Leon Turnbull Photography

I was not intending to go to Grouse Falls again but my plan A did not pan out. There is still much snow at higher elevations. Most roads above 5000 ft or so are still inaccessible. I thought that perhaps I might be able to now get to the Beacroft trailhead on Foresthill Rd but I could not even get close to it driving. I need to figure out a way to get into these areas early in the season. Anyone want to donate their snowmobile to waterfallswest.com?

Well I decided to just drive out to Grouse Falls so as not to go home empty handed. Grouse Falls is at a much lower elevation but even so there was a slight bit of snow along the road. It is such a long long drive out to Grouse Falls and it is such a short short hike. It is almost pointless to go there. Except that the waterfall is utterly spectacular. A 504 ft high masterpiece in the middle of nowhere. The North Fork of the Middle Fork American River canyon. Such a beautiful canyon out here in nowhere land. The Beautiful Land. But so inaccessible. I suspect there are other waterfalls in this remote canyon too, but how to get to them?

In the past I have gone down to the bottom of Grouse Falls but was not prepared to do that on this day, so I just enjoyed the view from across the canyon. It was early evening, and the light was in and out from behind storm clouds creating rapidly changing conditions. I liked this shot with a bit of sunlight touching the waterfall and cliffs.

More info on Grouse Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=318