Leon Turnbull Photography

This photo is what I am calling Middle Falls Creek Falls, at the inlet to Lake Vernon.

I got up very early. I did not want to be hiking in the heat of the afternoon so I packed up, ate my breakfast and hit the trail. After a short 500 ft. climb, it is all downhill (3100 ft. down). I felt like I was almost running down the hill (I was walking very fast), but I was not making good progress. I wanted to be back at the car before 11am, but I was not going to make it by that time. This is dumb. I slowed down for the last section down to Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. It was hot now. Once I got down to the reservoir there were loads of people on the trail, all hiking to Wapama Falls. I saw a rattlesnake along here and a huge lizard. I don’t know what kind of lizard it was, but it was not one I’ve seen before. I tried to look up the species later but I could not figure it out. I made it to the car at 11:30AM. That’s not “too bad”, I guess.

I stopped at Pizza Factory in Groveland for a late lunch (the real reason why I wanted to be down the hill earlier). It is the first time since COVID started that I have gone out to eat in a restaurant after one of my hikes. There are a variety of reasons, some obvious, some not, but one of them being that certain towns (especially South Lake Tahoe and Mammoth Lakes) were telling people to stay away from their trails. Really, I am not allowed to hike on the “public” trails in your town and you don’t want me to spend money in your primarily tourist town? Then I won’t. Even after COVID is over. (spend money, that is – you are not stopping me from hiking in your town). I can’t imagine the restaurant owners approved of what their city leaders were saying. Anyway, before COVID I would occasionally go out to eat, especially after backpacking (not always). However, whenever I was in Yosemite, I ALWAYS stopped at Pizza Factory afterwards. I felt it was time to do this again. My reward after a long hard trek. Sweet.

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At 3PM I started my second hike of the day, this time going to the inlet of Lake Vernon. There is a trail on that side of the lake which goes (almost) all the way to the inlet. The last little bit is slightly brushy but I did not find it too difficult to reach the inlet. There is a waterfall here but this is not the main one I wanted to see. For that, I had to climb up the canyon.

I was not sure if this was even going to be possible or not. Would it be too dangerous? If the granite was too slick and steep, I would be sliding off into the roaring creek, and be dead. From my study of Google Earth the route looked quite do-able, but there were a couple sections I was just not sure about. I began the climb.

It was very easy! The granite was not too steep and it was very open and easy going and a very beautiful hike. I was going to make it. Wait, not so fast madman. Guess what, I did not make it.

I was so close. I could partially see the big waterfall. I could not get to it. There was a WALL of manzanita brush in front of me. It was thick as molasses. It was not far but there was absolutely no possible way to get through the stuff. Believe me, I tried. I tried to go up and around it. Nope. I tried to go through it at the bottom. Nope. I had to give it up. This is horrible. I came all the way up here and was almost to the waterfall but I could not make it. It was so disappointing. What could I do? I sat down and ate my dinner. This gave me time to think. Maybe there is another way. I could not miss out on seeing this huge waterfall. There is a side channel going up beside the main branch of Falls Creek. There was water flowing down this drainage. It is overflow from the main creek. Maybe, just maybe, if I could get to it (through the brush), then maybe, just maybe, I could climb up the creek to the top it. I decided to give it a go. What did I have to lose? My life? The brushy part was short and I walked through it along the edge of the cliff. It was not quite as thick right along the cliff. It probably did not want to live right on death’s door. I made it through the brush. After that, I was able to get down to the creek at the bottom. Now I had to climb up the side channel. This is one of the stupider things I have done recently. The rocks were wet and slick. I had to crawl through a narrow slot in the rocks. A couple times I had to put my feet right in the water to climb up the cascade. How would I ever get down? But I did it! I made it to the top and I made it to the bottom of the huge waterfall. If there was any more water in the creek, I could not have done this. At very high flows it certainly would have been impossible (when I was here the Tuolumne River was flowing at about 1200 cfs – this is somewhat high, but it usually gets a lot higher in a normal year).

Has anyone ever been to this waterfall before? It seems unlikely. There is a trail at the top of it but I could see no possible way to get down from the top. It looked very cliffy. The other side of the creek looked better (no brush), but I don’t see how you could get to it without having to cross Falls Creek. Perhaps at low flow Falls Creek would be crossable and then it could be done but the way I did it seems very unlikely anyone has ever gone this way. That brush is insurmountable, and at higher flows, crawling up the side channel would be impossible for sure. Maybe someone has made it up here at lower flows. Perhaps.

