Leon Turnbull Photography

My plan was to hike to Fantasy Falls on the North Fork Mokelumne River. I did not make it. But it was still a great day.

It is a long long long drive out to Salt Springs Reservoir. Along the way I saw two skunks and three raccoons in the road. That is a lot more wildlife than I usually see (not counting deer, squirrels, and birds). The first skunk was hilarious. As I drove up, he waddled off down the middle of the road with me following. He would not get off the road, even though there was plenty of opportunity for him. I could not pass him because the road was too narrow, so I followed him for a long time; finally he got off to the side so I could pass. The first raccoon did the same thing, except he took off at lightning speed. I did not think racoons could run so fast. According to the “internet” their top speed is 15mph, but I am certain this one was going quite a bit faster than that.

After all that adventure, it was time for an adventure of a different sort. I arrived at Salt Springs Reservoir in the dark, but I could not find where the picnic area was. There were no signs, except for one very unhelpful one. I even started walking down one path thinking it must be in that direction, but soon realized I was going on a very wrong path. By the time I finally found the correct trailhead, it was already getting light and I had wasted quite a bit of time. Argh. It is a very long 5 mile hike to the end of the reservoir. And mostly boring. How exciting is it to walk along a big reservoir, a reservoir that is incredibly low. How low was it, you ask? The reservoir is 5 miles long in length and quite wide of course, but right now it is only 3 miles long in length and probably only about 1/4 full in those three miles. Two miles from the end, there is no reservoir. There is just a river. The river was flowing pretty good, and actually too strong to cross (as I would find out later), but at this time of year, the reservoir should be mostly full, not so completely empty. Stupid drought. I’ve sure been saying that a lot lately.

At the end of the boring five miles you will find the Blue Hole (pictured here). At first I was not going to take a photo of it, thinking that it was too small, but I decided to go down to look at it, and when I got up to it, I thought it was just so cool, the way it slides down and hits a big rock ledge in the middle, sending the spray straight at you. So I just had to take a picture. I also measured it and found it is 24 ft. high in total, so actually it qualifies for inclusion on my website.

From the Blue Hole, the boring hike along the reservoir ends and the real fun begins. There is no more trail and it is another two miles up to Fantasy Falls; I really had no idea if it was possible to get to it via hiking. I had heard and read nothing about anyone ever doing this before. As I examined it on Google Earth, it looked feasible except for one particular spot, which looked extremely iffy. Then a few weeks ago, I found an entry on the internet where one guy claimed he hiked 4 miles up from the Blue Hole. Yet he mentioned nothing about Fantasy Falls, which he must have passed. I even wrote to him about it, but his response made things even more unclear. He said that the picture on his website was of Fantasy Falls, but it was clearly not a picture of Fantasy Falls. I highly suspected that he did not hike 4 miles up the river, and that he never did make it as far as Fantasy Falls. And now, after hiking up there myself, I am pretty sure that is true.

Yet there is a trail from the Blue Hole. It is very faint in places, and I lost the trail many times, but always came back to it. I finally got to the extremely iffy spot, where the cliffs come right down to the river. There was no continuing on from here. There were two options: cross the river, or attempt to climb up above the cliffs. I tried the river crossing first. I made it halfway across, at first it was just up to my thighs, but then realized I would not be able to make it the rest of the way. The river became much deeper and swift to continue any further. It was darn cold too. Strike one. What about the cliffs? Well, I made a few attempts in different places, and continually had to turn back down. Finally, on the very last try, I found a way up to the top, and I could see all the way up river (Fantasy Falls was out of sight, around a corner). The view of the Mokelumne Wilderness from the top of this ridge was absolutely stunning. The beautiful valley stretched out before me, with snow covered mountains way off in the distance, and towering cliffs looming over me from across the valley. I was in awe and wonder, and in a very real way it reminded me of this awesome song by Geoff Moore:
Every mountain, every valley
Your creation, it surrounds me
Every breath I breathe, every heartbeat
Every sunrise that You give to me
These and so much more, tell a story we cannot ignore
The evidence of God

