Leon Turnbull Photography

Spring is my favorite time of year to go backpacking. Most people prefer summer. That is understandable but for me it is spring. Why? 1. WATERFALLS 2. NO BUGS 3. PLEASANT WEATHER (NOT HOT) 4. FEW PEOPLE. Spring backpacking has a lot more challenges: high flow creek crossings, snow, access to trailheads, parking issues (something I learned this year – some towns close off all overnight parking in winter and early spring which is very annoying). If you plan properly, you can get around these issues. It is worth it. This was my second backpacking trip of the spring so far this year and I’d have to say, it is probably top five of all the backpacking trips that I have done in my life.

What are my top five? I am talking about the best places I have camped, not the best waterfalls I have seen. I think Lake Aloha/Waterfall Camp, and West Cherry Creek Canyon (three different spots). After that, I would add in this one: Rubicon River. This may surprise you. It surprises me because I have never heard of the Rubicon as being such a stunning location before. It would not be so stunning in the summer, but in the spring the waterfalls and river are spectacular. I saw nine waterfalls in three days, and some of them were absolute wowzers.

I started my hike at the Rubicon Trail trailhead. This is the world famous Rubicon Trail. It is extremely popular in the summer. The only time I’ve been here before was in the summer and the trailhead was completely packed before sunrise. This time there was just one other vehicle here.

I decided to leave my snowshoes in the car. There was no snow at the trailhead. I had to climb about 400 ft. so I expected some snow but not too much. I also expected the trail to be packed down from the jeepers so snowshoes would not be necessary. I would be getting off the trail at the top; hopefully I would not be needing them for that section. This was what I was thinking before I started and it turned out to be fairly close to reality.

There were a lot of snow patches as I hiked up the trail. A lot of obstacles. Huge puddles in the road that I could not walk through. I either had to bushwhack around them or walk beside them on quickly deteriorating snow bridges. The snow was melting rapidly and it was soft. Only one jeep had been up here recently so the snow on the road could be walked on but it was still soft. I ran into those jeepers camping at Miller Lake about 3 miles in. After that no jeep had been on the road. This was unfortunate because the snow was soft and now I was sinking in. I could have used snowshoes but I managed. There were other obstacles such as numerous creek crossings. Again, I had to cross these on logs or weak snow bridges. Nothing was too horrible, it was just very slow going.

I finally reached my turnoff point where I had to get off the trail and go down to the Rubicon River. It was open and in the sun here, and all the snow had melted. This made me happy. I would be done with the snow for the rest of the day. I would be descending 1200 ft. to the river but now I had other obstacles: cliffs and brush. I had mapped out what I thought was a good route on Google Earth so I was mostly sure I could make it down, but not 100% sure. It worked out pretty well. There was one short section that was incredibly steep and incredibly brushy. I almost did not make it but I persevered through it. After that I came upon one of the most majestic traverses I have ever walked. It is only about a mile but I was walking along the top of the ridge above the Rubicon River. Across the canyon, snowy mountains and waterfalls. Down in the canyon, a roaring river. It was spectacular and very easy hiking along the ridge. The entire hike was worth it just for this one short section. But I was not done yet.

My original plan was to continue past the Rubicon Cascades. The reason was because from my study on Google Earth it did not look like there would be any camping down at the cascades. It is a very steep descent all the way to the river and it did not look like there was anything down there but cliffs, and in fact, I was not sure I could even make it down to the river. Certainly not any place to put a tent. I planned to continue on another hour or so past the cascades to find a better place to camp. HOWEVER, when I arrived along the ridge directly above the cascades I could see down to the bottom and I could see there were flat areas where I would definitely be able to camp. I decided to go down here instead of continuing on. I was already very tired and I did not want to be hiking any further (with more bushwhacking also). It was the best decision I’ve ever made (or close to it).

It was very steep getting down to the river but do-able. I arrived down at the Rubicon Cascades and found a perfect camping spot at the bottom right beside the river. There were other spots but this was the best one. It was absolutely stunning here. The fast rushing river. The magnificent canyon walls on the other side. Waterfalls. It was Heaven on Earth.

There was a fire pit at my tent spot so obviously someone had been here before. However, I suspect it is from kayakers, not from hikers. Has anyone ever hiked here before? Maybe, but who knows. I setup my camp and ate my dinner. While I was eating, a stunt plane flew up the canyon, directly overhead. He wasn’t doing anything too fancy, just tilting his wings back and forth, but it was interesting. After dinner, I went upstream to explore all the waterfalls. There are five here. This one I am naming Devils Peak Falls, about a 130 ft. drop off a cliff into Rubicon Canyon, my favorite of the waterfalls here. It was a magical day on the Rubicon River.

I woke up at 4:30AM. It was about 35 degrees but I was warm in my sleeping bag. I had my sleeping bag liner, plus 3 tops and 1 pair of long underwear. I packed up camp in the dark, ate some breakfast, and headed up the hill.

To get to these two new waterfalls I had to cross Palisade Creek. This is a very large creek. In the spring, in any normal spring, crossing it would be impossible. This is not a normal spring and I got lucky. Before I started this trip, I had little hope that I would be able to cross it. It is not peak flow yet but it is getting close to peak flow; and as I said I got lucky. Cold weather this week brought the rate of snow melt down to about 600 cfs at the North Fork Dam. Nonetheless, there were some sections of the creek that looked do-able and others that looked completely uncrossable. Fortunately, at the spot where I intended to cross there was a perfect (and very safe) section. I easily crossed the creek. (I could have crossed with NFAR at 900 cfs but probably not more). Now I had to continue up the east side until I reached the upper most waterfall. There was brush, there were snowy sections I had to walk over, there were very tricky steep sections. It was not easy. I saw a lot of bear prints in the snow. Mountain lion also. This is a very remote place. I somehow doubt any human has ever been up this way. Only the wild things go here (and madmen).

