Leon Turnbull Photography

Some of you were wondering where I would go after a huge rainstorm, like the one we just had (or more accurately, supposedly had). There is only one answer to that question: Canyon Creek Falls.

The so-called storm of the year, hugely over-hyped by the media. The biggest storm in six years. Storm-aggedon. Rain-ocalypse (as I called it). Binky (as a friend of mine was calling it). I think not. Okay okay, well I think they did get quite a bit of rain in the Bay area, and also in northern California. But it seemed to bypass the northern foothills and Tahoe area. We were supposed to get 5-7 inches in the northern foothills, and we only received about half that amount. We did get much needed precipitation, but in fact, the storm last week was bigger than the one this week, for our area at least.

I was anticipating waking up to see the North Fork American River with at least 8000 cubic feet per second flowing, and hoping for even twice that flow. It would have been the case if the rain forecast had been true. However, it was only at 4000 cfs, and that is the amount it peaked at for this storm. It was only half the amount that I expected it to be.

I have been wanting to see Canyon Creek (which flows into the North Fork) at monster flow for many years now. It is gnawing at my insides. Driving me to insanity. Yet, Canyon Creek Falls continues to be an elusive beast for me. Oh yes, it would be flowing very well, fantastically well. But it would not be the monster flow that I want to see before I die. That I must see before I die. So … I drove up the hill and hiked in to Canyon Creek Falls anyway.

The flow was almost identical to the time I was here last. I compared photos from last time, and I could tell it was just slightly more this time around. Not monster. But still awesome. The rain was done for the time being. The sun was trying to come out. The view was astounding. I could see waterfalls flowing off the distant mountains on unmarked streams. I had never seen that before. The North Fork American River was remarkable, flowing strong far below me. Light clouds and fog were enveloping Lovers Leap and other mountains. It is an incredible spot and I was happy to be there.

Enjoy the present. We can thank the Lord for every drop of rain we get, it is all so much needed. Perhaps next time I’ll see that monster flow. Bring on the next rain-ocalypse.

This is the upper tier of Little Robinsons Valley Falls, 61 ft high. To get to this ledge I had to very carefully traverse a slick wet ledge with a big dropoff into the raging creek below, at the top of another big waterfall. Fun times. Seriously though it wasn’t that bad. The last sentence is for my wife, in case she is reading this. LOL.

Starting tonight they say we are going to get slammed with our biggest storm in six years. Awesome! We should get at least five inches of rain in the foothills and multiple feet of snow on the mountains. Bring it on, I say. We so need this. There will be much more water flowing after this storm. Thank the Lord. Saturday will be an amazing amazing amazing waterfall day. I’m supposed to be at my daughter’s dance studio all day on Saturday. Humph.

Well from the last two storms we had 9.5 inches of rain in the Northern Sierra Nevada foothills. The snow levels were high, however. Bad news for skiers but good news for waterfall hunters. It is unfortunate though, because we desperately need that snow pack. Nonetheless, an interesting window opened this weekend. In particular for me, Foresthill Rd would have no snow on it.

I thought long and hard about one waterfall in particular: 462 ft. high New York Canyon Falls, my all-time favourite waterfall. I would love to see that one up close at full blast. This could be a unique and very rare opportunity. Since the rain fell on Wednesday, Thursday would have been the best day for waterfallin’. However, I just could not take a day off work this week. That left Saturday. By that time, the North Fork American River was down to under 1000 cfs. I was really hoping that another inch of rain Friday night would fall, bringing up the river again but the river was down even more when I woke up on Saturday. It seemed as though it did not rain an inch overnight as it was supposed to do.

So I made the executive decision to try a different hike: Little Robinsons Valley. I have wanted to check this one out as well and it seemed like a good opportunity. It was cold and blustery and foggy and still raining when I started my hike early in the morning from Robinson Flat. Sounds like a perfect day to be out hiking. And it was. A short hike down the trail, then head off through the mud and brush towards the creek. There was lots of water everywhere. In the creek, on the trail, off the trail. The creek was running hard when I arrived. Could I get down safely to the bottom of the falls? It was surprisingly not difficult, though definitely a bit tricky because of the slick wet rocks. I was careful though, and I made it right to the base of the falls. I am very surprised (yet again) that no one seems to have known about this waterfall, especially since it is so close to Robinson Flat campground and really quite easy to get to. Of course, in the summer the creek will be dry. But right now it was awesome. There are three waterfalls here, though I would consider them all as a single tiered waterfall 109 ft. high. This final drop is 48 ft. I have more pictures of this one to come. It is an amazingly beautiful area, and there were waterfalls coming off the mountain from unnamed and unmarked side streams. It was magnificent.

