Leon Turnbull Photography

I love this shot. It’s another one from my local marsh. Whenever I’ve been down there, I’ve seen this GBH, and usually the Great Egret as well. They don’t usually let you get too close to them. Indeed, this heron had his eye on me the entire time, it seemed he was watching me even when I was on the other side of the marsh. There is a walkway up above the marsh that let me get above and closer to the heron. I walked up there slowly to a railing that let me get fairly close to him. He was eyeing me the whole time but didn’t seem to mind me up there. I took some shots, then continued a littler further to get even closer to him. I stood there taking some shots and watching him up close through my viewfinder. As I was watching him, he just turned his head slightly towards me to get a better look at me. Click. Oooh, the intensity of his stare is just neck tingling. I guess you just had to be there with me to fully appreciate it. But that is why I love this image.

Here’s another one:

Silver Falls is a hidden gem deep within Eldorado Natl. Forest, a beautiful 41 ft. waterfall on Otter Creek. But it is not so easy to get to. It is a long drive on unplowed dirt forest roads, and I was wondering if I’d be able to get there in the winter. Well, as it turned out there was no snow on the roads. But plenty of mud, due to snow that was melting. My SUV was in desperate need of a bath after this drive. The hike itself is a strenuous one, pretty easy getting down to the falls, but not so easy getting back up. The elevation loss is 1300 ft. over 1.5 miles. It is a huffer for sure. But I was prepared for that, because I had done this hike before. My dog had not done this hike before, though. She had no problems with the hike, but did pick up a couple ticks along the way. Once down at the falls, I wanted to get across the creek to shoot the falls from the other side. I had brought my water shoes along, but when I got down there, I brilliantly figured that I could save time and just rock hop across the creek. Ahh, no. Upon my attempt at doing such a feat, I planted both feet firmly in the creek. My hiking boots and socks were now soaking wet, and I had a tough climb out of the canyon ahead of me. Not a good thing. Thus, I ended up taking my boots off and putting on my water shoes. Across the creek I went. Took my photos of the waterfall. Back across the creek. Sat down to put my socks and hiking boots back on. Worrying that I was touching poison oak in doing so (fortunately, not!) Then back up the trail, huffing all the way. A good hike indeed.

I had a thought that it would be neat to try to get to Deadhorse Falls in the winter. It would be very cool with all the snow and ice around the falls (and hopefully, the waterfall would be flowing as well). What I wasn’t sure was how far we could drive on the unplowed dirt roads before we had to walk the rest of the way to the waterfall.

My friend Brian came along for the journey, and his dog, Duke (plus my dog, Kaya). We drove as far as we could, then came to a stop 4 miles from the waterfall. That meant it would be an 8 mile hike there and back through the snow. I was up for the hike, but I wasn’t sure Brian was so keen on that long of a hike. But he agreed to go for it, nonetheless. The dogs had a grand old time tromping through the snow. Kaya is an old pro at these hikes, but Duke had never hiked so far in his life. But he did very well keeping up with Kaya. We were able to follow tracks for most of the way until the last mile. Then we put on our snowshoes to hike the last part up to the falls.

Once we got up near the waterfall, it is a very steep descent down into the canyon. Not so bad in the summer, but a bit treacherous in the winter. Once again, I stood for awhile pondering the situation. There has to be a way down there. I didn’t hike 4 miles through the snow to be stopped here! Finally, I found an easy way down. Even the dogs were able to get down to the bottom without any difficulty.

Deadhorse Falls is a difficult waterfall to photograph. The angles are funny because it is such a tall waterfall (60 ft.), and you have to essentially shoot it right at the base of the falls, looking up at it. With snow around, it is even harder to photograph.

After photographing the waterfall, we took the very long slow 4 mile trek back out. Was it worth it? Brian would probably say no, but I thought it was a really nice hike through the snow, even if the waterfall wasn’t flowing fabulously. Would I do it again? Probably not, but who knows for sure.

I stopped off at the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge on my way up to Red Bluff this last time around. I had never been there before, but it is a very interesting area. Thousands of different birds winter in this area along what is called the Pacific Flyway. These refuges were created for the birds after almost all of California’s wetlands were destroyed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is an auto tour route that allows you to drive around the marshy areas. Interestingly, when you are in your vehicle, the birds don’t really bother with you, and you can actually get closer to them than if you were out on foot. Still though, the road doesn’t get as close to some areas that I would like. By far the best shot I got was of this peregrine falcon taking off.

I don’t know what I was thinking with this one. I knew it was iffy getting down to the bottom of Lower Battle Creek Falls, and that was in the summer when there is no snow. In the winter, it is downright treacherous. I should have known that. But I naively figured I could find a way down there. With my dog too.
Well, I wasn’t actually planning on going to this waterfall anyway. I was looking for another waterfall on Battle Creek. But snow stopped me on that quest. I didn’t want to just go home without having anything to show for my getting up so darn golly early, so I figured to try this waterfall since I was in the area. It was rather a fun hike from the highway down to the creek over the snow. Other people had gone down there, so it was easy to follow in their tracks. Once down at the creek, I needed to work my way downstream to the falls. No more tracks to follow. Without snowshoes, it was difficult, and I often fell through the snow. But the snow was hard, so it wasn’t too bad. Battle Creek was a winter wonderland, with plenty of snow and ice all around. The trail goes right along the creek, and it was impossible to tell where the creek was and where the land was. It would have been easy to plop right through the snow into the water. Not a good thing. I decided to take the high road, well above the creek. Eventually, I made it down to the top of the falls. Okay, it was a lot more steep and treacherous than I remembered. With the hard snow, one slip and I would’ve been down at the bottom in a couple seconds, and it would not have been pretty. I stood there pondering the situation for quite awhile. How could I get down there? My dog is apparently much smarter than I am. She was having none of this pondering nonsense. No way was she going to go down to the bottom. Eventually, I decided to heed my dog’s advice and give up trying to get down. But I just had to get some sort of photo out of this adventure, so I took this shot from the top of the falls. It was a bit dicey shooting from this location as well. It is not a great shot, but it does show just how pretty this waterfall is in the winter. Too bad you can’t get down to the bottom without killing yourself in the process.