Leon Turnbull Photography

New York Canyon Falls is surely the most spectacular waterfall in California outside of Yosemite. Am I right? A 462 ft. high waterfall in very remote territory, no trails, rugged and almost inaccessible canyon, incredible beauty. There is nothing else like it.

It is at least 10 times more difficult to get to it in April, when it is flowing at its best. I’ve been wanting to do this as a day hike and at peak flow in April for a long time, but how? And even more so, to get there in good lighting. It was time to try it.

However, I slept very poorly on Friday night. Why does that always happen before a big hike? I slept so bad, I turned my alarm off. There was no way I was going to get up at 3AM to do this. When I finally did get up, I thought I could go for a hike in the afternoon, but just something very easy, nothing hard. Well, later, I said maybe, maybe if I can drive all the way to Tadpole, then perhaps, perhaps I could try the New York Canyon hike. It would be 5 miles one way from there. That’s not too bad. I did a 6.5 miles hike a couple weekends ago in the evening. Yeah but … one problem … this hike had about 3000 ft. of elevation to climb.

So guess what? I could drive all the way to Tadpole. Did I really really really want to try this? I think my mind was not in agreement with my body. The mind won out. But the body had the last laugh.

It is weird that there was zero snow up to Tadpole, then all of a sudden, 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, almost instantaneously. I would need my snowshoes. There were some campers at the end of the road at Tadpole, and they told me they had driven up the road in their “snow jeeps” all the way to Robinson Flat. I told them to send a search party for me if I did not get back from my hike. It might be needed. Indeed, it was almost needed.

There was about 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, in some places up to five feet, but it was hard packed walking on the road with the jeep tracks, and I really did not need my snowshoes. It was easier to wear them, though, then carry them, so that is what I did. When I got off the main road, however, the snow was deeper and softer. Snowshoes were definitely required here. It’s a good thing I brought them. As I descended, the snow became more patchy, and finally disappeared. I left my snowshoes along the side of the road. No one would be coming down this road, not even the jeepers. Bears, on the other hand? Yes to that. I did see some big old bear tracks in the snow as I walked down the road, I was following Mr. Bear into the great unknown. Well, hopefully, he would not come back and steal my snowshoes.

I hiked down Macklin Ridge towards the Middle Falls. I don’t know, but it seemed to me that Macklin Ridge was much steeper than before, and the rocks were much more loose and crumbly. What is going on, Rob Macklin? I expect to see a nice, maintained, and easy to follow trail. Geepers, you name a ridge after a friend and then he doesn’t even bother to maintain it properly. Seriously, though, it is not likely the ridge that is worse, it is my memory that is worse. Old age, you know.

So … what do you suppose is the one thing that I was most concerned about on this hike? Was it the long hiking distance (5 miles)? No, not that. Was it walking through 5 feet of snow? Nope. Was it the huge elevation that I had to climb (about 3000 ft.)? No, but I suppose that definitely should have been the most concerning. Was it the bear that I was about to catch up to? Negative. So what was it then that I was so concerned about? Two words: creek crossing. There is just something about crossing a fast flowing creek at the top of a 462 ft. high waterfall that is just a little disconcerting. Perhaps it’s just me. The Middle Falls looked to be flowing very strong. This crossing could be deadly. However, this is not even nearly the same thing as crossing into the Merced River at the top of Vernal Falls. That is just plain obviously stupid. This crossing is only partially stupid. No, I am kidding. The truth was, that I had no idea what this crossing would be like. I have only been here at low flows before, I have never even gotten my feet wet. In the past there has also been a big log that allows for an easy crossing. What would it be like at higher flows? I did not know. If it was too dangerous, I would just go back to the Middle Falls. As it turned out, however, the crossing was easy. I had worried for nothing. The log was still there, but I missed it, coming down to the creek above stream from it. Instead of trying to get back down to it, I just put on my water shoes and made the very easy crossing. No problem. On the way back, I crossed on the log, which was even easier.

After the creek crossing, I knew I would make it. I knew it was going to be glorious. It is still a big descent down to the knoll opposite the falls, and again, it seemed to be much steeper than I remembered in the past. I am definitely losing my mind. The waterfall was stunning. The first time I came here with my brother-in-law it was much bigger but we were on the other side that time. This was certainly the best I have seen it from this location, but still I was hoping for a lot more. I missed peak flow by one week. The flow from the North Fork Dam was about 1200 cfs, and the week before it was over 2000 cfs. But there is still a lot of snow to melt, and if it gets warm again, the flow is going to go back up. Will I come back again this year? Ha!

It was 5:30PM and the waterfall was still in the sun. I did not want to start hiking back out of the canyon any later than 5:30PM. My calculations had told me it would be in the shade by 5:30. It was not. The sun took FOREVER to go down behind the ridge. Finally, at about 5:50PM the falls got into shade, but just barely. I took my pictures quickly and got out of there, 20 minutes late. It is a very tough and slow slog up that mountain, yet I thought I was making good time. I found my snowshoes along the road. The bears did not drag them off. I got back to the main road at 8PM, in the dark, and very tired. I was about done. Oh how I wished I could have driven to this point! Yet I still had another couple miles and 300 ft. up to the top of Canada Hill. I did not make it. I bonked. I was done. I almost puked a couple times on the road. I could not eat or drink, though I forced myself to drink anyway. I decided to just lay down and wait for my rescue party in the jeeps to come get me. But they would not be coming. I am sure they were all quite drunk by now. So I got up and continued on. It took an hour to hike those two miles to the car, but I made it back at 9PM.

One of the campers called out to me: “Hey snowshoe guy, you made it back! I was worried about you” (and yes, he did sound drunk). I said something back to him, but I don’t think he heard me as he was too engrossed in his beer drinking. I was hoping they would have offered me a beer, but then I really would have puked, probably. Instead, I got a soda at the store in Foresthill. It was a glorious day in New York Canyon and it will take me quite a few days to recover from this one.