Leon Turnbull Photography

I drove up to Lake Tahoe this weekend, hoping to hike up to Susie Lake and do some snowshoeing. Well. .. Fallen Leaf Lake Road was closed. I knew they close it in the winter when there is snow, but there is no snow yet. Also, the forest service website says the trailhead is open. So what the heck? Why is it closed now? I was a bit upset that I could not drive into the trailhead, but more upset that the forest service did not indicate the road was closed. It is a long drive from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe. What should I do now? The closure would add 8 miles of road walking to my hike and it would also mean I would be hiking back in the dark, but I could not think of a different hike that I wanted to do, so I decided to go for it anyway. I have done this before but there was a lot more snow at that time and snowshoes were required. Today, however, I decided to leave my snowshoes in the car because I did not want to carry them 8 miles and I figured I would not need them anyway. I would just go to Grass Lake instead of Susie Lake, so that should be very doable without snowshoes. Ummm, not quite.

I arrived at Upper Glen Alpine Falls (pictured here) about noon and had my lunch there. Surprisingly, it was in the shade so I was able to take some decent photos of it at noon. Well that’s good. Now I don’t have to come back here later in the day to take photos, so that will save a half hour of walking in the dark. It was a fantastic day so far. I was happy and very much enjoying God’s beautiful nature.

I continued on up to Grass Lake. I did not make it. There was a lot more snow than I expected, it was soft, and I was sinking in. It was getting to be quite dangerous. With snowshoes, I would have easily made it. I am so DUMB. I should have brought my snowshoes! Oh well. I turned back, stopping at Upper Glen Alpine Falls again to take some more photos.

I did not see anyone on the trail all day. No one wants to hike an additional 8 miles to go here. Except the mad man of course. When I got back to the road, however, I saw quite a few people walking up the road. They were all parked back at the gate where I did. I was very surprised to see so many people because it was late in the day. All these people would be hiking back to their cars in the dark. I barely made it back before dark myself and they were all quite a way behind me.

When I got back to the gate, I found that the gate was open. Well this is very strange. All the cars were parked on the other side of the gate as I was, so why didn’t they just drive up the road if the gate was open? Why was the gate closed in the morning anyway? Why was it open now? What am I missing here? This makes no sense.

There was an even stranger thing. My car was in the middle of the road! What? I had parked on a hill, so obviously I made sure to set the parking break, however, it was icy. My back wheels were on ice, but my front wheels were on solid ground; I figured it would not be a problem. It looked fine to me. Apparently not! My car must’ve slid down on the ice to the road. Thankfully, it did not block the road but it was sticking out a little bit. It looked like a very bad parking job. I am so DUMBER. Anyway, no damage done. I drove home. It was a great day at Lake Tahoe.

I hurt my back again just before Thanksgiving (yes, I have been doing my back exercises every day). It was not too horrible, but the two difficult hikes I had planned for the weekend both got squelched. I did a lot of reading in bed. By Saturday I was going stir crazy and anxious to go on at least one easy hike, so that is what I did. Lower Battle Creek Falls was my destination.

It was Saturday afternoon of the long weekend (Black Saturday?), so I expected to see a few other people on the hike. Whenever I drive by here I usually see cars parked at the trailhead. There was no one at all. I would have this easy hike all to myself.

It’s a short hike on a logging road down to the bridge and then a short trail down to the falls. When I first came here some years ago it was just an obscure path, not a trail. Few people ever came here. It is a trail now. Not just a trail, it is a super highway. It feels like you are hiking on the PCT. No joke. I’m not sure I really like that. There is erosion on the trail now in some places due to all the traffic, especially the last steep part down to the creek.

There is a shrine along the trail for some guy who died here more than 20 years ago (I definitely have not seen it before – in fact, it does not seem old at all). I don’t know (obviously) but I was thinking he probably died jumping off the waterfall (which would be stupid). I imagine plenty of kids do this in the summer. It seems to be a very popular place now.

However, it’s much better to come in the winter when no one else is around. The creek flow is low but the waterfall is a straight plunge of 32 ft so it is beautiful even at low flows. It definitely seems much more than 30 ft. to my eye. Over 40 ft high for sure, I thought, but I measured it again and it was still just 32 ft. It did not grow 10 ft. since I was last here. Oh well. It is very gorgeous anyway.

