Leon Turnbull Photography

Lately I’ve gotten back into jogging after work along the American River Parkway. And on top of that, my wife has gotten me into this thing called the Daily Plate. I’ve never counted calories in my entire life until now. But this Daily Plate thing is kinda cool, and I do need to lose some weight. So all is good. So far.

After my jog the other day, I decided to stick around the river for sunset. The clouds were looking pretty nice and it was going to be a spectacular sunset. Yeah, right. It turned out to be a bit of a dud. Once I got down to the river’s edge, a lot of the nice clouds seemed to have disappeared, except for a few. And there was a fog bank or something on the horizon that I couldn’t see, so once the sun had set, the color died very quickly. Such is the life of a landscape photographer. This is the shot I got before the color was all gone. This spot is right close to where I work, and it is a nice one. I have tried this spot for sunset before, and no doubt will try again. The footing along the edge is a bit tricky though (especially with jogging shoes on), but I managed to not take a dive into the river this time.

Okay so I had heard there was a waterfall on Iowa Canyon Creek near Slab Creek Reservoir on the South Fork American River. Truth is, I did not remember much about it. Where was it exactly? What was it like? I don’t know. I had never been down to Slab Creek Reservoir before, so it seemed like as good a time as any to try it.

My son’s birthday party was at 1PM, so I only had the morning to go out and to make sure I was back in time. I considered going up to Tahoe for sunrise, but the weather forecast turned me off. It was supposed to be mostly sunny. If I had gone, there probably wouldn’t have been any clouds at all for sunrise (but considering that I didn’t go, it was probably perfect!). Anyway, so I decided to go to Placerville instead. It would be easier and quicker.

From studying my topo maps, I had mapped out the spot where I thought the waterfall on Iowa Canyon Creek would be, which was I thought a ways up the road from the dam. I arrived there around sunrise, and parked in a turnout, then got out of my car to take a look. I wasn’t expecting much, and I didn’t get much. What I found along the road was a pretty-ish little triple falls. It would be worth photographing perhaps, but it was clearly impossible to get down to it. The canyon walls there were a sheer steep drop down to the creek. Down the creek a bit, the terrain looked a bit better, and I thought maybe I could get down there, then scramble back up the creek to the triple falls. Not likely, but perhaps worth a try. I decided to first go on down to the dam and see what I could see down there, then come back to this spot later.

Once down at the dam, I could see a different waterfall off in the distance, dropping down into the river (not on Iowa Canyon). It was a nice one (on an unnamed creek), and it looked like it would be worth trying to get to. I made my way down to the river, and determined that the best way to access this waterfall would be on the other side of the river. I crossed the river on a footbridge, and started making my way down river. A lot of rock scrambling was involved in this process, but the going was good at first. Then I came to a dead end with a sheer cliff dropping right into the river’s edge. No way to go forward except to swim. I actually did find a spot where I might be able to rock hop across the river and then continue on the other side. But … I was in a danger zone, downriver from the dam. If I had crossed the river and they made a release from the dam, I would be trapped on the other side with no exit route. You may think that the risk was very minimal, but it was exactly one week prior I was hiking back from Dutch Creek in Coloma, and I saw that the flow in the river was double from when I started hiking that morning. If they released water from the dam last week, it was certainly possible they might release again this week. A double amount of flow in the river would make it uncrossable. So what could I do? Well, I decided to try to climb up above the steep cliff. I started making my way up through yucky prickly brush, and poison oak (but I didn’t get the “itch” this time). I found an old trail, which may have been human or bear, and followed it up. I went up, way up above the river, and I wasn’t making any progress getting around this cliff. I eventually gave up, and made my way back down to the river. Strike out.

Back at the dam, I decided to make my way down to Iowa Canyon Creek to take a look see. I am glad I did! There was the waterfall I was looking for! Right near where the creek enters the river. It was a pretty one, 50 ft. high. But … getting up to it was a bugger! There is a ton of prickly brush along the creek here. I made my way through it with great difficulty, crossed the creek, and made my way up through more of the brush to the waterfall. But once there, I could not get in a decent position to see the falls. There was just far too much of that prickly brush to get up close to the falls. I found that the best view was from up on the cliff above, quite a distance from the falls, and that is where I took this photo from. I think I will need to return here with my water shoes and just splash my way straight up the middle of the creek. Maybe I can get up closer to the falls that way, but I just don’t know.

Ugh, I hate poison oak. I didn’t see any on my hike up to Dutch Creek, but I must have tramped through it at one point. Now I have the itch! I didn’t even wash myself with Technu when I got home because I didn’t think I was in any. Stupid Leon.

This is Lower Dutch Creek Falls, about 20 ft. high. It is a nice little spot along the way to the main waterfalls on Dutch Creek. It was in very pretty double form this day, so I couldn’t resist going down there to photograph it.

Apparently this little guy liked it as well. I was worried that I had partially stepped on him because he looks squished with his back arched up like this. I did not see him. He was not moving at all, and I could see he was breathing hard (well, I’ve never seen a newt breathe hard before, so I’m just guessing). These newts are impossible. They always like to hang out on the trails because they blend in more with the dirt and brown leaves. They are difficult to see. But they don’t get out of the way when you are about to step on them. You would think they would say something like, “oh there is a huge monster about to squish me to kingdom come. I should get out of here, move, jump up and down, scream, do something!”. But no oh no. They just sit there, still as a doorknob. Of course I know why they sit so still, to hide from predators. But geez, come on guys. Anyway, I think this guy was okay cuz after I had photographed the waterfall and came back up, he was gone.

