Leon Turnbull Photography

This is Upper Sheep Creek Falls in Northport Washington, 21 ft. high. It is tucked in a pretty little gorge, and certainly a very interesting little waterfall.

It is an easy hike up from the lower falls to the upper falls, but it was a bit too far for Nekoda to walk (though actually, she could have done it easily, I think). I tried to entice Jadon to come with me but he just did not want to come, and instead all 3 of them stayed back at the car, and I just took the dog, Kaya, with me. At the end of the road, I knew I was right beside the waterfall, but I could not see it. It was a very steep drop down to the creek, and I wondered how I could ever get down there. There was a path over to the edge, so I followed it, but it took me right to the cliff above the waterfall, and no descent was possible there. There was an old mining structure which looked rather unstable to walk upon, no dice. I could not even get a view of the falls. I retreated. It was Kaya who found the “proper” trail down on the way back, I would have missed it completely if not for her. She is such a smart dog. But also a strange one. She was whipping down the trail like nobody’s business, then she came to one spot which was particularly tricky (or so she determined), and she would not would not continue. I could not entice her down this one spot no matter what. So instead, I went back up to her, and found a different way down (which I thought was much worse), and she had no problems going down this different, steeper, route. Silly dog. We got to the bottom, but could not get all the way down to creek level. There was a ledge you could walk out close beside the waterfall, but it was slippery and I did not want Kaya to wander around too close to the edge while I was talking photos (she has almost fallen over waterfalls in the past), so I tied her up for my own peace of mind, while I took some photos of this little gem.

This is Upper Glen Alpine Falls, 32 ft. high. In the spring, it is a little spitfire, roaring down the canyon. But in the Fall, it is actually still quite a pretty little waterfall. Since it is pretty much a straight drop, it does not need a lot of water to look good, so even with very little flow in the creek, it is still lovely to visit. Compare that to Lower Glen Alpine Falls, which was not even worth seeing (on the same creek with the same amount of water flow). It is also quite easy in the Fall to get right down in front of the waterfall in the middle of the creek; I would not be able to shoot from here in the Spring, that is a certainty.

I have shot sunrise at Eagle Falls before. The well known location from the top of the waterfall overlooking beautiful Emerald Bay, made famous by the late Galen Rowell. Many others have photographed from this spot since Rowell, and many have taken fabulous photos from this location, but for me, I have not ever taken a photo that I really really liked. I am a lot closer to it now.

I drove up to Lake Tahoe early early Saturday morning. When I started out, I was not sure where I was going to end up. The forecast said overcast in the morning, and it sure looked that way as I drove up Hwy 50. When I got to the summit, I stopped. Got out of my car. Looked at the sky. I saw lots of clouds. I saw stars. It seemed that there was a possibility at least of a decent sunrise at Tahoe, so I made my decision. Eagle Falls. It was a good decision.

There was no one else at Eagle Falls as I drove up. I saw one other photographer shooting Emerald Bay, but he was on the wrong side of the bay for a sunrise shoot. I can’t imagine he got any decent shot from where he was. There was definitely a break in the overcastness on the other side of the lake. It looked like a sweet sunrise was definitely on the agenda. Thank you Lord.

When the water level is lower at this time of year, your composition choice here is extremely limited. If you want to include any part of the water or falls, this is essentially the only option. But it does work, and it works quite well. Nonetheless, I kind of want to come back in the spring and try again. For an even sweeter sunrise, and an even sweeter waterfall. Sounds like a plan.

Now that is what I am talking about.

Well it was not Plan A. And it was not Plan B. But Plan C worked out pretty fine. I wanted to head on over to the Eastern Sierra on Saturday. The big waterfall at June Lake is flowing right now, and I had hoped to get up to the base of it. However, due to the most recent snow storm, the road over Monitor Pass is now closed. With luck, it will re-open this week and I can try again next weekend, but there is a good chance it will now be closed for the rest of the winter. Plan B was to head over to the Yosemite area, where I know of certain waterfalls that also are flowing well right now. But the weather forecast was calling for a sunny day on Saturday, and I did not want to drive all the way out there, and not be able to get good photos of them. I really need a cloudy day for that trip. As it turned out, it was a cloudy day on Saturday! What the hey? I could have done Plan B after all. Darn weather forecasters.

Plan C was to do an easy hike back up to Alder Creek Falls near Kyburz, hoping to get down to the bottom of it. It was a very cold morning, and there was some snow on the ground, though not too much. I got to the top of the waterfall easily enough. But it is very steep on the one side of the creek, and not possible to get down to the base of the falls. I was able to cross the creek, however, at the top of the waterfall, and work my way down on the other side. If the creek was flowing any higher, I would not have been able to do this. It was a bit sketchy in a couple places as it was. Nonetheless, I made it down, and I was happy to do so. This would be a fantastic place to be in the spring, but crossing the creek at the top of the falls will not be a possibility in any way, shape, or form. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.

I grew up in Rossland, British Columbia. I never once saw a moose there. I never once even heard of moose being around here (though my memory is rapidly fading in my old age).

So here we are, my brother in law and I, driving out to Nancy Greene Lake one day to do some mtn biking. As we passed the lake I saw a big animal off in a marshy area which sure as heck looked like a moose. Impossible, I thought. He was driving pretty fast, however, and I did not get a good look. Yet I could not think of what else it possibly could have been. Both Lynal and my mom confirmed that there is moose in the area. What? Is this a recent development? Could this really be possible?

The next morning I pulled my wife out of bed and dragged her up to the same area. Sure enough the moose was there. Three big boys in fact were there. We walked as quietly as we could down to the marshy area (which was not too quiet on the loose gravel road) and managed to get very close to them, within a hundred feet or so. They were watching us very closely but they did not move off and we stayed there a long time watching them with me shooting tons of pics. It was a fantastic experience, one of the best moose experiences I’ve had (second only to the ones we paddled past very closely to on the Bowron Lakes). After quite awhile, we decided to finally leave them alone and went back to the car, pleased as punch.

So why are there moose in Rossland now? My unconfirmed theory is that moose (and grizzly bears as well) have moved back into this area now after a long absence. It makes sense. With moose there will be grizzly bears also. There are grizzly and moose now back in northern Oregon as well. I love it. Now if only these animals would move back into northern California I would be ecstatic. Maybe some day.