

It is a quick short hike up to Lower Rattlesnake Creek Falls, 24 ft. high. I did this without snowshoes, though I really should have put them on. It was a bit tricky getting down to the falls, and climbing up along the rocks to get up close to it, but it was certainly incredibly gorgeous with the fresh snow on the ground. I took my photos and then got back to the car and was ready for the next part of my weekend adventure. Another long hike (with snowshoes), and I ended up finding a marvelous new waterfall; it was interesting, surprising and awesome. Stay tuned, because that post will be coming up next.