Leon Turnbull Photography

I have been wanting to try this one for quite some time. Then came the massive Bear Fire in 2020 which closed the entire area. The entire forest burned overnight. This spot only just opened up this past summer (many areas in Plumas National Forest are still closed, including Feather Falls). The second problem I had was that it is a 7.5 mile hike one way. I would need a cloudy overcast day to hike in to this waterfall with good lighting conditions. Enter this weekend: Saturday was supposed to be cloudy all day. Supposed to be. It was supposed to rain but not until late in the afternoon. So they said. Those brilliant weather forecasters.  I prayed the forecast would hold. A nice cloudy day. The forecasters might let me down, but God would not let me down. Would He?

The road down to the trailhead is much worse now. It was perfectly clear before, but since the fire happened the growth is now overtaking the road. Not a problem if you have an old beater car that you don’t care gets scratched up. But if you have a nice new car (as I do) … well, I sure don’t want to get any scratches on it! I drove very slowly. Multiple times I would have to get out of the car and bend or break off the branches growing into the road. It was 8AM when I finally got down to the trailhead and started my hike.

It is a long hike but is not difficult until the end. There is about 1500 ft. of elevation gain, but going back afterwards is almost all downhill. I hit the snow line at 3000 ft. and from there on I was hiking with the bears. There were bear tracks in the snow and they followed the road almost all the way to the waterfall. Even when I had to exit off the main road onto another road, so did the bears. It seemed there was a mama and a baby I was following and the tracks were definitely quite fresh. I was almost certain I was going to catch up to them, but I never did. There were also a lot of deer tracks. I did see a few of them.

As I started my final approach to the waterfall the sun came out. Oh you have got to be kidding me. Where are my clouds and my overcast day? The clouds were all gone. I was in serious doubt now that I would be able to get a good photo of the falls. I should not have doubted! God has never let me down and He didn’t this time either. By the time I made it down to the falls, the clouds were all back. The lighting was perfect for photography. Thank you Lord, again!

It was a very steep descent down to the bottom of the waterfall with a couple very sketchy sections. I had to use my rope to make it safely, but I made it down and was treated to a glorious viewpoint of the amazing 124 ft. Clear Creek Falls. I’m sure others have been to this one, but the Waterfall Madman is first to document it. I ate my lunch at the falls then climbed back up the mountain to the road. It was a very long hike back and it started raining (only about 3 or 4 hours before it was supposed to). I had my rain gear so I did not mind and it was only a light rain. Since it was downhill, I jogged a lot of the way. I was back at the car by 2:30PM. A stop at Jakes Burgers in Oroville was an absolute must.  It was a great day and a very awesome hike in Plumas National Forest.