Falls Creek Falls is a huge cascade, about 400 ft. high in total. I was standing right near the bottom of the main section of the falls. It was enormous and magnificent. I was so happy! I did not believe I had actually done it. Now I had to wait about 30 minutes for the sun to go behind the ridge, then I took my photos and went back down. Going down that creek drainage was easier than going up (it seemed), but I was very careful. I hiked back down all the way to the bottom and took photos of the lower falls. Then I hurried back the trail to my camp, arriving just before dark. I noticed a couple more backpacking groups had come up today, but they were all camped on the north side. So again, I had the entire south side to myself. Why was everyone camped on the north side of the lake? The camping is far better on the south side of the lake, it is a lot more brushy and a lot more buggy on the north side. Anyway, I had an absolutely fantastic day and saw all the waterfalls I wanted to see. I went to sleep a very happy boy.

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It was time for my annual pilgrimage to Yosemite National Park. I always try to go here at least once per year. And of course, I try to see new waterfalls while I am there as well.

Someone recently mentioned they were attempting to hike every trail in Yosemite National Park (about 800 miles). I thought that would be an enormous achievement if he completes it. I would not want to do that. However, I thought that maybe I would like to see EVERY waterfall in Yosemite. That would be an even greater monumental achievement than hiking every trail. It is probably impossible because some waterfalls are likely very inaccessible, and also I am getting old. I don’t have too many years left in me, I imagine. Thus far I have seen 70 waterfalls in Yosemite out of 139 that I have catalogued, so that is about 50 percent. Baby steps. If I just continue each year on my pilgrim’s progress, I will get a little bit closer to that goal.

This year I saw four new waterfalls and a couple of them I can’t imagine anyone has ever seen before. It was an incredible trip. The destination: Lake Vernon in Hetch Hetchy.

I way overestimated the time it would take to drive to Hetch Hetchy. Google Maps said it would take 3 ½ hours. It only took 2 ½ hours (I was not speeding!). I arrived at the gate at 7:30AM, 30 minutes before it opened. Ah well, so I waited. I was first in line.

I got my permit and I was on the trail by about 8:30AM or so. I have never hiked up towards Lake Vernon before. It is interesting because there is old pavement on this very steep trail to the top of Wapama Falls. At some point in the past they built this road and drove up here. I cannot imagine how you could drive up here (or why). It is interesting.

It is a steep climb. The total elevation gain is 3100 ft. to Lake Vernon in 11 miles. A couple speedy groups passed me. One group of three that was going to Lake Vernon and another supersonic hiker who was going I don’t know where. It took longer than anticipated and I did not arrive at Lake Vernon until 3PM, and by the time I setup my camp and ate dinner it was after 4PM, so I had no time to go to the first waterfall as originally planned. I would have to see all the waterfalls on the second day. I just relaxed at camp, strolled up to see the lake, and took it easy. The other group was on the other side of the lake so I had the entire south side all to myself (and it is a big lake). It was absolutely gorgeous.

I saw no bears at Lake Vernon. I was disappointed. This is supposed to be one of the hot spots in Yosemite for bears. Nada for me. I did see a falcon that was hanging out near my camp. I think its nest was nearby on the other side of the creek, so that was cool to see.

I slept very well. My campsite was right beside the roaring Falls Creek. There are many campsites at this lake, but I chose to camp by the creek instead of by the lake. I would rather listen to the sound of a rushing creek, than the quiet of the lake. That’s just me.

I got up very early, in the dark. It is two miles down to the Lower Falls Creek Falls and I suspected it would take two hours, but I was hoping for less. It took exactly two hours. It was much more difficult than I expected. At first it was very easy going, walking along the open granite rock. Then it became very difficult, climbing up and down cliffs, and through brush, and crossing difficult streams. It was a lot of work and when I finally got down to the waterfall, I could see it was already in the sun. Was I too late? Well, the lower part of the falls was in the sun but the upper (main) part was still in shade. I climbed up beside the waterfall (more hard work) and reached a ledge where I could see it and photograph it. Lower Falls Creek Falls is a magnificent waterfall, dashing through a narrow slot in the canyon in a few tiers. Awesome. One down, three to go.

I ate my breakfast at the falls and filled up with water, then made the long trek back to camp. I went a different way back up, hoping it would be easier, but it wasn’t. It took two hours going back. This is a tough one to see! Back at camp, I made my lunch and rested. I had four hours to recover before heading out on my next hike…

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I did not sleep well. My tent was not on a perfectly flat spot and I kept sliding down on my pad. I just could not get comfortable.

I got up very early and packed up camp. I only had a 6 mile hike back down the hill to my car but first I wanted to see one more waterfall: Miller Creek Falls.

This is the one waterfall I had already been to. I don’t remember the trail being so overgrown and brushy before. I also don’t remember it being so darn treacherous to get down to it. It was all of the above and more. It was almost too treacherous and I thought about skipping it, but hey I did it before, I could do it again. Right?

