Leon Turnbull Photography

After photographing Secret Falls I continued upstream along Bull Creek. I knew there was another waterfall here but I was not expecting much. I thought it would be at most 20 ft. high, perhaps less. Much to my surprise, it was an absolute beauty! It was even better than the first one. To my eye it seemed the falls were a bit taller than 30 ft. (and I was right as it was pretty close to 30 ft.). It is 28 ft. high, bigger than I thought it would be. Eight feet may not seem like much but sometimes it makes a huge difference (such as in this case). It is an extremely gorgeous waterfall. Again, another first discovery by waterfallswest.

I took photos from both sides of the creek, taking my good sweet time. It was getting close to noon now. I still had to climb out of this canyon. It was a tough climb.When I got back to the road I ate my lunch, then I still had 5 miles to hike back to the car. Mostly uphill.

I got back to my car at 3PM. I was tired. The hike took longer than anticipated but I was happy. I had all day so I was not in a rush to get home. There was a problem with the car as I drove back. I could not figure out how to fix it. Basically I could not drive more than 45mph. Not good. Driving at this slow speed all the way back home? That is not going to work. When I got to Paradise I tried to find an auto repair shop. It was getting late but hopefully I could find something. The first two places I tried were no longer in business because they had burned down in the Camp Fire. I saw a lot of places like this burned (businesses and houses) as I drove through the town. Some places were rebuilding but a lot of empty burned out places remained. It was quite sad. So were there any auto repair shops left in the town? The third place I went was not burned but it was closed. Finally, I found a fourth place that was open. He fixed my car in a couple minutes and I was on my way home. Yay.

I stopped at Jakes in Oroville for dinner. They have the absolute best burgers anywhere. I had not been there in a couple years so I really missed them. Bull-licious! It was a fantastic day in Lassen National Forest.

Two brand new waterfall discoveries in a single day? Are you kidding me, madman? That is what I call a great day!

For some reason I thought I had been up to Paradise since the devastating Camp Fire three years ago, but as I drove through it this weekend I could not for the life of me think of where I would have gone. It seems I was wrong, I had not been up there since the fire. It was dark when I drove through it in the morning but on the way back I saw some of the devastation. I will have more to say about it on part two of this post. Yes, there will be a part two.

My hike was five miles one way, most of it on dirt logging roads. I had hoped to drive some of the road but it was gated. No worries. I was prepared for a long hike. I could not have driven it anyway. It was very overgrown (but it was fine for hiking). There are a lot of logging roads through here, some better than others. At one point I came out to a very well maintained and big wide road. One could easily drive this in a car. I wondered if this road was gated or if I could have driven on it. It would have saved me a bit of hiking. Oh well. Again, no worries.

Well, there was a slight worry. Although I started my hike early, at 7:15AM (in the dark of course), I had only 3 hours to make it down to the waterfalls before the sun would be on them. The hike was taking longer than anticipated and I realized I would have to run to make up some time. So I ran. Eventually I came to the end of the road which is where I had to go off trail and down the steep mountain to the bottom of the creek, about a 500 ft. descent. It was not too difficult (at first) and there was even a path going down. Actually, a lot of paths. I think they were all bear trails, not human. This area is so remote I doubt anyone has been here since the miners of the ancient days (but I may be wrong about that). My planned route was to come out at the top of the waterfall and try to find a way down past it. I don’t know what I was thinking. I quickly realized it was too cliffy and there was no way around the waterfall. I would have to go all the way back up to get over the cliff and try to find a different way down. Now I was late. I would certainly not make it on time. But …

I eventually found my way down to creek level. I was quite a bit downstream from the waterfall now so I had to walk up alongside the creek. I was forced to cross the creek three times but it was not flowing too strong so it was not difficult to wade across it. In high water getting to this waterfall would be impossible. I finally made it to the first waterfall and it was in shade! The forecast had said it was going to be a sunny day but it was not sunny, it was cloudy! In fact, it was cloudy for most of the morning. This was clearly a gift from the Lord. I was not expecting this and I did not even think to ask for clouds as my plan was to get down to the creek in time before the sun. I was quite late to beat the sun but it did not matter. I had clouds and I had lots of time. Thank you God!

This is yet another brand new discovery by waterfallswest. No one has ever documented this waterfall before. It is a secret waterfall location. An ancient madman secret. That makes sense because the name of the creek is … you know, it is a Secret Creek (ha ha) … but I can tell you how to get to it if you are a subscriber to my website. Secret Falls is a very beautiful cascade and is 41 ft. high. I spent a lot of time here photographing the falls but I was not done yet. Stay tuned for part two …

The first time I was here was in late 2014 at very low flow. I have always wanted to return when the waterfall is flowing decent. Now would be a good time, I thought. After 13 inches of rain it should be roaring, I thought. The Aftershock following the Bomb Cyclone last week.

It was not my first choice to go here this weekend. However, I only had time for a short easy hike because I had to get home to drive my daughter to dance class. Well as it turned out, she tells me at the last minute (after I get back home) that she is not going to dance today. Great. I could have done the other hike I really wanted to do. Thanks for not telling me, Nekoda. Teenagers. Sigh.

Well on the other hand, a short easy hike is about all I could do anyway. I put my back out in the morning before I left the house. I have to deal with the cats when my wife is not home and bending down to clean the litter is always an adventure with my back. Dang! The pain! Ugh! I should not go hiking, I thought. I must not go hiking, I thought. But I have to go hiking! It is the only day I can go hiking for a couple weeks and it just rained 13 inches! A short easy hike then. I can handle that. I hope.

