Leon Turnbull Photography

Now that I am working again, Saturday is essentially the only day of the week that I can go out waterfallin. So … I really wanted to get out this Saturday even though it was supposed to be raining. I did not sleep well on Friday night, and I really did not want to wake up on Saturday morning. In fact, I turned my alarm off, thinking that I would not get up. But at 5AM, I was up to use the bathroom, and I just decided to get up and go anyway. Oh, but I think I should have gone back to bed.

It was raining as I drove down the freeway to the Bay area, and that makes driving on the freeway more difficult (especially when everyone else seems to be going so much faster than is safe for the conditions). But as I got to Danville, it was not raining, in fact, it looked like the sun would come out. But I knew that would not last, with more rain coming that morning. My first stop was Las Trampas Regional Park, where I was looking for a certain waterfall there. I had the right co-ordinates, and I found the trail leading up to the falls, but all I found was a small 10 foot high waterfall. I was very disappointed, as I was expecting and hoping for something at least 20 ft. high. A 10 footer is not even worthy to put on my website. Then it started raining again. I felt like just driving back home and not going on to my second destination. But I had driven all the way out here, I figured it would be dumb to not go to the other waterfall.

My second destination was in Mt. Diablo State Park. Sycamore Creek Falls. The unknown waterfall in Mt. Diablo State Park. I think most everyone knows of the falls on Donner Creek, but very few know of this other one. I had actually tried to find this particular waterfall earlier this season, but the creek was completely dry at that time. It is a very small little creek. But today I knew it would be flowing. I arrived at the entrance kiosk, and talked to the lady there a bit. I told her I was going to hike down to Sycamore Creek. She asked me what was down there. I told her a waterfall. She was shocked! A waterfall! Are you kidding me? It seems that not even the park employees know about this waterfall. I told her that if I found it, I will stop on my way out and show her my pictures. I did that, and she was very pleased, saying that it looked like a great waterfall, even nicer than the ones on Donner Creek (I’m not sure about that myself, but it is certainly a very nice little waterfall).

The hike down to the falls was pretty easy. It was raining the entire time down and back. Rain makes it hard to take photographs, but I managed. The hard part was actually getting to the falls. Once you get down there, you need to go off the main trail, a steep descent down to the creek. It would not be difficult if the ground was dry, but with the rain, it was slippery and muddy, and that made for a treacherous descent down to the creek. Then I had to rock hop across the creek (which was not easy either, considering that the creek was flowing strong), then work my way up on the other side of the creek to the falls, through some bushes (and poison oak), then climb up on a slippery rock to get a view looking down at the falls (which was also tricky). Was it all worth it? Yes, I do think so. Despite the rain and difficult conditions, it was a pretty waterfall, and although I was sure tired afterwards, I did feel like I had a great outing on this Saturday morning.

More info on Sycamore Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=550

This one was surprisingly a nice little waterfall. I was not expecting to find very much of anything here. The trail from the road is really short, but it is not exactly easy. I had to literally take off my backpack and crawl under a big log across the trail on my belly, right beside a steep dropoff. Then after this, there is a very steep descent to get down to the creek level (short, but difficult). Once down at the creek, I just worked my way up to the falls. There was a second creek coming in here which had a pretty nice cascade on it as well, and with a bit more water it would be a nice photo opportunity as well. But I headed up the bottom of the falls on Redwood Gulch Creek. I quickly realized that I needed to get right in the middle of the creek to photograph it. I did not have my water shoes with me, so I went barefoot, but it was not too difficult and not too cold. My wife thought the water at Salmon Creek was freezing. I laughed at her (sorry, dear), because it definitely was NOT cold. I have been in freezing cold water before from snow melt, but the creeks here at the coast were downright balmy in comparison. Anyway, I enjoyed my time here at Redwood Gulch. The waterfall is not a big one, but it is a pretty one.

More info on Redwood Gulch Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=1515

We are just back from spending the week at the coast, in the Monterey area. It will be my last vacation for awhile as I am starting a new job next week, and we had a great time. The weather was good. We saw plenty of wildlife. We had plenty of beach time. And we saw a few waterfalls as well.

We took one day and drove down the Big Sur coastline to go waterfall hunting. The weather report had indicated it was going to be a cloudy morning, and I was thus hoping to see quite a few waterfalls in good lighting conditions. I got the family up very bright and early, and it was overcast in Monterey. A very good sign. But by the time we got down to Big Sur, the clouds had broken up. I could see that it was going to be a very sunny day along the coast, and I would not be able to see all the waterfalls I wanted to see. In fact, I figured I would only get to about one before the sun started wreaking havoc on my waterfall photos. The first stop was Limekiln State Park, but the gate was closed (it did not open until 8AM). Doh. Next stop, Salmon Creek Falls. Salmon Creek Falls is a spectacular 90 ft. drop and the creek was flowing very strongly. Too strongly, in fact, to get right up to the base of the falls. We tried to get as far as possible up to the falls, and we had fun rock hopping up the creek, but we could not get even near the waterfall. I then tried on the other side of the creek, and actually found a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the waterfall right in front of it. I was pleased and I figured it would be the only waterfall I saw in good lighting conditions that day (not so, however).