As it turned out, I think New York Canyon would have been awesome after all. I suppose I should have gone there instead, but Little Robinsons Valley was pretty darn incredible too. Anyway, I have other “secret” plans for NYC later. Wink wink.

Small but pretty. That is my assessment of this waterfall in the upper reaches of American Canyon Creek. I was hoping and expecting to find a bigger waterfall here, twice the height of what I found, which was this little 14 ft. falls, so I was certainly disappointed but it is still quite a purdy thing. Getting to it, however, was incredibly difficult, but fun.

The hike started off very well. I found a trail that I did not know even existed. It followed along the creek leading almost all the way to the falls. Almost but not quite. It certainly would have been impossible to get even close to this waterfall if not for this unknown trail, which apparently horse riders know all about but not hikers. There was a lot of horse poop I had to carefully tread through. However, about a half mile downstream of the falls, the trail came to a creek crossing and then continued up and away from the creek into a private farm. There was no path continuing up the creek. I tried both sides of the creek, to no avail. It was just too brushy, and all I got was soaking wet and tired. There was only one way to go: Wade straight up the creek bed.

On went my water shoes. It started off deep, a little pool I had to wade through in which the water went up to my thighs. Not a good sign, but after this pool, there was no more really deep stuff. But there was prickly brush along the creek bed, and a few little cascades I had to climb over. Not too bad, though it would have been impossible if the creek flow was high. I felt like I was wading up the creek in the middle of the jungle, and wondering if any crocs, huge snakes, or big cats were lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on me. In particular, I was freaked out about the latter of those three things. I made decent progress, however, until I got to the end of the road. The prickly brush all of a sudden got incredibly thick along the creek bed with no way to get through it. I could glimpse the waterfall through all that brush just ahead. If this was the beginning of the hike, I would not have even attempted this, but it was right at the end, and I could see the falls. I just “had” to trounce through this brush. My scratched up legs did not thank me later. I had to get over some prickly brush, crawl up on a big rock, then down, then up a little mini waterfall, then through more awful prickly brush, then over a very slippery log, then through more prickly brush, and finally I was in a small pool at the base of the waterfall. Whew! There was barely enough room in this little alcove to take a photo of the falls. It was a pretty little spot indeed. Just too bad the waterfall was not bit bigger. But it was fun.

Nine. Nine new waterfalls I have found so far this season (in the last two months). And the season has not really even begun yet (but it will very soon – our first big storm of the year is on its way). Anyway I think that is a huge accomplishment. Nine new waterfalls that most people had no idea even existed. And much more is on its way in the coming months. Of course, some waterfalls are better than others. And this one I suppose is on the lesser side of things.

At least it lived up to its name: Brushy Canyon Falls. I did not think it would. In fact, I anticipated this would be an easy hike (or fairly easy hike), and I would be able to see the waterfall from the main road. Upon Google Earth examination, it seemed the terrain was quite open, and there would be a pretty good view from the road. It was a 2 mile hike down to the supposed viewpoint, and even though you lose 1000 ft. in elevation on the road, I was up for that hike. The hike down was mostly uneventful, but when I arrived, I could see no waterfall from the road. There was much more brush than anticipated, and it was blocking all views of the waterfall. Well time to go down, then.

The problem, however, was there was a cliff in the way between me and the waterfall. It was steep, darn steep, scary steep. I did not want to go down, but I had no other choice. I descended carefully and slowly. I had to get out my rope to help me get down safely. I finally came to a little knob with this view of the waterfall. But again, there was brush and trees in the way, and a clear view of the entire waterfall was not possible. Only the top part could be seen from here. I had run out of rope by the time I got down to the knob, and it was still rather cliffy. Too cliffy to continue down any further. I may or may not have been able to get a better view further down, but there was nothing else to do but turn and go back up the mountain. Another day I suppose I will come back with more rope to try it again.

This was taken on Thanksgiving Day. Normally I like to go out hiking on Black Friday, but Thanksgiving Day is good too, and it worked out better this year to do it on TD. Surprisingly, there were a heckuva lot of cars out on the road so early in the morning. Why so many people out and about? Fortunately, I did not see anyone out on the trails. Of course, no one would have been on this trail anyway since no one knows about it. I had also thought this creek would have a lot more flow which is one of the main reasons I picked this one. But it was already on the low side, even after an inch or more of rain in the past week. Well, a lot more is on the way. Five inches perhaps, next week. Sweet galoshes. About time.