Leon Turnbull Photography

I bet you thought there were no waterfalls left flowing in California due to this nasty drought. Right? Well, besides a very select few such as Burney, Mossbrae, and McWay Falls that flow year round, most everything else is pretty much dry no doubt. But not this one.

The North Fork Stanislaus River is a controlled river flow, so I knew that it would be flowing well. The keepers of the water usually have this river flowing all summer long. So when the drought leaves everything else dry as a bone, coming here in the summer is a good option.

I had never been here before, however, and I had been putting it off for three years now. There were a multitude of reasons why I had not tried it before. Number one reason is the very long drive and the fact that I would have to get up at 3AM in order to be able to get down to the river in good lighting conditions. It is SOOOOOO DIFFICULT getting up that early in the summer time and I did not think I would make it this time either. In fact, I had turned off my alarm in the middle of the night, thinking I would skip it yet again. But at around 2:50AM, I was wakened due to my wife snoring. She is not a loud snorer (and she will tell you she does NOT snore – yeah right) but I need perfect quiet in order to fall to sleep. Well, I may as well get up and go, I thought.

I had known about the waterfalls on the North Fork Stanislaus River from the kayakers. The Devils Kitchen run is a popular one for them, so I am certainly not the first to document/discover these waterfalls. I had thought, though, that I might be the first to hike down to them. I certainly have never heard of anyone hiking down there before. So in a way this was another drawback for me. I was not sure if it would even be possible to hike down to the waterfall due to very steep terrain or thick brush. Even if I could get down to the river, would I be able to get any view of the waterfall? Also, I did not know exactly where the waterfall was on the river, though I had a good idea, and I also thought it might not even be 20 ft. high. A huge long drive and a big difficult hike for a 15 ft. waterfall? Not exactly something at the top of my list of things to do. But alas the stupid drought does not leave many other good options, so this one still seemed like a good plan to me.

There actually was a trail down to the river, so I suspect I am not the first to hike down there. Well, it is an extremely old trail, and very faint, too faint to even follow in a lot of places. It has certainly fallen into disrepute and probably not been used in a great many years. Except it IS still used … by bears. There was a very large amount of bear poop along the trail, and some of it was HUGE. Like so huge I think there must be grizzly bears down there or something. I cannot confirm that though. I did not see any. I did not see any black bears either. Just a heckuva lot of poopage.

Even though the trail was too faint to follow, the terrain was not too steep and not too brushy, so I was able to make it down to the river. From there I worked my way upstream and found this waterfall. The kayakers call it Portage 24, and I measured it to be 34 ft. high. I was very pleasantly surprised to find this beauty and to be able to get down to it without too much difficulty, and especially that it was bigger than 20 ft. high. There is another 25 footer shortly above this one, though not as nice, but I will share that photo later. The lighting was not very good for photos, however. Even though everything was in shade, the sun was getting ready to come up over the ridge in the distance, making everything a bit too bright. In another month or so, the sun would be at a much better orientation for morning photography, however, I am not sure it will be flowing in a month, as the water gurus will likely turn the tap off by then. It is a beautiful place, and I would like to go back someday, but the hike back up the mountain was killer, climbing 1500 ft. elevation back to the car. And then that long drive home. Whew!

Horsetail Falls is THE waterfall I love to visit in the summer. This 790 ft. monster waterfall always has good strong flow in the summer, and this year, it is pretty much the only waterfall left around here that is still flowing at all.

As I drove up Hwy 50 on Friday evening after work, I saw that the South Fork American River looked pretty pitiful. It seemed much lower than just a week ago when we drove up to Tahoe. This was bad news. Since Horsetail Falls flows into this river, I had no doubt the waterfall would be pitiful also. Well, not so, actually. In fact, it seemed that Horsetail Falls had quite a strong flow still. I don’t really understand how it could be that Pyramid Creek had a bigger flow than the American River. Makes no sense, but perhaps it was just my imagination. Anyhow, I paid my parking fee and marched up to the falls.

When I arrived, I found a couple different people enjoying the view at the base of the falls. This is not allowed. I am the only one that is allowed to be here on a Friday evening. Just kidding folks. But it is surprising because usually I am always alone when I come here in the evenings. Well, I explored a bit further up the mountain this time, but did not find any interesting photo spots, then came back down, and by that time, the others had left, so I had my favorite spot to myself (actually, I have a few favorite spots at Horsetail Falls). This is definitely not a new composition for me but it is all I got this time around. It seems that I stupidly left my image stabilization ON, and I did not realize this until I got home. When you do this combined with using a tripod, your images are ALL blurry. Well, I managed to scavenge this one photo which is not too horrible, but it would have been much sharper had I not been so stupid. Anyway, at least I only did it at this easy to reach waterfall, which I have already been to a hundred times, and will return again many more times. The only other time I left the I.S. on was at a waterfall in which I will likely never return to again because it was so difficult, and I did not get any good pictures of that one.

