Leon Turnbull Photography

Before we move on to the Ireland part of my overseas trip, let’s take a break and go back to my favorite area in the world: The North Fork American River. I have not been idle since I got back from the U.K., and indeed will not be idle in the near future. This is the best time of the year in California. The snow is melting, the waterfalls are raging, and the mosquitoes are not out yet. Since it is a big snow year, you know I will be out there enjoying it. How about you? By the way I still have tons of Scotland waterfall photos to process as well!

I first heard about these big waterfalls on Big Granite Creek thirteen years ago. Yes, that is correct. Thirteen years ago I started planning (or thinking about) this trip. It took me that long to get there. It was one of the most grueling and strenuous hikes I have ever done, and I am already planning a return trip. It was so incredibly amazing.

In 2006, the late Russell Towle and waterfallswest friend the Gambolin Man (Tom McGuire) came here. Tom almost died (literally) crossing the creek at the top of the waterfalls. You can read about their adventure if you do an internet search. When they were here, the flow in the North Fork American was at about 1800 cfs at the North Fork Dam. This past weekend the flow was about 50% higher than that (around 2500 to 2800 cfs). My best guess estimate was that Big Granite Creek itself would have a flow of at least 200 cfs. I think in actuality that it was quite a bit higher than this (at least 300 cfs). You do the math. Crossing Big Granite Creek would be out of the question. And yet … to get here you MUST cross Big Granite Creek. Was I foolish or suicidal or both to try the hike this weekend?

My 13 year plan in the making was to *NOT* go the same route they did. Obviously, I could not go the same route they did. I was hiking earlier in the year because of a couple big reasons: I would like to see the waterfalls at a bit higher flow. Also, and more importantly, I thought that with snow still on the ground, it would be easier to hike because the route is so very brushy. There is no trail. With snow covering up the brush, it should be easier. In retrospect, I think I picked the most perfect time to go. If there was any more snow, I don’t think I would have made it. But that creek crossing!

There was 5-10 feet of snow on the ground when I began the hike, climbing up to about 6900 ft. in elevation. The snow was very hard packed. I did not need my snow shoes, yet I carried them up anyway. I anticipated needing them, and indeed I would need them. My pack was much heavier than usual for this hike. I was carrying about 8 pounds of extra gear that I would normally not carry, but I expected that I would need all this gear: snowshoes, water shoes for the creek crossing, rope, and extra food. I thought I was prepared enough, but should have brought more, and this is one of the reasons I want to go back.

When I got to the top of the mountain, you need to descend down the other side. It is a 1900 ft. drop in elevation down to the waterfalls. It is a very steep descent in some places. I came to the first steep part, and I realized I would need to put on my snow shoes. I should have had my micro spikes! I left my spikes at home, thinking snowshoes would be good enough, but spikes would have been better. However, on the return trip the next day the snow was much softer. Snowshoes were much better in that situation. I should have had both. I was very careful on this first section of the descent with my snowshoes. Plant one foot solidly in the snow at a time. I made it down the steep section. My snowshoes broke. Well, not exactly. The binding on one of the shoes was hanging on by a thread. If it broke off, I would be screwed enormously. Would it hang together until I got home the next day? (it did, thankfully).

I continued on. I came to the end of a little (still frozen) lake at which I needed to cross the outlet stream. There were steep snow dropoffs on both sides of the creek. It was with great difficulty and after much scouting, when I finally found a way across. On the other side, I needed to climb up the side of a steep cornice. This was very hairy. Again, spikes would have been better than snowshoes. I almost turned back at this point. Not because of the cornice or stream crossing, but because I knew things were about to get much worse. There were going to be two more very steep and probably cliffy descents, much worse than the first one (when I first put on the snowshoes). I was almost certain that it would be far too treacherous to go down these in my snowshoes. I decided to just continue on to the top of the cliffs, and see what it was like. And then….

The snow disappeared! Now that I was on the south side of the mountain, the snow was all melted. I was able to walk down the cliffy sections in my hiking boots. It is a good thing too, because I certainly would not have been able to go down if there was snow, but with no snow it was very easy. This was a huge blessing, and an unexpected one, because I thought there would still be a lot of snow at this point. I carried my snowshoes all the way to the bottom. It would have been nice to leave them at the top, but there was no good obvious place to do so, and I thought I still might need them further down. As I got to the bottom, I was still not confident I was going to make it all the way to the waterfalls. That creek crossing!

This is where I planned to cross Big Granite Creek. I was a few miles upstream of the big waterfalls, and somewhat near (but not precisely near) the creek source. I did not even get my feet wet! It was simple to just rock hop across the creek. Easy smeasy!

After crossing this creek way up near the source, my plan was to just follow it all the way down to the waterfalls. At first it was pretty easy. There was even snow down along the creek, and since it was hard packed it was easy (easier) to just walk on top of it. I had left my snowshoes at the creek crossing. I would not need them anymore. And then …

When I came to the first of the waterfalls, things became much more difficult. It became extremely brushy. I am not referring to the big waterfalls, but there are a couple others much further upstream. I knew about these waterfalls and I planned to photograph them – which I did (these are new discoveries, and were not seen by Towle/McGuire). It looked easy enough on Google Earth to get around them, however they were NOT easy to get around whatsoever. Once again, I almost turned around here. I could not figure out how to get by the waterfalls. It was just far too brushy, and I was also well past my physical limits. It is only a 6 mile hike one way. It took 8 hours to hike this 6 miles (each way). That is over 1 hour for each mile. It was grueling, and I was absolutely exhausted. I was going to just find a spot to camp along the creek somewhere (but it was so brushy, I did not even see any possible campsites).

So in fact, I actually did turn around and start heading back upstream to find a campsite. I took one last look back over my shoulder. Wait! Is that an opening through the brush? I may as well go check it out. It was an opening indeed. Right around this point, I saw two bears, the first two I have seen this year so far. They looked to be juveniles, perhaps brother and sister, and when they saw me they ran away from me, leading me on the path through that brush. Thank you, my friends. And they were my friends. All bears are my friends: I LOVE seeing bears in the wilderness. We were way high above the creek, but there was a good opening through all that brush. I then had to drop back down to the creek, away from the bears, and down to the bottom of the waterfalls, a couple hundred feet down. I got down, but still there was no place to make camp.

I continued downstream, looking for a campsite. It was still very brushy down here and difficult hiking. I finally found a decent place. There was not much room for the tent because it was very rocky, but it was a nice open area near the creek. It would do for me.

At 5PM, after dinner, I went downstream to see the big waterfalls. Big Granite Creek was absolutely raging, and as I knew, there would be no way to cross if I came the Towle/McGuire route. Now for the crazy part …

I came to the first big waterfall. I knew it was a dangerous and tricky descent to get down. This is why I brought my rope. If your name is Russell Towle, you may have no need of a silly rope, but for me, I always play it safe. I did not know if I would need the rope, but I did need it, and I did use it. I do not think I would have tried it without, but with a rope, it was not too horrible getting down.

This first big drop on Big Granite Creek (shown here) is my favorite.  It is absolutely spectacular, about 150 ft. high, and just so incredibly powerful and magnificent. Below this, there are more big drops. I needed more rope to descend down the next sections. You can also see the tall and majestic West Snow Mountain Falls free falling into the main channel. It is an overpowering experience being at this location. You can see why I am already planning the return.

 

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