I could also see that it might be possible to continue on and I actually might make it all the way to Fantasy Falls. However, by this point I had reached my turning around time. You should always have a turning around time, the time that you absolutely must turn back if you have not reached your destination. It took a lot of extra time attempting to find the trailhead, crossing the river, trying to find a way up the cliffs, and now I had reached the time limit. The waterfall was still a long way away. I estimated that it would be at least 45 minutes more to reach it, if not more. If had continued on, I would most definitely be hiking back in the dark. I had no light with me, I would have run out of water, and I would certainly be bonked from the hike as I was already at my limit physically, and I would probably be stuck out in the dark all night with the mountain lions (and skunks and raccoons). It was time to hike back. As it is, I made it back to the car only an hour before dark. Another 45 minutes up to the falls and back, plus time to photograph it, you do the math. Anyway, the good news is that I think it is actually possible to hike to Fantasy Falls, and I will definitely try it again now that I know the correct way to go. It probably won’t be anytime soon, but I will be back someday.

After Donner Summit, I headed back quickly to Cisco Grove for my second hike (well, as quickly as I could without getting a speeding ticket of course). It was a 3 mile hike, but I estimated that I had plenty of time before the sun would be shining on the waterfall. Yet I was still worried about it. The sun was already high and seemingly already shining brightly in the canyon. Did I miscalculate?

There was a big no parking sign at the trailhead, so I had to drive back up the road a ways to a big turnout. Could I park here? There were no signs indicating not, but I was not sure. As I was contemplating this, a cop pulled up behind me. I was going to ask him if it was ok to park here, but he took off. I guess that means it is ok to park here? Well that is just what I did (crossing my fingers that it would be ok). As an aside, when I came back down afterwards, there were three cars parked where the signs said no parking. I wonder if I could have parked there as well? I’m not sure I would want to take that chance, though. Another strange thing I saw as I started up the road, which passes a campground. There were a ton of people tent camping there. This is winter, high elevation, and the temperatures are below freezing at night. You would think maybe one or two crazies might be camping at this time of year, but the campground was almost full. I think it was some kind of special event or something, but it was very strange to see it.

Anyway, the good news was that Rattlesnake Creek had quite a bit of water in it. I was even quite a bit surprised. I am pretty sure the creek is dam controlled, so I guess the lake above was full and spilling. I was not complaining about it, anyway. I made a quick stop at the lower falls and photographed it from the road. I didn’t take much time as I was worried I didn’t have any time. I also discovered another surprise waterfall further up the road. I did not stop at it on the way up. Again, no time. I should have stopped, but I’ll come back to it some other day. I finally made it to the upper falls. It is hidden in a canyon, blocked from the sun, and it turned out I had plenty of time to photograph it, but not an overabundance of time so it was good that I hurried up to it as I did. It is a pretty fantastic 46 ft. high waterfall, crashing over the rocks into the little canyon, and it is nice that you can pretty easily get right up close to it. I’d definitely like to come back here when the creek is going at full tilt. It would be amazing. I spent a bit of time here enjoying the falls, then made my way back down the road where I found my car still there and not towed. It was a great day in the Sierra Nevada.

I have known about Donner Summit Falls for some time now of course, but had never been there before. You can see it as you whip by it at 80 miles per hour on I-80. Oops, I think you just rear-ended that slow moving car in front of you when you cast a glance over at the falls. Seriously though, why have I not been here before? Well … well … no good excuses really. Except that it is an awfully long drive up there, and all just to see a roadside waterfall? It is in the full sun pretty much the entire day and flows only in the spring, there’s nothing really else in the area, and just how big is it anyway? It didn’t really seem worth the effort. Plus I was not really sure how to get to it.

