Leon Turnbull Photography

Well I do like this photo quite a bit, but it is definitely not the photo I was seeking.

The weather forecasters screwed me up again. We had a big cold winter storm come in yesterday, calling for snow even in Folsom of all places (we very rarely get snow in Folsom). I was thinking I really should get out and photograph the snow, but I thought Auburn would be a better choice (they would get more snow there). On Sunday the forecast was saying that it would not snow in Auburn until Monday during the day and afternoon. So I figured that Monday after work would be a great time to go up to Auburn.

But … it snowed Sunday night instead! Even on Monday, the forecast was still saying that more snow would be coming in Auburn during the day. But it never happened. By the time I got up to Auburn after work, most of it had already melted. I was totally bummed about that, as I was hoping to get a great shot of the North Fork American River with snow on the trees and all around. If I had gone up to Auburn on Monday morning, it would have been perfect. Ah well, c’est la vie. I still managed to get a nice shot with a little bit of snow and some nice fog and clouds hanging over the river.

And the kids had fun as well. I brought the family up with me so they could play in the snow while I was photographing. We did have a bit of snow overnight in Folsom, but it was just a tiny amount. There was just a bit on our cars in the morning, only enough for my wife to go out and make a couple snowballs and throw them at the kids (fortunately not me, but the kids managed to get me quite good later in Auburn).

Just a simple sunset along the American River.

On Black Friday, while Tara and her mom were shopping, I had fun with the kids. I told them they could do anything they wanted in the morning, but in the afternoon, we were going to go somewhere Daddy wanted. So in the morning, they chose to go play at the local park, and we had fun there.

After lunch, I took them to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, about an hour south of Red Bluff. This time of year is interesting there, because of all the birds that spend the winter here. Especially snow geese. We saw thousands upon thousands of them flying around. It is really amazing how many of them there are, which you realize when they fly around like crazy, which they did a couple times. It is pretty cool.

It is my tradition now to go out hiking on Black Friday. It is my favourite day of the year to go hiking. While everyone else is out shopping, I go out into the wilderness. It is beautiful and peaceful, and no one else is out (no matter where I go), so I have it all to myself.

This year, however, the weather did not fully co-operate. I had plans to do an epic hike on Friday, but the forecast was calling for heavy rain on Friday morning. Actually, I looked at a number of different weather forecasts, and there was a huge difference, ranging from light showers to heavy rain. I couldn’t decide if I should go out or not, so finally I determined it would be better to go hiking on Saturday instead of Friday. I let my wife go out and brave the shopping crowds on Friday while I stayed with the kids. On Saturday, it was my turn to go out. I chose Wagon Creek Falls at Mt. Shasta City, a 6 mile hike which shouldn’t be too difficult. ha!

I woke up at 4AM, ready to start my day with a good Dutch Brothers Coffee before the long drive up to Mt. Shasta. But it was closed! This place is supposed to be open 24×7! I was thoroughly upset. Not to mention tired! How was I gonna drive 1.5 hours without any caffeine in my body! Well, I did it, but it really made me very tired for the entire day.

Anyway, I arrived at the trailhead and it was still dark. I wasn’t exactly sure of the route and not confident of hiking it in the dark, so I figured it would be all right to start hiking once it got a bit lighter out. It was also EXTREMELY cold and windy, reminding me of the Black Friday hike I made a couple years ago, which was the coldest day I have ever hiked. Not quite so cold today, but I still had to wear my winter coat.

The hike to Wagon Creek Falls starts out with a shotgun blast to the heart. You have to climb 1000 ft. to the top of a small mountain, in less than a mile of hiking. This trail does not fool around. It goes straight up the mountain. And I mean straight up. It was relentless and grueling. Finally I made it to the top of the ridge. It was just past sunrise now. There were great views of Mt. Shasta from the top, but I did not take out my camera because I was a bit late for sunrise, plus it was so darn cold, and there were no clouds in the sky anyway. I think it would be a good spot for sunrise if the conditions were better, but I don’t think I’d want to climb up that hill ever again.

