Leon Turnbull Photography

I am finding it more and more difficult to find new waterfalls. This past weekend saw my fourth strikeout in a row. There is a good reason for this: if it is a new waterfall that no one knows about or has been to, then by definition it will be almost impossible if not impossible to get to; otherwise, many people will have been there before!

This weekend the hike started out pretty good, but soon ended in a mass of steepness and brush. It was supposed to be an easy 2 hour hike to the waterfall, but after two hours had passed I was still at least a mile, a few hundred feet in elevation, and a tough river crossing away from the destination. I had to turn back. The nice thing is I was not too far away from Ice House Reservoir and South Silver Creek, and there was still enough time left in the day to get there.

As I drove to the end of Ice House Reservoir, I encountered an enormous mud puddle. I debated about proceeding through it with my SUV, but it looked just a tad too big for my beast to handle. I was planning to walk the rest of the way, but there was another guy there and he encouraged me enough to go for it. It is rather interesting that he decided to NOT proceed through the mud with his truck (which seemed more up to the task than my SUV), but he was certain that I could make it (or he just wanted some entertainment to see me get stuck). Well, I decided to take his advice to heart and I went for it. As it turned out, it was fairly easy to make it through the mud, and I continued to drive to the end of the road without any more major obstacles.

I ate my dinner sandwich, and then started up the trail to South Silver Creek Falls. It is only a half mile and a pretty easy hike, but I was extremely tired from the first hike, and I struggled. Nonetheless, I was determined to make it to a waterfall today. The creek was flowing quite well from snow melt, but for how much longer? Peak water flow is long gone, most snow has already melted, and I suspect that in 2 or 3 weeks, this creek and many others will be reduced to summer time flows. I was a little braver this time at South Silver Creek Falls, setting up my tripod on the very edge of the rock ledge, and so this time I got a clear camera angle and view of the magnificent waterfall, and one that I have not shot before. I suspect that I was braver this time because the rocks were all dry and the footing was firm. The last couple times I was here I think the rocks have been wet, which makes the precipice extremely dicey and slippery. You certainly would not want to fall from here.

Well it was getting late by now, and time to get back to the car, through that giant mud puddle, and drive back home. It was a very pleasant afternoon in the Northern Sierra.

This past weekend was quite a disappointment. I ended up being zero for four in search of new waterfalls. I went first up Foresthill Rd and ran into too much snow to continue. I tried a second location and also came across too much snow. I then went back to Foresthill and up Mosquito Ridge Rd, trying a different route to Peavine Creek Falls. This time I ran into too much brush to continue on. I went to Grouse Falls next, which is easy and does not count (it is not a new waterfall anyway). After that I tried to find another new one in the area, and again ran into too much brush. So all in all, it was an ofer weekend, and rather disappointing.

On the plus side, this last little storm we just had at the end of April was pretty sweet, dumping a couple feet of snow in the Sierra. Maybe it will extend waterfall season a couple weeks, but most of the snow had already melted before this storm, so it is still not going to be a very good spring. Will we get any more rain in May? Pretty please.

Grouse Falls was definitely flowing pretty nice this weekend, and the road was all clear from any snow, since it is at a lower elevation. Grouse Falls is always a great waterfall to visit in the spring, but it is such a long drive out there. I don’t think I will be back on Mosquito Ridge Rd this year.

Here’s the newest vid from Waterfall Madman – from Lassen Volcanic National Park, West Sulphur Crk Falls. Please watch in HD. Thanks!

I found this 25 ft. waterfall in Mad Canyon right beside the road. Getting up close to it was completely maddening! The poison oak was absolutely nightmarish! It was so bad I decided to come back the following week with my clippers, and tried to clip away all the oak as I scrambled up through the brush to the falls. I don’t think it worked because I still got the itch afterwards.

It was not even worth all that trouble anyway, the waterfall is not very photogenic and not very big. It looked a lot bigger from the road.

So here is photo proof that I went to the base of Phantom Falls. I do not really like the photo too much, but here it is anyway. Hopefully, I will get out and get a new waterfall this weekend.

And if you missed the video be sure to watch it (in HD). It is hilarious.

Being up north at the in-laws for the weekend, my initial plan for Good Friday was to go on a 12 mile hike to a couple new waterfalls. However, that all changed to naught when I could not get to sleep on Thursday night. Ugh. The hike would have involved getting up super early in the morning. Not only did I not want to get up early, I did not want to get up at all, and scrapped the idea of hiking all together. Instead, I took the kids to see Captain America, so it was not a lost day anyway.

On Friday night I slept much better, but still did not feel like going on a long hike, so I opted to go back to Lassen Volcanic Natl Park and West Sulphur Creek Falls. Easy drive, easy hike. I had wanted to get back here since I first discovered this 50 ft. waterfall last year.

When I arrived in Lassen, I found quite a bit more snow at the trailhead (6700 ft) than I thought there would be. About two feet of snow was on the ground. Considering that northern CA only has 25 percent of AVERAGE snow pack this year, I was thinking there would be much less snow here. A nice surprise but it made for a more difficult hike than anticipated.

It was very early but there was a big group already here. They were about to climb Lassen Peak and ski down. Cool. I wish I could join them.

Instead I opted for the Mill Creek trail (probably a very good idea since I did not have skis). The trail was all snowed over and no one had been on it. So in other words it was going to be difficult to follow. Good thing I had GPS or all hope would have been lost. The snow was hard packed so snow shoes were not needed but there were soft spots that I sank through. Nonetheless, I managed to keep moving forward and not downward.

400 feet lower in elevation I arrived at the West Sulphur Creek Falls viewpoint where there was only light patchy snow. Quite a difference from the trailhead. The waterfall was flowing beautifully and the view from top of the ridge is really sweet. It was way better than when I visited here last fall.

I had initially hoped to find a way down to the base of the waterfall. However that proved quickly to be quite impossible upon close inspection. The ground was very crumbly, and the slope far too steep and cliffy. Even with rope it was not going to work. I think however that I will return someday and make one more go of it, though if I do it will not be to go down that cliff.

There is a second waterfall located just above this one and that waterfall is even more elusive. So much so that it is impossible to see it at all. I was able to get to the brink of the upper falls but that is it. No views. It is sandwiched between massive cliffs on each side. Again though, I think I will try one more time in the future. If there’s a way I will find it.

I continued on downstream, which was my primary plan for the day. I thought there might be yet another waterfall on this creek. I hiked downstream and then literally crawled out on a knife edged ridge with cliffs on each side of me, in between West Sulphur Creek on the right and Mill Creek on the left. At the end of it, shortly before the confluence of those two creeks, I then worked my way down a steep slope on the right (for which I needed my rope) down to where the waterfall should be located on West Sulphur Creek. But alas, there was no waterfall. Darn. I was sure there would be at least a small one there. C’est la vie. It was still a very fun day in Lassen. And I will be back.