Leon Turnbull Photography

It was not quite the shot I envisioned. But it was not too bad.

I was up at the speck of dawn, before 4 AM. It is a long drive up to the Castle Crags trailhead, and I arrived about an hour before sunrise. The weather report hinted of partly cloudy skies, but it was pretty iffy, about a 50% chance. There were some clouds around, but nothing, nada, at the trailhead. I sent up a little prayer, in fact I was pretty much praying for clouds the entire drive. I did not particularly want (actually had no desire whatsoever) to make a long hike in the dark with no prospect of a decent sunrise. So I started my hike in the dark anyway. Surely God would not let me down this morning.

The trail starts out with a bang, a 500 foot elevation gain up to the Pacific Crest Trail in a half mile. I made it up in no time at all, in fact it felt like I had only climbed 200 feet. I couldn’t believe I was already at the top of the ridge. The only explanation is that because it was so dark, and I was freaked out about lions hiding in every shadow, and I was so pumped on adrenaline that I did not notice the elevation in the hike. Well I did not see any lions, or tigers, or bears. Or anything at all. All I heard was the sound of fast rushing Castle Creek far below me, and the occasional sounds of little critters in the bushes (which also freaked me out).

So I arrived at Burstarse Creek on time, just before sunrise. I could not find the view that I wanted with the waterfall in the foreground and the Crags looming above. That’s because the view did not exist. I suppose I should have researched it a bit more beforehand but my writeup from the last time I was here said: “you will be able to see both the upper falls and lower falls from the trail (with the Castle Crags in the background providing an amazing backdrop)”. I did find that view but it was obscured and certainly not photo worthy. Nonetheless, I continued up the trail and found a decent shot to take with the Crags and a portion of the upper waterfall. And lo and behold there were a few clouds, and a little bit of color. Not much but thank you, Lord, for this. So it was not the shot I had envisioned, but it was not too bad.

I then proceeded up to the main waterfall, which as I said I have been to before.

So do you really think I came all the way out here again to Burstarse Falls just for a sunrise shot? Think again matey. But to find out what comes next, you will have to wait for my next post.