Leon Turnbull Photography

Two brand new waterfall discoveries in a single day? Are you kidding me, madman? That is what I call a great day!

For some reason I thought I had been up to Paradise since the devastating Camp Fire three years ago, but as I drove through it this weekend I could not for the life of me think of where I would have gone. It seems I was wrong, I had not been up there since the fire. It was dark when I drove through it in the morning but on the way back I saw some of the devastation. I will have more to say about it on part two of this post. Yes, there will be a part two.

My hike was five miles one way, most of it on dirt logging roads. I had hoped to drive some of the road but it was gated. No worries. I was prepared for a long hike. I could not have driven it anyway. It was very overgrown (but it was fine for hiking). There are a lot of logging roads through here, some better than others. At one point I came out to a very well maintained and big wide road. One could easily drive this in a car. I wondered if this road was gated or if I could have driven on it. It would have saved me a bit of hiking. Oh well. Again, no worries.

Well, there was a slight worry. Although I started my hike early, at 7:15AM (in the dark of course), I had only 3 hours to make it down to the waterfalls before the sun would be on them. The hike was taking longer than anticipated and I realized I would have to run to make up some time. So I ran. Eventually I came to the end of the road which is where I had to go off trail and down the steep mountain to the bottom of the creek, about a 500 ft. descent. It was not too difficult (at first) and there was even a path going down. Actually, a lot of paths. I think they were all bear trails, not human. This area is so remote I doubt anyone has been here since the miners of the ancient days (but I may be wrong about that). My planned route was to come out at the top of the waterfall and try to find a way down past it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I quickly realized it was too cliffy and there was no way around the waterfall. I would have to go all the way back up to get over the cliff and try to find a different way down. Now I was late. I would certainly not make it on time. But …

I eventually found my way down to creek level. I was quite a bit downstream from the waterfall now so I had to walk up alongside the creek. I was forced to cross the creek three times but it was not flowing too strong so it was not difficult to wade across it. In high water getting to this waterfall would be impossible. I finally made it to the first waterfall and it was in shade! The forecast had said it was going to be a sunny day but it was not sunny, it was cloudy! In fact, it was cloudy for most of the morning. This was clearly a gift from the Lord. I was not expecting this and I did not even think to ask for clouds as my plan was to get down to the creek in time before the sun. I was quite late to beat the sun but it did not matter. I had clouds and I had lots of time. Thank you God!

This is yet another brand new discovery by waterfallswest. No one has ever documented this waterfall before. It is a secret waterfall location. An ancient madman secret. That makes sense because the name of the creek is … you know, it is a Secret Creek (ha ha) … but I can tell you how to get to it if you are a subscriber to my website. Secret Falls is a very beautiful cascade and is 41 ft. high. I spent a lot of time here photographing the falls but I was not done yet. Stay tuned for part two …