I made it down to Miller Creek Falls and it was just as I remembered, but this time it was at high flow. It was spectacular but …

There is a Lower Miller Creek Falls as well. I do remember seeing it when I was last here but I did not go down to it because I did not have enough time. It looked even crazier to get down to it than the upper part. This time I wanted to make the attempt to get down to the lower falls. But how? It was very cliffy and very brushy. I found a route that looked possible. It was actually not too bad at all (much better than the upper part). I arrived in quick order down at the bottom of the lower falls and … WOWZERS …

Lower Miller Creek Falls is …. Absolutely NO WORDS … it is just MAGNIFICENT. (I guess that is a word but still…). Of the nine waterfalls I saw on this trip I saved the best (by far) for last. What an amazing waterfall. It is not easy to photograph but I got some shots and then ate my breakfast down at the falls.

I still had to climb back up both the waterfalls and get back to camp where I left my pack. Then I had a 6 mile hike back down the Rubicon Trail to my car. There were a lot more jeeps that had come up the trail on Saturday and Sunday. The snow was now hard packed and easier to walk on. I wondered how the jeeps could even drive on this trail so early in the year with the soft melting snow. Wouldn’t they get stuck? What if the snow bridges collapsed under the weight of the vehicle? How did they manage to cross roaring Miller Creek and especially how would they cross the Rubicon River near the end of the trail? Anyway, back to my hike, even though the road was easier to walk on it seemed a lot more snow had melted and there were more obstacles than before. It was very slow going. My feet were now hurting quite a bit and I was limping down the trail. I had no problems with my feet on day 1 and day 2 (the hardest days), but now on day 3 (the easiest day) my feet were hurting. I arrived back at my car just after noon. It was an amazing top five backpacking trip into the Rubicon River in Eldorado National Forest.

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My plan for day 2 was not a good one. In fact, it was a very bad one, but I had no other choice. I really wanted to see Barker Creek Falls on this trip and I wanted to photograph it in good light. The problem is that it is in the sun until sunset at 8AM. That meant I had to be down at the falls at sunset, and that meant I had to setup camp near the waterfall. The problem is that there is no camping there. It is a very steep descent on a cliff down to the waterfall and you cannot get close to the creek either. On my way down to Rubicon Cascades the previous day I saw a spot somewhat near the waterfall. It was flat enough and there was water. It was just a pond, more of a swamp, but I definitely could get drinking water there. It seemed there were bugs also. It was just not a very nice place to camp. And if I camped here, I would have to get up super early the next day in the dark if I wanted to go photograph Miller Creek Falls. It was not ideal but it was the only option.

Back at the magical Rubicon, I was sleeping in. Well, according to my wife’s idea of sleeping in, it was definitely not sleeping in, but it was sleeping in for me. I would have slept a lot more but I had to get up to use the facilities. Once I’m up, I’m up, so I walked up to the waterfalls again and waited for the sun to make its way down into the canyon. Once that happened, the temperature warmed significantly. I enjoyed my breakfast and coffee, and took my time packing up. I really really really did not want to leave. It was such a glorious morning.

Eventually, I decided I should start my climb up out of the Rubicon River canyon and make my way back over to Barker Creek. I arrived there about noon.

There were quite a few clouds throughout the morning and the sun was in and out of them. A thought occurred to me. What if I could go down to Barker Creek Falls now, and hoping for the best, clouds would cover up the sun, and I would be able to get a good photo of the waterfall now, at noon. Then I could hike on to Miller Creek and camp there. It would be SO MUCH MORE pleasant to camp at Miller Creek. There were some big clouds in the distance now and heading this way towards the sun. If I hurried down there, I would not have to wait long. I prayed for the clouds to come.

It was not very difficult to hike down to Barker Creek Falls but it is a big descent and once down there, you are standing on the cliff edge looking across at the waterfall. It was absolutely spectacular! This is a monster waterfall (270 ft. high) and it was flowing very strong, probably at peak flow for this year. What an amazing sight!

I setup my camera and waited. Those big clouds came as hoped for and I did not have to wait long. God provided for me. It was a miracle. Thank you! I was able to get a decent photo from multiple different angles. There is an upper section as well you cannot see from this spot but it is possible to get right up beside the upper section, which I did as well, and which is also amazing. Barker Creek Falls is a top tier waterfall and no one has even heard of it before. A new discovery by waterfallswest.

I got back to the place where I left my pack and after a rest, I continued on to Miller Creek. I arrived at Upper Miller Creek Falls and set up my camp by the waterfall. I had to wait a long time, almost to sunset, before I could photograph the falls. The clouds were all gone, and my camp was cold because it was all in shade, but the waterfall and other side of the creek was in sun. Crossing the creek to sit in the sun was NOT an option. Miller Creek was absolutely roaring. So I waited. In the cold. Then I went to bed. It was a fantastic day.

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