Leon Turnbull Photography

This must be the coolest 14 ft. high waterfall I have ever seen. It is Shackleford Falls in northern California, near Fort Jones. It is super easy to get to, there is a lot of flow in the creek throughout the year, and the photo possibilities are practically endless. I was running around here like a giddy schoolboy, and could have spent a lot more time here than I did.

I came here on Black Friday, one of three waterfalls I visited that day. I was hoping to at least get to one more, but I ran out of time and energy. My first hike of the day was a grueling 9 mile jaunt, half of it through deep snow, and that really played me out. I will post a photo from that hike later, but I really wanted to post this cool little waterfall first.

Black Friday is my favorite day of the year to go hiking. Everyone else is either sleeping in, or else they are out standing in line in the cold, waiting to go shopping. No one is out hiking. That was certainly the case on my first hike, but I did see a couple people here at Shackleford Falls, and also I saw a bunch of people at the third waterfall I visited. What the hey? You people are not allowed to go hiking on Black Friday, did no one tell you! Only I am allowed to go hiking on Black Friday! I have dominion over Black Friday hiking in northern California. Ah well I guess I can’t stop people from getting out and enjoying an awesome day in the outdoors, nor would I want to. They perhaps even got the great idea from me, anyway.

After my killer 9 mile hike, I stopped here at Shackleford. The sun was forecast to disappear behind cloudy skies, and although it tried valiantly to do otherwise, by the time I got to the waterfall, it was bye bye sun, right on schedule. That meant I was free for the rest of the day to photograph waterfalls to my heart’s content, without having to deal with harsh sunlight. Leon was a happy camper (thank you, God!).

I was even happier when I saw this little waterfall (especially since the first waterfall I saw that day was nothing very exciting). It is only 14 feet high, but it is so amazing. There was snow and ice all around it, icicles hanging off the side cliff wall, icy rocks submerged in the water, great flow for late in the year, easy to get to and climb around (just don’t fall in the icy water), and the coolest part was the ice wall directly in front of the waterfall (which you can see in the above photo). The water from the falls just sprays against that wall, and it freezes up so coolly. To get a good view of it, I had to climb up on the icy and very slippery rocks close to the waterfall. There is a lower cascade you can’t see here (I will probably post that photo showing it as well, later). If I were to slip on the ice and fall in the drink, it would have been a very cold slide down that cascade. I imagine in the summer that people do slide down it. The waterfall may not be as amazingly cool in the summer without the ice, but I still think it would be a pretty nice one to visit.