This is also the first waterfall I got to shoot with my new camera. I purchased the Canon 5D Mark II just in time for our trip to the coast. I have been wanting to purchase this camera for about 6 months as my old 5D has been on life support all this time, but without a job I was holding out on getting it. Now I was finally able to get it, and I am very happy with the purchase thus far. Salmon Creek Falls was a very good first waterfall tryout for the new camera.

More info on Salmon Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=289

After my trek to Ranch Falls, I really wanted to try to get to one more in the area. Unfortunately, the sun was not co-operating. Although it was supposed to be cloudy with showers all day, the sun had come out. There were still clouds in the area, and they were moving in and out from in front of the sun, so I decided I may as well do the hike anyway and hope for the best. It was a 6 mile round trip to this other waterfall, so I decided to bike it instead of hike it.

I packed my camera and tripod onto the back of my bike and started out around Lake Oroville (Thermalito Pool). It was a very easy bike ride along a mostly flat (and quite muddy) dirt road. The biggest obstacles were the cows. They come right down onto the road and it is treacherous getting past them. I am kidding about the treacherous part. But I did have to pass by within a few feet of them because there was no where they could go to get out of the way. Cows make me nervous. My wife laughs at me about this, but when you are surrounded by big beasts and then they all start coming towards you, I wonder what evil they are plotting. I am kidding again. They are obviously very used to seeing bikers and hikers along here, and they are just very curious.

Anyway, I finally arrived at the creek inlet to the lake after 30 minutes of getting through the bovine obstacle course. The waterfall is a bit upstream, so I had to stash my bike and walk up the rest of the way. It is not a big waterfall, just 22 ft. high, but  it is nice little one, and very easy (in other words, no deadly dropoffs for once). It is called Burma Falls (or Bermuda Falls). But as I said, the sun was not co-operating. I got my camera ready, setup in the middle of the stream, and waited. And I waited. Fortunately, the stream was not too cold to stand in. I was waiting for the clouds to cover up the sun, so I could get a decent shot. They did not ever do that completely, but this one shot turned out all right. Interestingly enough, on my bike ride back to the car, most of the cows had all moved off the road. There were just two left on the obstacle course.

More info on Burma Falls:

http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=960

On Thursday I returned yet again to Table Mountain in Oroville. This was my fourth time there this winter. I really am obsessed with the place this year, so it seems. I just love it there. The terrain and landscape is so amazing. And there are so many waterfalls there.

This time my goal was to go back to Ranch Falls. I wanted to try to get down and see the lower plunge of the waterfall. From the last time I was here, I figured the best way to do this would be on the south side of the creek (opposite of where I viewed the falls last time). I arrived at the cliffs on the south side of the creek at the top of the falls looking for a way down. Along the edge of the cliff is a fence (supposedly there to make sure the cows don’t take a big plunge off the cliff?). I was able to get around at the end of the fence, being very careful, as one missed step could prove rather disastrous, then I walked back along the fence looking for a way down. I had to walk further than I anticipated, but I got to a less steep spot that proved promising and worked my way down. There was actually a trail leading down, and I’m sure it wasn’t a cow trail (unless they are more dexterous at getting around fences than I had thought), so obviously people had been down this way before. There was also a lot of … you guessed it … poison oak. As I worked my way down and back towards the waterfall below the cliff, I saw a rock ledge that looked promising for a view of the waterfall. The trail seemed to go right to it as well. I climbed up on the ledge and worked my way back to the far end, as far as possible to get the best view of the waterfall. About 10 more feet would have been perfect, but then I would be flying in mid air. So this is our view of the lower section of Ranch Falls. I measured the entire waterfall to be 157 ft. high. From this side, I could see no way to get any closer to the falls. The trail ended as far as I could see, and it was far too brushy to continue. But as I looked across the canyon, it seemed that it actually might be possible to get down much closer to the falls on the other side, though it might be a bit on the steep side. Time for a fifth trip back to Table Mountain?

Unfortunately this last storm did not drop too much rain. I estimated the flow in the falls about half as much as when I had been here a couple weeks ago. Ranch Falls was still flowing quite nice but Coon was just trickling. On the plus side, the wildflowers on Table Mountain were just starting to come out. Another month, I think, and they will be spectacular.

More info on Ranch Falls:
http://www.waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=952