Leon Turnbull Photography

The first time I came to this waterfall was in May 2011. Stevenson Creek was raging. It was raging so much that the water was crashing over the bridge making it completely impossible to cross. The problem was that the best views of the waterfall are on the far side of the bridge, so I could only get a partial view of the falls from the near side. I vowed to return some day.

Ten years later …

It was time …

I’m not sure why I chose to go back this past weekend. You know, it just felt right, I guess. I knew the creek was flowing (and not raging).  It is a 4 hour drive from my home. That makes for a very long day.

I arrived at the trailhead at 1PM. The parking along the road was completely packed of cars. I expected to see some people for sure, but not this many! It was crazy! Ugh. Well, there was no choice. I had to continue with my plan. Hopefully, by the time I got to the falls everyone will have left and be on their way back. I took my mask with me (not something I normally do on a hike), expecting there to be just way too many people, but it really wasn’t like that. Everyone was well spread out, and the road is very wide so there is plenty of room and I did not feel that there were too many people on the trail.

When I arrived at the waterfall there were two other groups still there and they were in my way for taking photos, so I continued down the road a bit and climbed up the cliffs. I wanted to see if I could see the upper tier of the waterfall. I just could not get a full view of it, however. I could not climb up high enough as it became too cliffy and I could only see the very top of it. Well, it was a pretty good and unique viewpoint so I took a photo from up there. By the time I got back down to the bridge, everyone had left and I had it to myself. For a bit. Stevenson Creek Falls was flowing quite nice but I did expect there to be more flow in it. Nonetheless, I was able to get some good photos. Redemption achieved.

The litter along the road was awful. People left their toilet paper everywhere. People threw out their masks on the side of road (so some poor bird or animal can come along and get caught up in it). Why are people so bloody disgusting? Pack out your stupid trash, people. Especially your toilet paper! You should not be allowed to hike if you cannot pack our trash. Of course, no one else bothered to pick up any of the trash along the road (of the many people who hiked there this day). I suppose I should not blame them, but I do blame them. Everyone should be doing their part to clean up litter. I had to pick it all up myself.  So annoying. End rant.

Well anyway, Stevenson Creek Falls is definitely a beautiful sight. I have at least 3 more good photos other than this one and I spent a lot longer time here than I anticipated. Someone else eventually did come down to the waterfall as I was finishing up taking my photos. I’m not sure what he was doing, he was acting a bit strange; I think he was getting ready to fly a drone though I did not see him put one up. Anyway, whatever he was doing, he was friendly and worried that he was in my way of taking photos. Then another family came down as I was leaving, and I saw another couple coming down as well a bit later. All these people would be hiking back in the dark. As it was, I did not get back to my car until after dark as well. Usually I am the last one on the trail but not today. I really had a very pleasant hike and the walk back in the dusk was very peaceful and relaxing. It was a wonderful day in Sierra National Forest.