The super highway trail continues a bit below the falls. I followed it for awhile but then it abruptly ends at a cliff. Does it go down the cliff? That would be nuts. It seemed like it did go down but I did not try it. I returned to my car and got back just after sunset. When I got back, I noticed some trash by the road. Was that there when I started the hike? I do not remember seeing it there. I picked it up. There was still ice in the drink cup! So that means while I was on this short hike, some loser drove by, stopped at the turn out, dumped their trash, and then continued on. That is so bloody annoying and irritating. Other than that it was a beautiful EASY hike in Lassen National Forest, and my back held up very well.

This weekend I was off to the Highway 70 corridor in Plumas National Forest for the first time this season. I suspect it will be the first of many times this winter. Where else can I go this winter? The other side of Oroville (Feather Falls) is closed due to the fire this summer, and I suspect it won’t be open for at least 1 year. The Bay Area? The coast? Much of the central coast is also closed from fire. I will probably go to the Bay Area, but only if it rains a lot, otherwise it is pointless to go there. So that mostly just leaves the North Fork Feather River in Plumas National Forest.

For this trip I really wanted to make it to Lower Chambers Creek Falls which I have not been to before. I figured it would be a sure thing and a fairly easy hike. Ummm, not so much. I made it (as you can see), but it was definitely not a sure thing.

I have tried this hike before, after my friend Jeremy first told me about it a couple years ago. He followed the creek up from the highway. I did that, and failed. You cannot go that way if the creek is high. It requires multiple crossings of the creek and this is a large creek. I thought of a different route, going down from the Chambers Creek Falls trail. There is an obvious path there, and it is marked with ribbons, so that must mean it is an easy way down to the falls, and others have gone down there that way. Right? Nope. That obvious path ended abruptly in about 10 seconds. A wall of insurmountable brush was before me. Well, that is not going to work at all. I tried a different spot. It also was incredibly brushy. The entire area is very brushy. (understatement of the year). My route was indeed brushy but I was able to keep going for awhile. Did I mention there was a lot of poison oak as well? I almost turned back. I did not think I would make it down. But I continued. I had to give this my best effort. I did not want to fail again. I made it through the brush (finally), and got down near the top of the waterfall and found … CLIFF. All around me was a huge cliff and I could see no way down. This time I did give up. I decided to retreat back up the mountain. There was just no way to get down the cliffs. However … on the way back up I saw one more possible route down and decided to give it one last try. Lo and behold! It worked! I was able to follow this route all the way down to the creek below the waterfall. Whew! That was incredibly difficult and tiring just to get down to the creek (and let’s remember, I still have to go back up!).

Lower Chambers Creek Falls is a very gorgeous 73 ft. high waterfall dropping into a beautiful pool. It is an amazing spot and you can climb out on the rocks in the middle of the creek and get right in front of the falls. I enjoyed my time here, ate my lunch, rested, tried to sike myself for the climb back up the mountain. I could not do it. You see, the flow in Chambers Creek was very low. I was expecting the creek to be uncrossable, but instead it was very easily crossable. This is a large creek and they received 5 inches of rain here this past week. It should not be this low, but I guess that tells you we sure need a heckuva lot more rain. Anyway, I thought … maybe with the creek so low it would not be all that difficult to just follow it back down to the highway. That should be much better than climbing back up the mountain. So that is what I did. There were definitely a couple tricky spots, including down climbing a small 15-20 ft. waterfall, a couple creek crossings, a bit of brush, but overall I think I made the right decision. It was certainly a lot better than climbing back up through all that brush. Once down to the bottom, I had an easy one mile walk along the highway to my car at the Chambers Creek trailhead. It was a brushfest day in Plumas National Forest.

My hike last weekend was a bust. It was killer difficult and I almost bonked, but did I find a waterfall? No sir. You can’t always get what you want.

