Leon Turnbull Photography

This is another one from Canyon Creek Falls in the Trinity Alps. This is Little Canyon Creek Falls. It is 20 feet high in two tiers, this is the upper tier. You cannot see both tiers in any single viewpoint.

Anyway, I did not get to any new waterfalls this weekend. But I did try. Boy did I try. It was an 11 mile hike round trip, with over 1500 feet elevation gain, at high elevation, and when all was said and done, I was turned back by heavy manzanita brush. Oh that stuff can be awful. And annoying. Mostly annoying. I got all the way up to the top of the mountain. I could hear the waterfall in the distance, but it was still quite a distance away, and there was a mound of the stuff in between. I tried to punch through it, but it just got too thick to continue. I had to turn back. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

The good news though, is that I found an alternate route to try and I think I will be able to make it to the waterfall this other way, with significantly less brush. It was too late in the morning to try it this weekend (and I was too tired as well). The bad news is that I do not know when I’ll be able to try it again. It was a killer hike to get up there, and it is getting late in the season as well, and next weekend I was planning to go to Yosemite. In a way, I wouldn’t mind skipping Yosemite and trying this again next weekend. I think it will be a great waterfall, and it seems to still be flowing quite well. But who can say NO to Yosemite?

Some of you may be wondering where I was hiking this weekend, but I want to keep it as a surprise. You are just going to have to wait. And maybe for a long time. Ha, sorry. But can you guess where I might have been from the clues I left in this blog? I was very surprised there was a lot of snow up there still. Above 8000 ft. there was a good consistent and solid pack of snow of at least a few feet thick. I was really only expecting to find patchy snow at this elevation. Even at lower elevations, above 7000 ft., there was still quite a few snow patches, and the creeks were flowing pretty good up there, and little streams were making the trail quite muddy and swampy in places. This all is a good thing, but I was surprised to see it. The bugs were starting to come out though. That is not a good thing.

I decided to bike the first four miles of the hike, thinking it would be faster, easier, and save me a lot of time. Actually, though, it probably took the same amount of time as it would have if I had hiked. It was supposed to be flat and easy going, but there was a lot of walking the bike up hills, over rocks and logs, streams, and through swamps. It was pretty slow going. But going back down afterwards, it was a lot easier and faster to bike the last 4 miles down to the car, so I *think* it was worth it in the end. Unfortunately, I did lose my bike pump somewhere up there. Good thing I did not get a flat and have to walk that 4 miles after all.

On Saturday evening I dragged Jadon and Nekoda out to see Bassi Falls before it stopped flowing. I could not drag my wife. She gave multiple excuses like, it’s too hot, I’m too tired, I have to get up early and bike in the morning. None of these excuses I thought was very worthy, but what could I do? I cannot pick her up and plop her in the car, like I can with the kids (p.s. I’m just joking people!). Along for the ride I invited the Vicar from our church, and he brought his two year old, Heidi, who is the cutest thing ever. Well … at least the cutest thing since Nekoda was two. Our kids had fun playing with her on the drive. She would grab Nekoda’s toes and say, “daddy! I have toes!”

I was concerned as we passed on the bridge over Bassi Creek. I was here last weekend and it seemed to me there was plenty of snow on the mountains and plenty of water in the creek. I figured Bassi Falls would be flowing well for a few more weeks at least. Now, however, it seemed the snow on the mountains was almost gone, and the water level in the creek was significantly depleted. In only one week? I fretted in my head about this on the last part of the drive, not saying anything to Vicar, who had never been to Bassi Falls before. When I show off my waterfalls, I like them to be looking their best. You know, clean and shaved, their shirts tucked in, etc. It has been two years since I have been to Bassi Falls. Last time I was here, the road was a mess. It had been getting worse and worse every year, the potholes getting huger and huger, the ruts were starting to rival the Grand Canyon. Indeed on the very last section of road, I could barely make it up to the trailhead in my 4 wheel drive, and once I had to park before the end and walk. I wondered how much worse it would be now, two years later. Well glory be, the road is now fixed! Amazingness of amazingness. It is now a very easy drive, there were even regular cars up at the trailhead when we arrived. Well one concern was taken care of. There was one concern left (the flow in the falls), and as it turned out, one new one as well.

Bees! In all my years coming here, I have never seen bees at Bassi Falls. But there were hundreds of bumblebees when we arrived at the waterfall, and they were swarming us, they would not leave us alone the entire time we were there. At first, I thought they were after the ham sandwiches in our packs. Can bees smell through backpacks? But even after we removed said obstruction from their path (ie. ate them), they still would not leave us alone. They were everywhere. It is really a miracle that none of our group got stung. The funny thing is, when we arrived there was a group of oriental people there, and they asked Vicar, what are these things? Are they poisonous? Umm, they are bees he said. You don’t know what bees are? They will kill you if they sting you. Do not, I repeat, do not look into their eyes. (umm, ok maybe he did not exactly respond like that – I don’t want him to get in trouble with our Pastor for lying – though I think I got most of it right). Anyway, I did not like these bees around one bit, and it kinda ruined the experience there, but we still stayed until the end anyway so I could get my sunset photos.