I will probably be back to Horsetail Falls again very soon. I have one more idea for a new composition of this waterfall (IF I can get to this one particular spot which I was eyeing on Friday – and not kill myself in the process). The flow is definitely on its way out. In another couple weeks, you will be able to cross the creek easily at the base of the falls; I could have almost done it this time, but decided to play it safe. That’s a good thing.

The more I look at this photo, the more I like it. This is the upper tier of Upper Blue Canyon Falls at Sonora Pass. It is 36 ft. high. The total height of the falls is 77 ft.

I came to the bottom of the beautiful falls, but there is not a good view of the entire waterfall, at least I did not see a good one. After shooting the lower tier, I climbed up beside the waterfall to the upper tier. It is a wonderful place to be. The entire canyon is beautiful, and I think I will want to come back here sometime and explore some more.

I’ve been slow in sharing my Sonora Pass images on purpose. I have to make them last all summer. It is going to be three more months before we get rain (hopefully less though!), and I have not many photos left to share this summer. Ah well, do not worry, I will not make you wait three months before all of these Sonora Pass images are shared. In the meantime, I am getting excited for next season. I have been busy mapping out new hikes and searching out new waterfall possibilities, and I have some epic ones lined up to go find. I just pray God will oblige me this year. Or rather, that He will oblige ALL OF US. Another year of drought will be a nightmare for everyone in California.

Speaking of epic waterfalls, this is one I definitely hope to get back to next spring when it is flowing well. Even at low flow this was an awesome 120 ft. high falls. In fact, I think this might be my best waterfall find of the entire year. I thank my Flickr friend Philip for first alerting me quite a while ago to this waterfall on North Fork McKay Creek, right beside the popular Sardine Falls. If I had known how awesome the waterfall is, I would have made it out here much sooner. I wasn’t actually planning to come here this time either, as I figured the creek would be completely dry. However, the rain picked up all the streams in the area, and I thought I should try it. I am so glad I did.

After my Blue Canyon adventure, I drove up to the Sardine Falls trailhead. Someone had forgotten their car keys at the trailhead, and they were hanging on a post there. And you thought I was bad by forgetting my water on my hike at Blue Canyon! I just wonder how they drove their car away without their car keys? Hmm, well anyway, it is a simple little hike up to Sardine Falls. I could see it flowing decently well in the distance. When I got to North Fork McKay Creek, I found that there was flow in that smaller creek as well. I found a trail (or more like a path) on the far side of the creek and up I climbed. It is a 650 ft. climb in elevation from the trailhead. Nothing too difficult. Except for that darn elevation. The base of the waterfall is at 9400 ft. elevation, and it really killed me getting to it. It is probably twice as difficult to make a 650 ft. climb at 9400 ft., then say at 5400 ft. elevation. That is my highly unscientific analysis. But I am sure it is true.

Since it was taking quite a while to hike up the creek, I was wondering if it was such a good idea to continue. I wasn’t sure anymore if I had time to make it up there and back before dark. I also had to photograph Sardine Falls, and I was hoping to get to Leavitt Falls as well before dark. It seemed that I still had a long way to go up the canyon, and I wasn’t getting closer fast. Not to mention that I was dying from the elevation. But I persevered. Finally, I came around the last corner and let out a humungous WHOOP! Wow! North Fork McKay Creek Falls is an utterly spectacular 120 ft. fan shaped falls, and at this location you are up so close and personal. You can even get right up to the base of the falls if you desire. It is a tremendous beauty, and I definitely want to come back here again.

The storm was clearing out when I finished photographing the lower muddy Blue Canyon Falls. What should I do next? It was still early in the afternoon so I decided to climb back up into Blue Canyon. I had my tripod with me this time, but instead of that I forgot three more items back in the car: water (again), my hiking boots, and my GPS. I’m not sure what my problem was today! The high elevation must be getting into my brain! Well, I did not feel like climbing back up the hill to the car to get any of those things, and I figured I would not need any of them, so off I went up the mountain. It was actually nice to just wear my water shoes, because I had to cross the creek a few times on the way up and back down.

I shortly came to the first waterfall (again), this time armed with my tripod and ready to photograph it properly. This one is a brand new waterfall and not one I expected to find here. I like surprises! It is possible that I even might have missed it had I hiked on the other side of the creek (where the “official” trail is). It is tucked away in a small gorge, but it is a little beauty, 33 ft. high. I am calling it Middle Blue Canyon Falls, and I think it is by far the prettiest of the three waterfalls on this creek.

The birds were chirping away, and I figured that must mean the storm was all done (I’m sure they know the weather better than humans), so I continued upwards and onwards to the next waterfall in Blue Canyon.