This weekend would be different. I needed a sure thing. Something that I knew I could get to. Something that I knew would be flowing decent. Something that I knew would be good. Enter East Fork Falls. Returning yet again to the East Fork of the North Fork of the North Fork American River. EFNFNFAR for short. Just go east, old man. I’ve been to East Fork Falls twice before, this would be the third time. I had hoped to get to a second waterfall as well, but that did not pan out. It took much too long to get down to the first waterfall and I was very tired by the end of it. I had no energy or time to go to the second waterfall. That’s all right. I’ll be back again.

There was a tiny bit of fresh snow on the ground when I started. The first storm of the season is underway. It is almost mid November. Another late start to the season, but much more to come in the near future. We hope. The overnight snow meant that all the brush was very wet, and of course the hike to East Fork Falls is off trail and through a lot of brush. My pants and boots were soaked by the time I got down to the river, but that wasn’t the big problem. Once down at the river, you need to cross it, and then wade up to the waterfall. Crossing the river was not difficult, but the water was cold! Then … when you get up to the waterfall, the best place to photograph it is accomplished by standing in the water! The freezing cold water. For a good 15  minutes or so! My feet were uncomfortably numb by the time I was finished. Dang!

Well, it was certainly worth it. East Fork Falls is an absolutely magnificent 32 ft. high waterfall dropping into a gorgeous emerald green pool, surrounded on all sides by massive cliffs. It is stunning. It was surely an amazing day in Tahoe National Forest.

I have not been hiking much lately. I went to Pit River Falls a couple weeks ago (a very short hike). Nothing last week. Almost did not go again this week. I slept well enough, but it is hard getting up so early in the morning. Nonetheless, I managed to drag myself out of bed and hit the road. I would be returning to Lower East Fork Falls in Tahoe National Forest.

The hike down to the river was much more difficult than I remembered. It was downright treacherous. I don’t remember it being treacherous. I think it is because the ground was much harder (meaning, less traction), and the leaves on the ground made it slick and dangerous. I don’t think I had those conditions last time I did this hike. I almost turned around because of the difficulty, but I persevered and got down to the river. I did not use my rope to get down this time. Last time, I know I used it, but I don’t remember where. It was not “that bad”.

I really really wanted to try to get down to Burnett Canyon this time. That was the main reason I wanted to do this hike again. Burnett Canyon was still flowing decent, I could see that, but I could not get down to the waterfall. I was prepared well enough, or so I thought, but it was just too difficult. The canyon becomes very narrow before you get down to the falls with sheer cliffs on each side. I think the only way would be to swim it (and I’m not sure that is feasible), but it was definitely too cold to swim today (34 degrees). Maybe I will have to come back next summer when it is warm and try again. I don’t know. It is a thorn in my side and I really wanted to slay it this time, but it just did not happen. The time was running out and the sun was coming. If I did not turn around, I would not even get photos of the other waterfall. I retreated to Lower East Fork Falls, a very magnificent 50 ft. high waterfall, and it was still flowing well.

I did do something different this time: I went down to the creek level and took photos of the waterfall from there. It was not too hard to get down, I’m not sure why I did not do it last time. I think I was just happy to see it at all. This time, I made sure to get down to the bottom and explore the waterfall completely.

While I was down at the creek, the unthinkable almost happened. My GPS was laying on the rocks, and I stupidly knocked it with my tripod while I was taking photos. The GPS slid down towards the river on the slick rock. It would have gone in, except that it just happened to hit my backpack. I am certain that God stopped it for me (thank you, Lord). This incident brings up a very good lesson, though: Always have a backup navigation device (whatever it may be). I admit I am sometimes (but not often) lax with this, but if my GPS was lost in the river, could I have found my way back up the mountain? Perhaps, perhaps not. If you are hiking off trail, a GPS is a necessity. If you are always hiking on trail, you may think you don’t need a backup. You may think you don’t need a GPS at all, and if you are just hiking on the Lower Yosemite Falls trail, obviously you don’t need one. But what about Bassi Falls? I know of someone that got lost on this very easy half mile trail and had to call for helicopter rescue. This is inexcusable! Don’t be that person. Always have a navigation device and backup.

Anyway, the hike back up the mountain was extremely strenuous. I’m still hurting, as I write this. It was a fabulous day in Tahoe National Forest.