As for the water flow, well it was just as I feared. Bassi Falls was much reduced in power. There was probably a third of the normal flow in the waterfall for this time of year. Indeed I would not have been able to stand where I was standing when I took this photo (under normal flows). But for the Vicar and Heidi, who had never seen the waterfall before, they were happy campers. Heidi, in particular, was ecstatic, yelling out repeatedly “wow” when we first arrived. It is indeed a magnificent waterfall. Even at a third of the roar.

This is another view of Iowa Hill Ditch Falls. It sure is a pretty thing, isn’t it. It does not look too hard to get up to the base of it from this angle. Ha, but it is killer steep!

It has been two years since I have been up on Ice House Rd. That year, I spent a lot of time up on Ice House, doing a lot of exploring. I love that area. Last year, I went up there zero times, however. Why? I think mostly because of the bad winter we had that year, there was not much in the way of waterfalls. Well what about this year, bonehead? We had an even worse winter. Why would you go up there this year? Hummm, I don’t know. I just felt like it. Maybe because it has been too long, and I missed being up there, exploring. The waterfalls *are* flowing up there right now. But they are past peak for sure, and they will not be flowing very much longer. Gotta get to ’em while you can, is what I say.

There is a lot of manzanita brush up on Ice House Rd. That is one thing I didn’t miss last year, but I was sure in the thick of it on this day. I was looking for a new waterfall on the South Fork Rubicon River, just below Loon Lake. It is only about a mile off the road, and from the looks of my maps, it did not look like it would be very difficult to get down to it. I could see the brush on Google Earth, but it looked open enough to be feasible to hike. Humm, well it was definitely crazy brush. Thick brush. Leg scratching brush. Man eating brush. Okay, okay, it was not really all that bad. I found a path through the stuff after all. I almost didn’t make it though. Actually I almost made it all the way to the waterfall and then had to turn back. I could see the waterfall below me. In between me and it was a mound of that crazy brush. And this part was the thickest yet and there was no path through it either. And the sun was coming. I thought I had only minutes to get down to it before the sun got there. I could not see how I going to make it through this brush. I backtracked a bit, and went over to the right, where it looked slightly easier. I still had to mangle my way through the thickest of the stuff, though. Finally I broke through. I was almost down to the river, but the last part was a steep dropoff. I got out my rope and climbed down this last section. Safe. I still had plenty of time too, before the sun got down onto the waterfall.

The river was flowing quite strongly as you can see. This will not last for long. The snow is pretty much all melted now. I was also a bit disappointed in the waterfall size. I was expecting a bigger waterfall and more of a vertical waterfall. Nonetheless, this one is certainly a very nice cascade, 37 ft. high. I kinda doubt I will ever be back here again, though. Just a bit too difficult for such a small waterfall. Despite the brush though, it really was a fantastic hike. I loved being back on Ice House, out in the wilderness alone, and exploring new places. It is my kind of thing.

I don’t know. This last hike I did on Saturday was only a half day, 8 mile hike, but it felt more like a full day, 16 mile hike. I was just as tired after this hike as I was after the Trinity Alps hike on Easter weekend, and it took me just as long to recover (ie. two days). Granted it was a tough 8 mile hike, with a lot of scrambling up and down mountain sides, so I’m sure this is the reason I was so tired. But I don’t know, it seems to me I shouldn’t have been so tired after it. Maybe my 45 year old body is finally catching up to me (or I guess I should say I am catching up to it). Maybe it won’t be much longer that I will be able to do tough hikes like this. The horrors, I am dreading that day. There are so many great places to hike around here, many I have not been to yet, and many of them have very difficult access. Especially the North Fork American River Canyon. It is such a beautiful and rugged and remote place. My favorite canyon. And the access is so darn difficult. That is a good thing, else it would not be so beautiful and rugged. I must keep going here though. I cannot stop going here. Ever.

Oh I guess I might mention I was also carrying a heavy pack all morning. I brought my big heavy lens along, thinking that I would be able to get a very good view across the canyon of Big Granite Creek Falls from the Iowa Hill Ditch. Unfortunately, this is not possible. You can only glimpse the uppermost part of that huge waterfall, and it is not possible to see the entire thing. I was disappointed about this, from what I had heard there was going to be a great view from the Ditch. You can, however, get a pretty good view of Big Valley Falls from the Ditch, but I did not take a picture because (1) that waterfall was not flowing super great, and (2) the sun was harshly shining on it. Perhaps another year and day will be better. So all in all, I took my big lens and did not even use it. I’m sure my back did not appreciate that too much. Nor my legs. Nor my entire 45 year old body.

Anyway, I am calling this waterfall Iowa Hill Ditch Falls. It is 93 ft. high. Good name, huh. I can’t think of a better name for it. It is an unnamed stream, in a remote spot and not near anything else of significance, but it needs a name because it is such a beautiful and large waterfall. It is located at the very end of the Iowa Hill Ditch, so the name does make sense. As much sense as anything else.

As I mentioned before, it is super hard to get up close to. The terrain is incredibly steep, and required much difficult scrambling to get up close to it. I did it, but it was not worth all the effort. Nonetheless, I do very much like this shot even though it is an in your face, straight on shot.