Leon Turnbull Photography

We had a large Pineapple Express roll through last week. This storm was very warm – practically hot, so hot it was on fire. Ha ha. It brought up the river levels high, but it was all rain on the mountains and no snow. We do need that snow pack. The waterfalls at least would be fabulous. I wish I could have gone out hiking on Friday, though. The NFAR was up to 20,000 cfs for the second time in less than a week. By the time Saturday came along, the river levels were much reduced, but the creeks still should have been flowing great. You would think so, anyway.

It was very cold on Saturday. It was around 25 degrees. Freezing. Brr. It was all ice. Amazing how the weather can change so much in a day or two. The storm was all gone.

I drove up to Downieville and Sierra City in the morning, not as early as I had wanted to, but I had trouble sleeping the prior night, so I decided to sleep in a bit later than I should have. Here is what I found: The rivers (Yuba) were certainly still very high as you would think. The major creeks (Pauley) were certainly still very high as you would think. But the smaller creeks were not so high, and I was disappointed because I was hoping to see some of the waterfalls on these smaller creeks and flowing strong. Not so much. The first of these was 79 ft. high 1001 Ridge Falls.

There was a dusting of snow in Sierra City, I thought it might be treacherous getting down to this waterfall, but it was quite easy. It was a lovely scene with the dusting of snow, a winter wonderland, icy and fresh. I just wish the falls was flowing stronger. It would have been fabulous a day earlier, I am sure. This was the only “new” waterfall I saw this day. I wanted to see more new ones, and could have if I had gotten up earlier. Nontheless, I did see three other waterfalls. Coming up.

On the way up Table Mountain at sunrise, I could see some interesting color on the right. But without a good view or scene to capture, I kept on going. Then I passed by Schirmer Cascade, and I could see the amazing sky above the falls. Ok, now I have to photograph this! So I stopped the car in the middle of the road (since there was no turnout), got out, grabbed my camera and tripod, set up in the middle of the road and took a couple photos. I got the photo just in time. The fog rolled in, covering up the waterfall. No other cars came by during this time. Who would be out so early anyway?

You can see a second unnamed cascade on the far right. I thought that Schirmer Cascade flow seemed a bit on the low side, but I guess it was pretty good overall, though I have seen it bigger. All other falls on Table Mountain were flowing quite strong. It was a good waterfall day.

Oroville received 4 inches of rain this past week. That means the waterfalls on Table Mountain would be flowing strong. But the Foothills received over 8.5 inches of rain, and the North Fork American River got up to almost 30,000 cubic feet per second. Indeed, I think the NFAR was the highest it has been since before the drought started. That is some pretty awesome stuff, thus I was hoping to hike somewhere in the area of the NFAR. However, when I woke up the forecast was saying it would be too sunny (unlike the previous night when I went to bed the forecast said cloudy).  Oroville, on the other hand, was supposed to be cloudy all day long. So I figured my best bet would be to go to Oroville.

I arrived at the Table Mountain trailhead and started my hike. It seemed partially cloudy (but not completely cloudy like the forecast said it would be – ugh). The big thing, though, was the fog! Do you think the fog was a good or bad thing? The killer cows were nowhere to be seen. It was odd. I only saw a few cows on my hike in, and they were quite a distance away. Perhaps they do not like the fog? I saw a few more on the return, but not nearly as much as usual. As I hiked, I thought the fog would add a fantastic element to Phantom Falls that I have not seen before, but as I approached the waterfall I began to wonder if it was too foggy. I would not even be able to see the waterfall at all. Indeed, when I reached the main viewpoint for Phantom Falls it was completely socked in. I could hear the waterfall, I could not see it. Not even the foggiest little sliver of the stream could be seen (pun intended). Phantom Falls was certainly living up to its name today. Well, I continued on to the brink of Phantom Falls, and as I got near, finally I began to see a bit of something through the mist. This shot was not taken from the main viewpoint, it is a closer spot. I think it is pretty cool. You may say that it was a bad day to hike to Phantom Falls: too foggy, you can’t see anything, boring, etc. Not me. It was the perfect day! Why go there on a day when it is just the same as any other day you’ve ever been there. “That” is boring to me. Today it was different and unique. It was fantastic.

I would have liked to stay at Phantom longer but I wanted to try to find another waterfall as well. The flow in Phantom Falls (not that you can tell from the photo) was quite high after the 4 inches of rain. I had to hike far upstream from the top of the falls in order to cross the stream this time, usually I do not have to go so far upstream. Unfortunately,  I could not find anything else today. I got down where I wanted to, and found plenty of poison oak to trample through, but no waterfall. Well, darn it anyway. I got the stupid itch (on my neck this time) for nothing at all. By the time I got back to Phantom Falls, the fog was gone, but it was too sunny to take more  photos. The fog photo works very well  for me.

