Leon Turnbull Photography

I called the Foresthill ranger station and they told me the Foresthill Rd was now open to Sailor Flat. That means one thing and one thing only to me. Time to go to New York Canyon. I called up my friend Rob and met up with him out in Foresthill and off we drove to Sailor Flat.

Placer County has been plowing this road which is quite odd as it is not normally ever plowed. I think I have an idea why. When we got out to the area of Canada Hill we found an absolutely unbelievable amount of snow still on the ground. About four feet of hard packed snow, and not patchy snow. Solid packed snow everywhere. Are you kidding me? Last week I was at the same elevation over on Ice House Rd and though there was some snow there, it was not much and quite patchy. Not only this but the ranger station lied. The road was only clear to Canada Hill not to Sailor Flat. This is a HUGE difference. It is a 1000 ft elevation difference by driving a mile down Sailor Flat Rd. I cannot believe we would even consider hiking down to the big waterfall from Canada Hill but off we went hiking along the hard packed snow. We saw many fresh bear tracks in the snow as we hiked along. There were at least 3 separate sets of prints. (mama, papa, and baby?) I came up with a grand idea of taking a short cut so we would not have to go down to Sailor Flat and cross the creek above the waterfall. This way did involve scaling down a steep ridge, and it especially did not help we ended up going down the wrong drainage and on top of a cliff. Rob the mountain goat found a way down that worked for him. But not so much for me. My legs were shaking as I made my way carefully down but then it got a heckuva lot steeper. Too steep for me to continue. Rob wanted to continue down so we split up as I decided it would be better to go back up and down the proper ridge. Fortunately I told him not to wait for me. I climbed to the top of the ridge. It was a very tough climb and it took a lot out of me. I started back down the proper ridge until it became steep. I realized it was still more than 1000 ft down to the big waterfall. It was getting late, and I was already quite bagged. I might be able to make it down but I knew I would not make it back up. I decided to head back up and wait for Rob at the car. On the way I made a pit stop and went down to a different waterfall on New York Creek. That was probably not smart as it was a steep descent and I was already very tired. Nonetheless, I did go down to it anyway and I was glad I did, and although it is not a great waterfall, it is still a nice one. I tried to get to it last year from Sailor Flat but it was not possible from that side. From this side, it was much easier.

It was a tough climb back out of the canyon. I had an hour until sunset, and it should have been easy to get back to the car in that time, but I was dead tired. I have only bonked once in my life before, being so completely tired and spent that one literally cannot take one more step. I was about as close to bonking as I could have been. I needed to lay down and rest for a good half hour, but darkness was approaching, and I needed to keep moving. I tried eating some of my sandwich, but I could not keep it down. I could hardly drink water without feeling like puking it up. My legs were cramping. Essentially, I could only take about 10 steps, then rest. 10 more steps, then rest some more. Eventually, I made it up the hill and back to the car. It was a little past dark when I got back. Rob was not there. I thought he might have gone back the normal way from Sailor Flat, a longer route, but easier. There was nothing to do but wait. Fortunately, I had cell service at the car, so I was able to call my wife and tell her the situation. Finally, at 10PM, Rob arrived at the car. It took him 3 hours to climb out of the canyon, and he was as tired and beat as I was on the hike back out, if not more so. I had been a bit worried that something may have happened since it took him so long, but thankfully he made it back all right. It was certainly quite a day in New York Canyon.