But … I had to do it sometime, right? And so I came up with a plan. I would go see Donner Summit Falls, arriving at sunrise, and then I would have time to go on a second hike to a second waterfall in good light as well. Now what about how to get there? There is no place to stop along the freeway. Well, maybe there is a way, but it seemed better to approach it from the other side. Perhaps I could hike down to it from the rest area. It would be quick and easy, and give me lots of time to get there by sunrise and get in that second hike as well. However, when I arrived at the rest area, I found a lot of signs, NO TRESPASSING signs. Doh. This would not work. Ok well what about from the Boreal ski resort? There is a trailhead there for the Pacific Crest Trail and that trail takes you close to Donner Summit Falls. So I drove all the way down to Donner Lake to get back on the freeway going the other way and back to Boreal, where I got to the PCT trailhead, still in the dark. I could not see where the darn trail started in the dark, however (even though I was right next to it). I guessed that with all the snow, it was not traveled in the winter. Well, I spent a lot of time trouncing through the snow in the forest, then finally got on the trail proper. It actually was quite well traveled, and now it was easy to follow. When I got over towards the waterfall, I got off trail, got on my snow shoes, and made my way down to the bottom of the falls. I didn’t quite go the right way, however, and it took longer than it should have. I finally got to the bottom of the falls, 10 minutes past sunrise, and the sun was already starting to hit the falls. With all that extra trouncing around, I was just a bit too late. But actually the photo turned out pretty nice. The comp was difficult. It would have been much better to shoot it from the other side, but it was too icy and I could not safely cross the creek. Still though, not too shabby. Donner Summit Falls is 34 ft. high, and if you can ignore the traffic whizzing by above you, it is a sweet one.

Speaking of long overdue, where is our snow and rain this year? Still much of nothing in the long term forecast. What little snow we have is melting quickly. The only reason Donner Summit Falls is flowing is because the little snow that is melting.

And here is another thing that I do not understand. At the PCT trailhead at Boreal is a mess of broken sleds. Not only at the trailhead, but scattered in various places along the trail. This is a popular area for sledding, but what the hey? If you break your sled you have to just litter it along the trail? Why are people such idiots that they cannot take their broken sled and dispose of it properly? Ugh! End rant.

Does this winter weather seem familiar to you? It seems to me that it is shaping up to be exactly like last year, just like the last three awful years. Deja vu. We had a good start to the winter in December (just like last year in November), then completely nothing in January this year (just like last year), and the long range forecast now looks extremely bleak as well. El Nino was a bust. No show. We did not even get a weak one. With a weak El Nino, at least we would have a chance for more precipitation, at least somewhere closer to average. The neutral ENSO conditions we have now are exactly like we have had the last three years, for which our average precipitation has been well less than 60 percent of average. The news I just heard regarding the weather conditions for the rest of this winter was horrid. It was so horrible, I do not even want to share it with you. That is because it just cannot be true. I refuse to believe it.

I am tired of the awful weather we have had, four straight years of it. I am tired of waiting patiently for the weather to change for the better, but then it never does. I am especially tired of trying to figure out what waterfalls will be flowing and which ones will not be flowing. At this time of year, ALL the waterfalls should be flowing, and flowing very well.

Case in point, this weekend: Serena Creek. I had no idea if the creek would have water or not. The creek is dammed at the lake and goes dry in the summer. The creek will only have water in it if the lake is full, and I did not know if it was full yet or not. It should be full of course, but we are in a drought, and it seemed more likely that it would not be spilling. I had a backup plan of course. I always have a backup plan. Well, I arrived at the trailhead in the dark, and I could hear the water spilling over the dam. The creek had water, and the waterfall would be flowing. I was good to go on this hike.

Well, with the major potential issue now in the back pocket, I had more dilemmas to deal with. Should I wear my winter jacket or my lighter jacket? Should I wear my winter boots (which were warmer and waterproof) or my hiking boots (for more traction)? Should I take my snow shoes or not? Would I be able to even get down to the falls at this time of year, or would it be too icy and dangerous? First world problems, I guess, but I hate that term so I am not saying it (did I just say it?). I decided to wear my winter jacket because it was less than 30 degrees. Good choice. I decided to wear my winter boots and keep my little toes-ies warm. Good choice. I decided to take my snow shoes. Also a good choice as I ended up using them – I probably could have gotten by without them but it would have been much more difficult.