I could not quite drive all the way to the trailhead. There was a fallen log in the middle of the road (not from the recent storm). It added about 1.5 miles to the hike (round trip) so thankfully that was not too much additional walking for my aching back. Most of the hike is along a dirt road (easy), but the last half mile is off trail (hard) and involves traversing along a steep hillside trying to find a path through the manzanita brush, and then a final steep descent down to the waterfall.

Upper East Fork Falls is a gorgeous 34 ft. high cascade. It was certainly flowing well but it was not roaring. I thought the river would have a lot more water in it but nonetheless it was still fantastic. And very pretty too with the surrounding fall colors. It was a very lovely Fall hike in Tahoe National Forest and my back held up for it.

Seven years. A lot can happen in seven years. For instance, an unused road can become completely overgrown in seven years. For instance, a trail can become almost completely impassable in seven years. It has been seven years since I have been to this waterfall, and honestly, I think the last one to hike this trail was myself (not counting the bears).

It is the weekend of the bomb cyclone in northern California. That is apparently a real thing. All I know is that here in Norcal we are getting a huge storm. We had about two inches of rain on Friday and about 10 more inches are coming on Sunday. Thank the Lord! We need this rain so much. I ventured out on Saturday before the big one struck.

The road to this falls is impassable in the winter and after Sunday it will not be drive-able for certain. I thought that it would still be ok after just a couple inches of rain and it was definitely all right but there were still many puddles I had to drive through, a lot more than expected. Not only that, the road seemed much rougher than it was seven years ago.

The last half mile of the road was completely overgrown with many downed trees. I have actually driven down this road in the past but that is impossible now. The actual trail down to the creek is even worse. Multiple blowdowns across the trail, more than I could possibly count. One section was completely blocked with trees down across the trail on a very steep slope. I had to figure out a way to climb up and around it (which I did, with difficulty). There was a lot of overgrowth on the trail, including poison oak. There was certainly a lot of bear activity but I saw no evidence that any human had been down here since I was last here. And then there are the ticks. It is October. It is not tick season yet but I saw quite a few of them along the trail. I was shocked. I considered turning back on multiple occasions as I trudged down the trail very slowly but I persevered and eventually came down to the creek.

Silver Falls is a gorgeous 41 ft. drop. I took many photos from many different vantage points. Hiking back up the mountain afterwards was not easy, a 1300 ft. climb out of the canyon, but I felt good and it almost seemed easier than going down. It was a very enjoyable hike before the bomb cyclone in Eldorado National Forest.

Hello, old friend. This is now the fourth time I have been to East Fork Falls.

The last couple weekends I have struck out on my hikes. This weekend I needed a sure thing. Enter East Fork Falls. Why do I keep going back here? Well, I like it because this river flows year round. Even in horrible drought such as this year, the river still flows. It is a tough hike but a good one and a fun one, and the waterfall is pretty accessible (ie. not too crazy to get to). It is located in a stunning location, dropping into an incredible emerald green pool and towering cliffs all around. It is also close to home. I strongly considered going to the Eastern Sierra to see the fall colors but I just did not feel like driving so far. I decided to go to East Fork Falls at the last minute instead.

It is fantastic that we have rain already this year. It has been many years since we have had an early start to the season, and looking at the forecast it seems that by next week many of the winter waterfalls will already be flowing! It is only mid October! Praise the Lord for this, we surely needed it this year. Yet, we still have a weak La Nina this year, the exact same as last year, and despite the early start to the season I am still not feeling very optimistic for our winter this year. Maybe we will be surprised this year (like in 2011). I am praying hard for a good winter.

Anyhow, I was up at 4AM and was on the trail by 6AM in the dark. I hoped to get to the upper falls after the lower falls, so that is why I wanted the early start. I arrived down at the bridge over EFNFNFAR and thought: well, this is different. There was a brand new bridge over the river. Interesting. Not only that, but the old, incredibly overgrown road is now completely cleared. It confused me a bit, mostly because it was dark and I couldn’t see much but I knew this was not how it was last year. The good news is that this makes the hike a bit easier, but the bad news is that it means they are going to be clear cutting down here in the near future (probably next year, I imagine).

The road does not go all the way down to the river and the last section is still off trail and difficult. It seemed a lot brushier this year as well, especially near the river. I made it down to the river about sunrise. Now it is time to get in the water and wade up to the waterfall. As anticipated, the water was freezing cold so I brought my neoprene socks to keep my feet nice and toasty. They were not actually toasty but they were not freezing  either. I also bought new hiking shoes and I must say that I really like them. My feet (as you may know) have been in much pain over the past 6 months or so. Even after resting for most of the summer they were still in pain when I went out backpacking in late summer. It occurred to me the problem may be my hiking boots (even though it is the same brand and boot that I have always worn). So I decided to try some new shoes. With these ones I can just wade through the river and they dry off fairly quickly. And guess what? I have had zero pain on the last two hikes I have done. I am very happy so far.

I took a lot of time taking photos at the waterfall . With the lower water levels I was able to get a different composition than usual (shown here). I guess I took too much time taking photos. I figured if I was to get to the upper falls I needed to start hiking back up the mountain by 8AM at the latest. It was already 8:30AM by the time I was done taking photos. I would not have time to get to the upper falls. Well, that is all right. I had a very enjoyable time at the lower falls. Also, I was supposed to get home to take my daughter to dance class. Now I would not be late for that and she would be happy. Everyone wins.