Finally, I reached the waterfall: Upper East Palisade Creek Falls. It is about 60 ft. high. Another first discovery by waterfallswest.com. It is not the most impressive waterfall but it is still very pretty (it would be better at high flows, but how would you cross Palisade Creek?). I quickly took my photos then hurried back down. I still had to get to the lower falls (which I did, and also is another first discovery by yours truly).

When I got back to the Palisade trail I was very tired. It was a heckuva lot of work climbing up to these waterfalls but I still had to climb 1400 feet out of the canyon. I took a long rest and then started up the hill at 9AM. I was dog tired and it was very slow going through the soft snow. I got back to the trailhead at about 3PM.

My feet were really hurting when I got home. I have a foot injury this spring. So far it has been manageable, but after this trip it was much worse. I basically could not walk the next day. When my mom reads this (and she will), she will immediately call me and tell me not to hike anymore until it is healed. Perhaps some of you are thinking the same thing. Well, it may come to that but I still have 5 more backpacking trips I really want to do this spring. As I write this, my feet are now all better and I’m raring to go out again. It is a very short season this year and the waterfalls will be all gone by mid June. I have to at least try to plow through this injury. I can heal it during the summer.

My first backpacking trip of the spring was a tremendous success. I was so excited to get to these three new waterfalls (plus two oldies). Mission accomplished in Tahoe National Forest at the North Fork American River.

When I got back to my camp it was sunset, so I had very little time to photograph Upper Palisade Creek Falls and a long exposure was the only option. I wanted something different than the last time I was here, so I got right down at creek level in front of it. Last time this was not possible because there was too much mist. This time there was only a little mist. I really like how this photo turned out.

By the time I finished photographing this lower tier it was dark so I did not go to the upper tier. I just went to bed. It was a long tiring day. I should sleep well. Except I had to get up at 4:30am ….

The main reason I wanted to go down to Palisade again was because of this new waterfall (and two others). I just discovered these ones recently. You will not find them anywhere else. Not on All Trails. Not in any book. The kayakers have seen this one before. Only the madman has likely seen it on foot and I am the first to document it. I am calling it Heath Springs Falls. It drops directly into the NFAR. An absolutely fabulous waterfall, about 100 ft. high.

I had a vague idea that I could get all the way down to the river here, or at least close. Ha! Not even a remote chance of that happening. There is an enormous cliff here, towering at least one hundred feet above the river. A humongous drop off! Well, so much for that idea. Only the kayakers are going to get up close to this one. I could take a swan dive off the cliff into the river? Nope. Whatever, the good news is that there is a great unobstructed view point of the waterfall at the edge of the cliff, but the edges looked extremely unstable. I really did not want to get right up to the end of it. I absolutely did not trust the ground whatsoever. Nonetheless, I was able to find some good (safe-ish) vantage points of the waterfall. I was happy. The first day of my mission was a great success.

“And the seventh lives in a narrow place, and is of power.” (from Ode to NFAR – by Leon Turnbull)

There is just one place I love to go backpacking early in the season. Into the belly of the beast: The North Fork American River. NFAR. The one and only. My all time favorite river.

This time I decided to go down into Palisade the hard way. I wanted a bit of a challenge. I am a glutton for punishment I guess. There was quite a bit of snow at the trailhead. Probably around 4-5 feet or so in most places. Snowshoes were required, especially as the snow got softer in the warm sun and you would be sinking in deep without them. It was tough going.

As I descended into Palisade Canyon I was in heaven. It is so incredibly beautiful in the spring with all the snow around you. All alone. How many people have ever seen how beautiful this place is in the spring? It is a popular trail in summer but only the madman goes down there in spring. The only others that venture down into Palisade are the bears. I saw quite a few bear tracks in the snow but I did not see any of the beautiful creatures (unfortunately).

Keeping on the trail is virtually impossible. I lost it many times. A couple times I intentionally went off trail, trying to avoid the problem areas. The first time worked out well. I was walking on open granite where all the snow had melted. The second time not so well. I got caught up in way too much brush: argh! The third time I was forced to go off trail because of dangerous sections. This is where I had to turn back in the spring of 2017 but this time I made it through. It was very difficult! As I descended lower in elevation, snowshoes became worthless. There are just big patchy sections of snow. It was better to just hike on it with boots. I left my snowshoes along the trail to pick up the next day. Carrying them down with me (and back up) would be way too much extra weight. Finally, I lost the snow completely. The last mile or so down to Upper Palisade was snowless. It was a big relief.

I made it down to my camp at Upper Palisade Creek Falls at around 2PM. It took 6 hours to hike the 7 or 8 miles. Going back up the next day would take even longer. I setup my camp and ate my dinner. Then I went for an evening hike.

It was not my intention on this trip to go all the way down to Palisade Falls on the river. However, I did go down to NFAR at Heath Falls (pictured here). Going to Heath Falls was not the main reason why I wanted to do this hike again. There was another reason. Actually, three other reasons. Meaning … three brand new waterfall discoveries. You will have to wait for my next couple of posts to see them. Heath Falls, though, was here! How could I not go down to my favorite river and one of my favorite waterfalls? The ever spectacular Heath Falls, 65 ft. high. It was a fantastic day on the NFAR.