It was still dark when I started. I had just bought a new light for my bike, which is a very bright one. I needed it for biking to work in the mornings, but since it was so expensive, I wanted to see if it would work for hiking as well because it is much brighter than my hiking headlamp. I could not figure out any way to wear it on my head with a head mount. It just would not work, but I managed to use the mount and attach it to my hiking pole. It was a bit weird, hiking with the light on my pole, but it did work, and it was certainly much brighter than my regular headlamp. I think the experiment was a success.

The hike begins along the road which is popular in the winter with snow shoers and cross country skiers, and people just taking their dogs for a walk. I was surprised to see someone had driven down the road in the deep-ish snow. Seems pretty crazy to me, but I guess it made the hike for me a bit easier because I could walk in the tire tracks. It was also very icy. That could be a bad sign, as I figured it might be a bit cliffy when I got to the waterfall. Eventually, I had to get off the road and make my way down to the creek. This is when I put on my snow shoes, and it made for an easy trek down to the creek. The snow, however, disappeared when I got down to the cliffs above the falls. That was good, I suppose, because it allowed me to get down to the bottom of the falls without much difficulty or danger, but I was hoping to get photos of an icy waterfall.

Serena Creek Falls is a gorgeous 80 ft. waterfall in multiple tiers. The surrounding landscape and rocky terrain and the waterfall itself were uncannily similar to Little Robinsons Valley Falls, which I was just at a month or so ago. There is a small upper falls, followed by a nice cascade, and then a gorgeous drop in a fan shaped falls. Exactly like Little Robinsons. Deja vu, again. It is obvious many people go down here, but it seems that only the locals know about this waterfall (before now). I had heard of Serena Creek Falls for the first time only last year. When I tried to come to it last spring, however, the creek was completely dry. It should have been fine, but the stupid drought nullified that. Well lets try again this January, and this time I had success. The big difference between this one and Little Robinsons however, is that there is a lower falls here. I did not know about this lower falls, and no one has previously documented this lower falls; I am the first to do so. I suspected there might be one, however, so after shooting the upper falls, I continued exploring downstream. Before long I came to the top of the lower falls, hidden behind the cliffs, but a path led down to the bottom where I found this beauty. I liked this one much better than the upper falls. It was completely gorgeous. Both waterfalls I measured to be exactly 80 ft. high. Go figure. It was an amazing and happy day at Soda Springs.

It’s a very very long drive out to Stirling City. I don’t often go there. Like I think maybe only once before. But I’ve been wanting to check out more waterfalls on Big Kimshew Creek and this seemed like a good weekend to do it. We’ve been dry for a few weeks now. Bad news. But I thought Big Kimshew would have water and it turned out to be more than I thought. The West Branch Feather River was hovering around 200 cfs all week (downstream of the confluence with Big Kimshew), so I estimated Big Kimshew might have about 50, but I think it was probably closer to 80 in actuality.

I had heard from the kayaking community that the road was now gated by Sierra Pacific. Permanently. If so, it would be illegal for them to do that, this is public forest land. Anyway I anticipated having to bike and was prepared to do that. Nine miles one way biking followed by a two mile hike. Total elevation gain would be around 3000 ft. It would not be pleasant.

I left my house at 4:30AM, and after the very very long drive (did I already say it was a long drive?), I arrived at the gated road at 7AM. By the way, when I stopped in Oroville at the gas station along the way, I saw a bunch of hunters all decked out in their gear getting ready to go out and shoot some things. One of them was Uncle Si. I’m not kidding you. He looked exactly like Uncle Si from Duck Dynasty. If he was not Uncle Si then he must have been a long lost twin. It was very weird. Anyway, onto my epic bike/hike.

I turned on my GPS when I got to Stirling City. Lo and behold, I realized that my map for this hike was not loaded into my GPS. This was an utter disaster! The waypoints for the waterfalls were loaded but my map did not get loaded. I distinctly and positively remember loading my map, so I have no idea how it did not get loaded into my GPS, but this was catastrophic. There is no way I could know where to go without a map, and yet, I could not just go home after that awful long drive (it was a horribly long drive to Stirling City, if you didn’t know). Hmmmm, well, upon much thought, I decided to continue. I had studied this route at home extensively, and I thought I would remember how and where I needed to go. It was worth a shot and better than going home with nada.

