Leon Turnbull Photography

On Canada Day, July 1, I took the day off work (an extra long July 4 weekend), and went back out to New York Canyon in the afternoon. This time hiking in from Sailor Flat, I was determined, and made it all the way down to my favorite waterfall, New York Canyon Falls, a most spectacular 462 ft. high free fall.

There was still lots of snow at Sailor Flat. Placer County had plowed all the way to Sailor Flat and then no further. I thought for sure they would have at least plowed to Robinson Flat. Why stop at Sailor Flat? It makes no sense, but I am not complaining. With the incredible snow fall this year, there is a good chance that snow could remain on the road all summer long. It seems almost impossible, but true. There was about 3 or 4 feet of snow at Sailor Flat as I started walking down the road. It did not last long as I shortly descended past the snow onto the dirt road, now with small lingering snow patches. All this snow was melting directly into New York Canyon Creek. That was a good sign.

After about a mile of hiking and a 600 ft. descent (of which I would have to ascend later that evening), I exited off from the road onto Macklin Ridge. It would be another 1300 ft. elevation loss down to the big waterfall from here. Macklin Ridge is a secret route that my friend Rob Macklin and I discovered last year, so I was slightly surprised when I saw distinct footprints descending the ridge ahead of me. Obviously someone had been down here in the past couple weeks, and I knew it was not Rob. Who else knows about this secret route? Obviously someone does.

I had never been down Macklin Ridge before, only up, and I was thinking the last part was possibly a bit steep and dangerous. It was not as steep, though, as I thought it might be, and I made my way down to the creek crossing above the waterfall. I was also wondering about this part. Would the creek be too high and difficult to cross? Nope, not at all. There was even a log across the creek, so I did not even need to get my feet wet. After crossing the creek, I knew I was within range of the big waterfall. It is still a steep descent down to what the late Russell Towle called the Chert Knoll, an amazing little ridge right opposite the waterfall, but I made my way down fairly quickly.

The view of the big waterfall is incredible. You may wonder why I like this place even better than Yosemite, but if you’ve ever been here, I think you would agree with me. No other soul within miles, and such an amazingly beautiful canyon and location, with a stunning 500 ft. high waterfall all to myself. Wow.

It was still early, so I sat down in front of the falls and ate my dinner, waiting for the sun to go down. By my calculations, the sun would be off the falls right around 6:20 or 6:30pm. I was hoping it would be a bit earlier than this, though, because I had a steep ascent to make before it got dark. It took me 1 hour and 50 minutes to descend to the falls. I figured it would take at least 2 and a half hours to get back up to my car. I did not want to start any later than 6:30pm, but my calculations were spot on. It was right about 6:15 that the waterfall came into the shade, so I quickly took my photos and started back up at precisely 6:30.

Whatever you do, do not look up from the waterfall and see how far you will have to ascend back to your vehicle. I did not follow this highly recommended guideline. Wow, that is a long way up, 1900 ft. of hiking. I made pretty good time, though, and felt pretty good. But before I had ascended back up Macklin Ridge, I ran out of water. I suppose I should have filled my water back up at the creek, had I known, but I was shocked that I ran out of water so quickly. I must have been drinking a lot more than I thought I was. There were no more water sources up here, and I still had a long ascent ahead of me. But there were those snow patches back on Sailor Flat Rd, and as I got up to them, I scooped out a handful of (clean) snow and sucked on it. That helped me on the rest of the ascent back to the car. I made it to the car just a bit before dark (it took 2 hours and 10 minutes). Perfect timing.

All in all, it was a great day hike in New York Canyon. I felt that I did very well on the hike back up, but I was still dog tired. I had initially planned to stay overnight up on Foresthill Rd and go on another difficult hike in the morning, but I figured I should drive home instead, as I didn’t think I had the energy for another difficult hike in the morning. Plus, when I got back to my car, I downed two bottles of water, which were supposed to be for the morning hike, so I called my wife and told her I was coming home that night. She was quite happy about that.

Oh and one more thing. After I got back to the car and was getting cleaned up and ready to leave, I heard footsteps approaching my car on the snow. When I first glanced up, I saw something big and brown. My first thought was a cougar sneaking up on me. But then I took a second look, and saw it was just a deer. Ok then, Mr. Deer. You scared me a bit there. But I think I scared him too, as he leaped off in the other direction when he saw me.

More info on New York Canyon Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=322