Leon Turnbull Photography

I love finding new waterfalls. These are waterfalls that are previously undocumented, and very few people know about. Sometimes I find them myself by studing topo maps. Often I get an email from someone informing me about one. A lot of times, I strike out completely when out waterfall hunting. Other times, I find a nice little waterfall. But every once in awhile, I find a real gem.

Well, I found a gem the other day. It may be the best waterfall in the greater Sacramento area. In fact, I can’t believe I had never been down to it before. It is not really too difficult to get to. The waterfall is on Rock Creek in the Placerville area. It is only about 25 ft. high but is about 100 ft. wide, making it one of the largest waterfalls in the area.

The trail is called the One Eye Creek Trail. It is named after a 19th century miner who had a fight with a cougar and lost, losing one eye in the process. How lovely. Fortunately, I did not see the cougar’s descendant on this hike. I was actually much more concerned about meeting one of the local rednecks. I was venturing into hippy land for this hike. The last time I was in this area, I ran into one, and he was very upset I was there, swearing profusely and telling me I had no business being there, even though I was on a public road. I did not particularly want to run into him or one of his cohorts on this hike. But as it turned out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. The hike is on public land in Eldorado Natl. Forest, and is very clearly marked the whole way as such.

The trail is not too difficult to follow, but was very overgrown in places. I spent a lot of time crashing through brush and scrambling over fallen trees. By the time I got down to the creek, I was completely soaked. And when I got down to Rock Creek, I was amazed. The creek was in flood stage. It was freaky scary how high the creek was and how fast it was moving. One missed step, and I would have been over the falls and gone in a matter of seconds. I worked my way downstream through poison oak to get to the waterfall (ugh). Again, all I can say is wow. The creek was just thundering over the falls. It was an incredible display of power, stretching across the entire creek bed. It was also very difficult to photograph because of all the water and the spray from the falls. It would be interesting to see what this waterfall is like in normal flows. It probably would not be as spectacular, but still rather nice. I will definitely be returning here someday.

Here’s one last shot (for now) from Canyon Creek. On the way back up the trail, Rob spotted another waterfall in the distance and we found a side trail going down towards it. I had never seen this trail before. We decided to take it. From Rob’s point of view, he figured he might never be back on this tough trail for a long long time, so he may as well try to get to all the falls now if at all possible. I knew I would be back someday. Plus, I wasn’t sure if this was one I had seen before or it was a new one. The trail sorta led down to the top of it, but we couldn’t get a view of it. We worked our way around along the cliffs where we could get a decent view. As it turned out, it was one that I had been to before (but from a different trail). I measured it being 23 ft. high. This is number 4 along Canyon Creek. But right below this falls was a different waterfall, a new one that I had not seen before. We were able to photograph that one as well. So it was very cool for me, to find a new waterfall along this trail.

There are at least seven significant waterfalls on Canyon Creek, all 20 ft. high or taller. The last one is located right where the creek dumps into the North Fork American River. This one is 26 ft. high, and definitely a pretty one. It takes a bit of work to get to it though. Well, not so tough getting to it, as it is downhill all the way. But whatever goes down, must go back up. That is Leon’s reverse gravity rule. It applies only to hiking. In this case, down was 1700 ft. in elevation loss over 2.5 miles. That means we had to go back up that 1700 ft. unless we wanted to spend the rest of our lives down by the North Fork American River (which might not be too bad, as it is the most beautiful river in the world – but … it might get a bit chilly). Rob did talk about bringing a raft down, then we could just hop in the river and take out at Colfax. Hmmm …well, not this day. After a good sandwich overlooking the river and waterfall, it was back up the trail we went. Somewhat surprisingly, I felt pretty good on the hike back up. I was tired at the end of it, but not overly tired. Maybe I’m finally getting back into decent shape.

Taking a break from Canyon Creek, and back to something a bit different from American Canyon Creek. This is below American Canyon Creek Falls, where the trail drops fairly steeply on its way down to the Middle Fork American River. There are many mini-waterfalls along this section, and it is possible to get down to some of them. This is one of those pretty little cascades. There are many photo possibilities along this creek, and I just couldn’t resist. Very gorgeous indeed.

It is my daughter’s birthday today. She is 4 years old. They grow up so fast, don’t they. It seems like only yesterday she was just a little baby. But she will always be my little baby, I think. 😉 We are going out for lunch today. Not Chuck E Cheese (which we did last week for Jadon’s birthday – man, their pizza is awful). Today it is John’s Incredible Pizza; supposedly they have better pizza but they are much more expensive. We’ll see.

Rob was giddy when we arrived at the Big Waterfall. He was running around like a chicken with his head cut off (I’m not kidding), looking for places to photograph the falls, of which there are plenty. I thought for sure he had been down here before, but apparently he had only been to the first waterfall. He was excited. So was I. The Big Waterfall is 134 ft. high, and it was flowing beautifully this day, much nicer than the month before. It is off the beaten trail too. You gotta know where it is in order to find it, which makes it all the more rewarding. Still though, I wanna come back here when the flow is about three times as much or more again. Then it’ll be really cooking. The last time that happened was 3 years ago. It could happen this year. I’m hoping so anyway.