The sign at the gate seemed to indicate that the road was only closed during winter. I hope that is true because I am sure I will want to come back here, and not biking next time. The sign also seemed to indicate that the bridge over the West Branch Feather River was out. That could be a big problem, but fortunately it was not out. I did not want to be getting wet attempting to cross a raging river (well, not exactly raging but it would be wet). In nine miles, I gained 1300 ft. of elevation, and it was a tough climb. I was worried about my ribs, which I had injured hiking over the holidays. I have not been biking since then, and I was hoping the ribs would not complain about this big climb. Thankfully, they did not. Everything seemed to be going well as far as finding the correct route to take. I did miss one turnoff near the end and ended up biking an extra 100 ft. in elevation over a quarter mile, but I determined my error before too long, and went back to the correct turnoff, where I parked my bike. Now the hiking would begin. I had a total descent of 1200 ft. down to the waterfall. The first part was easy enough, along a logging road, but I had to eventually get off trail and hike down through the forest to the falls. Without a map, it was tricky to know exactly where to go. I came to an open area where I could see the falls in the distance. I had to traverse across the mountain side over to a ridge. I felt very odd. My knees were wobbly and the terrain was making me dizzy. It was not awfully steep, I have hiked steeper stuff, but it was steep enough that a fall could definitely cause serious injury, and I did not like it one bit. The terrain was freaking me out. Most of it was due to the bike ride, being that I was very tired from that big climb. But I think the wide open and steep terrain was also contributing to my state of being. Well, fortunately there was a lot of brush and stuff to hold onto, so I was able to make it over to the ridge. (on my way back up, I bypassed that traverse – I did not want to do that again). Things got a lot more brushy as I descended the ridge. I could not see the waterfall any longer, and without a map, I was not sure where exactly to go. When I thought I saw it through the trees, I exited the ridge and made my way down the steep terrain to the creek.

And there was the waterfall. Except that something was horribly amiss. The kayakers claim this waterfall is 50 ft. high. Well, I know they exaggerate heights and I was not expecting to find a 50 ft. falls, but this one was too small. It was less than 20 ft. high (17 ft. to be precise). Surely I was in the right location and this had to be the right waterfall. There was no other waterfall to be found. But then I looked closer. The main waterfall was actually above this little 17 footer, and hidden out of view behind a cliff, with no way to get over to it. I came down at the wrong spot! I was already completely spent and I still had a huge climb back out of the canyon but I could not leave without at least trying to get down to the main falls, so I had to climb all the way back up to the ridge, and then continue along the ridge and try to get back down at the proper spot. It was very tricky to find any view of Middle Big Kimshew Falls, but finally I was able to traverse along the cliff, and this is the best spot I could find. There was no way to get any better view of it, and even this spot was very scary to stand while I took this photo. Fortunately, my knees had stopped wobbling by now. I measured Middle Big Kimshew Falls to be 35 ft. high, much less than the 50 ft. the kayakers claim, but much better than 17 ft. also.

The hike down to the waterfall and back up the ridge took much longer than I expected it to take. I initially hoped to continue hiking down river, but I was already at my limit physically, and even if I wasn’t, I would have risked having to hike back in the dark if I were to continue any further. The bike ride back down the mountain was fast and awesome. The dirt road was very smooth and I was able to go very fast. When I got back to the bridge over the West Branch Feather, I still had 3.5 miles to go uphill (but thankfully, a very gentle uphill). Yet, as soon as I crossed the bridge and started back up hill, I got a severe leg cramp. I was in agony, I dropped the bike and laid down on the road for five minutes. This happens to me from time to time after huge hikes. Eating bananas help with the cramps, but I had no bananas with me. Well, after walking it off, I was able to get back on the bike, and continue up the hill without further incident. It was an awesome day in the wilds of Stirling City.