Dutch Creek in Coloma is truly a magical place. It is certainly one of my favourite places in the greater Sacramento area. In the winter when the creeks are flowing, Dutch Creek and Johntown Creek collide in spectacular beauty, twin waterfalls each about 100 feet high, side by side, in a steep narrow canyon, joining together in a glorious display of splendor, force, and fury. It is magic. No, it is Creation at its finest. Only a God of power and love could create something so magnificent.

Ah, but of course it is also a dangerous place. Such beauty and magnificence must only come with peril as well. Anything truly worthwhile getting to must come at a price. C’est oui? The canyon is precipitous, the dropoffs are deadly, the paths are narrow and slippery. A place for children, not. A place for the timid of foot, not. A place for the faint of heart, not. But for the brave, the valiant, the rewards are stupendous, the scenery breathtaking.

When I first laid my eyes on these waterfalls a year ago, I was in awe. The beauty was undeniable. I was not expecting to find such an astounding scene. I have returned many times since then and I have seen the falls in full flood, and when only trickling. But I think they are best like they are right now, showing their full splendour and form, and accessibility is perhaps a tad easier.

But how to photograph such beauty? Johntown Creek Falls in particular, is one that I have not yet solved. It is tucked away in a narrow canyon and difficult to view, let alone photograph. From the main trail at the bottom where the two creeks join, it is partially visible. The first time I was here, I worked my way down to the creek and took a long distance, unsatisfactory, photograph of it. Getting up close to the falls seems impossible, even when there is no water in the creek at all. The photo shown here, above, is from the brink of Johntown Creek Falls, with Dutch Creek Falls in the background. This was seriously as close as I dared approach this monster, this beast. A mountain goat could, perhaps, get a better view of it. I love this photograph, because I think it does show the beauty of this canyon, as well as the danger of it. But one day I will have to return again, and try to find a way to shoot the ever elusive beast of Johntown.

I returned again to Dutch Creek in Coloma and this time I came away with what I was looking for.

The forecast was for a steady rain all day long. I was prepared to get wet. But it is difficult to take photos when it is raining hard (not to mention that I would be totally soaked after 5 minutes of hiking). But I woke up to a very light rain in Folsom. Okay I thought, I can deal with this. This is nothing. Almost perfect hiking weather. Off I went to Coloma. Of course, by the time I got to Placerville that light rain turned into a hard rain. Oh I thought, maybe I can’t deal with this after all. Nonetheless, I continued on to Coloma, and by the time I got there, it was back to a nice light rain again. Sweet. The entire hike up to the waterfalls was perfect, just a light rain, and a very lovely hike.

Except that the trail had turned into an obstacle course. There were a large number of downed trees across the trail from the recent storms we had in January. The last time I was here (which was this year, before the storms) the trees were not down. Interestingly enough, there were well worn paths around the downed trees. That meant that a number of people had been up here in the last month. I was a bit surprised about that, because I didn’t think this was such a popular trail (I’ve certainly never seen anyone else hiking on this trail). Dutch Creek was flowing along nicely, not too crazy, but a definite good flow to it.

Now of course once I arrived at the waterfalls, the nice light rain had turned into a hard rain again. Doh! I scrambled up to the top of the waterfall on Johntown Creek in the now hard rain. It is a difficult scramble up to the top. It is also a dangerous spot right where the two creeks (Johntown and Dutch) come together forming two beautiful waterfalls side by side. I was a bit worried about that spot, as the rain makes the rocks and dirt very slippery, and a fall there would not be a good thing. But I found a way around that spot, an easy and safe path leading up to the top (though steep of course). Once at the top, I continued up to Upper Johntown Creek Falls, which was my primary goal for the day. First though, I continued hiking on the trail past the upper falls. I was curious how far the trail went, and if there might be additional waterfalls along the creek. I did not find any more waterfalls, just one small cascade, but the trail continued for quite a distance, and I followed it until the creek leveled out in a little clearing, then turned back.

Upper Johntown Creek Falls is 60 ft. high. The last time I was here, the creek was in flood and it was roaring. I could not get a good photo of the falls at that time because I could not get close enough to the waterfall due to the raging creek. That was also the time I almost lost my wallet, due to a broken zipper on my backpack. This time, I had a new backpack, firmly zipped up, and the creek was not in flood. Still though, in order to get close enough to the waterfall to photograph it, I had to cross the creek twice. And that required getting wet (actually, I was already quite wet due to the rain). I had anticipated this though, and I had brought my water shoes. So I put them on, and was able to cross the creek without too much difficulty. On the other side, I had to scramble a bit upstream, then cross back again, in order to get in this position right in front of the waterfall. It is a tough beast to photograph, as the creek makes a right hand turn halfway down the falls, in a steep narrow canyon. Thankfully, by the time I got ready to photograph the falls, the rain had subsided. Indeed, it had stopped. It was supposed to rain all day long, and now the rain had completely stopped. I was able to go back and photograph the other waterfalls, and had no more rain for the rest of the day – that was a very pleasant blessing.