Last weekend I went back the ski hill at Big Mosquito Falls. This time I took my old skis along so I could ski down the steep mountain on those slick, slippery fallen leaves, instead of sliding down the mountain on my rear end. I even did a couple triple gainers off the cliffs. Really, I am just kidding. I did not take my skis. Though, I think it would have been a good idea. There was snow near the top, at 4000 ft. elevation, and far more than I expected to see there. It’s probably good that I did not go on that other hike I had planned at the higher elevation. I probably would not have been able to get there.

The snow disappeared quickly as I hiked down the mountain. My plan was *not* to go back to this waterfall. My plan was to try to get to the waterfall below this one. I really really thought I would be able to do it. From the ridge at the upper falls, the big descent begins, but at the beginning it is not bad at all. As I approached the area of the lower falls, however, it became very cliffy very quickly. I could glimpse the falls through the trees and it looked like a good one, but there was no way down to the bottom and there was no place to get a view. Believe me, I tried. I scrambled around the cliffs for a good hour looking for a way down. Usually, I can find a way. But not this time. Nothing doing. No way down.

Bummed, I returned to the top and decided to go down to the upper falls. I did not want to at first, but I remembered there was one vantage point that I did not take a photo from the previous week I was here. I really should have taken a photo from there the last time, but for some reason I did not. When I got down there, I suddenly remembered why. It was a dangerous spot! There was a big unknown hole beside a tree on the edge of a steep dropoff, and I would be sitting in poison oak to setup the photo. Humph, well I was not deterred enough, after all I came all this way down to take a photo from this spot, so I treaded past the big hole, into the oak and took a couple photos from the cliff edge. Then back up the mountain and back to my car and home.

Black Friday hiking … I woke up not knowing where I should go hiking (again). So many possibilities, so little time. I quickly decided on a destination: Oroville. I thought I could snag a few waterfalls up in that area, the first one being on Empire Creek, but…

The first issue was the road: it was rough! For some reason, I had thought this road was paved. Not so much. It was dirt and very rough. The ruts in the road were so deep they were up to my kneecaps! (slight exaggeration – but not by much). I starting driving down it, but before very long decided it was just no good for my SUV with little enough clearance. I parked along the road and decided to walk. This would make for a very long and difficult hike, instead of a quick and easy hike. It would be 10 miles round trip, and a total elevation gain of about 2400 ft. Yikes! Well, I had all day, and I was in no hurry, so I decided to go for it. I am definitely glad I decided to walk and not drive, because the road seemed to get worse as I descended down to the river. The scenery along the road was disgusting as well. People here just dump all their garbage off the side of the road. I saw everything you can think of, including an old boat. Absolutely awful and stupid.

I was not alone on this Black Friday hike, either. It was quite the busy road. Much of this area is private property, and people live down here, not so much in houses but in shacks. Someone even got a big camper down here, I’m not sure how, and it probably won’t ever be going back up that awful hill. I think these are more like summer homes, but it is winter now, and I still saw a lot of activity down here on this day. I figured I would be leaving all the homes and private property behind as I crossed the river and climbed 1200 ft. up the other side.

However, as I approached the creek and near the top of the waterfall, I found more private property. Way up here? Isn’t this public land up here? Not only was it private, but the owners were out and about. I was not sure if I could continue or not, or if I would be going through their property to the falls. There was a big large Keep Out sign. That is not a good sign. However, and very fortunately, I saw some of the people along the road, and asked them if I could continue to the falls. They said, yes I could. No problem. All righty then!

My Google Earth route told me it would be very easy to get down to the waterfall. It lied big time. It was extremely brushy as I approached the falls, and the worst part: the poison oak was absolutely and incredibly awful! There was no way around it. I was in the stuff up to my eyeballs. Literally. Empire Creek was striking back at me with a vengeance. It did not want me here. But I had come all this way, and there was no turning back now. I finally got down to the creek at the bottom of this beautiful 38 ft. high waterfall. It was marvelous.

Th rest of the week, however, was not a very happy one. It was about 6 hours from the time I was in the oak until I got home and scrubbed down. That’s a long time. I only got one rash spot on my body (which is pretty amazing in itself), however it was in the worst possible location: my eye. Ugh. My eye was all blown out like a puffer fish. Was it worth going through all that oak to see this waterfall? Humm … humm … well yes I suppose it was. It is certainly a real beauty. Nonetheless, I won’t likely ever come back here.

By the time I got back to the car, I was very very tired and certainly did not have the energy to go on another hike. So I only got to the one waterfall on this Black Friday, but it was a terrific hike. Except for that darn oak.