Once you finally make it to the top, you get more bad news. The trail starts descending on the other side! That means I’d be coming back up this other side on the return trip. Fortunately, the descent wasn’t quite so steep as coming up. But it wasn’t all gentle and flat either. In fact, there were no flat spots on the trail the entire hike. I was either going up or going down. What a crazy hike! After a couple miles of hiking, I got to the turnoff for Wagon Creek. Here was another killer steep ascent up a ridge. Then at the top, it had a killer descent down to Wagon Creek. Holy macaroni! There was quite a bit of snow on the ground, and as I made the descent to Wagon Creek, I was following in bear tracks in the snow, heading down to the creek to get his morning drink? Hmmm … aren’t these guys supposed to be hibernating now? Fortunately, they were not fresh tracks.

Wagon Creek is nestled in a steep little gorge. I could see the waterfall from the lip of the gorge, but how to get over to the waterfall? I started bushwhacking up towards the falls, looking for a descent route to the creek. I found one, and was able to make my way down to the creek without too much difficulty. But I still could not make my way up to the falls on this side of the creek due to all the brush. It seemed easier on the other side, so I hopped the creek, and climbed up the bank on the other side to find this nice overlooking ledge of the waterfall. The waterfall was flowing ok for this time of the year, about what I expected. It would of course be a rushing torrent in the spring, but it may be a lot more difficult to get to the falls in the spring as well.

After enjoying the waterfall, I made the long slow hike back up and down and up and down the mountain. The uphill parts weren’t too horrid (except for a couple of them), and I thoroughly enjoyed the downhill sections. But that very last steep descent, I had to take quite slowly, as the steep downhill is very hard on the old knees. All in all, it was an enjoyable November morning hike.

I debated two options for going out on Saturday morning: Lake Tahoe or Curtain Falls in Oroville. I chose wrong. I wanted to try Curtain Falls again, but I knew there would be less than a 50 percent chance of being able to actually get to the falls (without swimming … and I had no intention to swim). Nonetheless, I had hopes of finding a way around the big pool at the base of the falls by scrambling on the cliffs. Worst case scenario, I figured I could at least take a long distance shot of the falls from the pool. Well, there was an even worse scenario then that!

I started early. The alarm rang at 3AM. It is a long 2.5 hour drive out to the Curtain Falls trailhead. The morning started out interesting enough as I opened the door to my house to hear a couple owls hooting away. I couldn’t see them of course, in the dark. The drive was uneventful enough and quick thanks to no traffic (going home was an entirely different story – man I hate driving through Lincoln!). I did almost run over a rabbit that decided to hop right in front of my wheels. Fortunately, I missed it.

It was still dark as I started the hike at 6AM. And it was slightly freaky hiking through the forest in the dark down to the river. I did talk to God a lot on the way down. That’s always a good thing. I didn’t see any critters except for a couple large moths that tried to punch a hole in my eye, as they were attracted to the light on my headlamp. As I approached the river, the sun was rising, though I still had lots of time before it got into the canyon.

Curtain Falls on the Middle Fork Feather is an incredible adventure to go to, but the hike can only be done in the summer when the river is low. I was very surprised to find the river flowing high and fast at this time of year (not spring flows of course, but still much much higher than I expected). I could hear the river well before I got to it, and when I did get to it, I realized there would be no crossing of it today. Dreamflows.com had told me the flow was low, 230 cfs, but it sure didn’t seem low to me. Nonetheless, I made my way up river towards the waterfall, in hopes of finding a way across. There are tons of very large boulders you have to negotiate your way up and around, which takes a lot of energy. I eventually came to a deep pool which I definitely did not remember the last time I was here. There was no way around this pool but to go through it, so I put on my water shoes and started across this pool under a large overhanging rock. The water came up to my feet, then my knees, then my thighs, then up to my waist! But that was as high as it got and I made it across this section. And yes, it was cold! After that section, more boulder hopping, then you come to the river crossing. There is no way to continue on this side of the river due to the sheer cliffs. The only way to continue to the falls is to cross the river, and then you eventually come to a large pool which must be swam. However, I couldn’t even get to that point because the river was just flowing too very deep and fast to cross safely. I was definitely not expecting to be stopped here. Maybe with two people linked in arms, it could have been crossed, but it would have been quite difficult and definitely deep. So anyway, I made the wise decision to return. I did get my camera out to take a photo of the river.

The hike back up to the top is slow and difficult, gaining 1600 ft. elevation. There are 31 switchbacks. I counted them, taking a drink of water on every even numbered switchback. Hey, it gave me something to do, and to take my mind off the agony. Actually, it wasn’t really too hard (I definitely remembered it being much harder the last time). It was a good hike even though I did not get to my destination.