Leon Turnbull Photography

It was my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday celebration, so we all went up north for the weekend. I have not been up there since COVID started. So of course, I wanted to take one day and go hiking. My choice: Pit River Falls. I knew that PG&E was doing a release on the Pit River and the waterfall would be flowing well (1100 cfs). I *needed* to see a waterfall that was flowing well (after my disappointing Yosemite trip).

I was hoping to go an easier way to Pit River Falls this time. A photographer friend mentioned awhile ago that he went up from the powerhouse and I wanted to try going this way. It should be much easier than going down the cliffs. However … I arrived at the powerhouse and found everything gated and fenced off with menacing no trespassing signs. How did my friend go there? I went to the campground, which seems to be the only public access to the river, but I found no route from there. There were a bunch of kayakers camping there (it is a boon for them when the Pit River is flowing and they can go kayaking over the waterfall); surprisingly, one of them was awake, so I asked her (I think she was just using the facilities and wanted to go back to sleep) – but she did not know anything helpful anyway. I spent about an hour trying to figure a way but could not. I am not sure but I think maybe PG&E has closed off access due to COVID. I only say this because I know they have done this at other places. I am not sure about here, but regardless, the No Trespassing signs scared me away.

So now I have wasted an hour and there was just one hour left to get to the waterfall before the sun got on it. My only choice was to go the hard way. It is a short hike, but it is very steep. The first time I did this, I twisted my ankle badly and was out of commission for 6 months. The second time fared better, with no twisty ankles. This would be the third time, and thankfully again, no twisty ankles. I made it down to the falls before the sun and it was roaring. I spent the next 15 minutes scooting around and taking photos from all possible angles, and just really enjoying the beauty and power of the waterfall. It is 33 ft. high but it is very wide, spanning the entire river. It sure beats going to nearby Burney Falls (in my opinion).

I took my time hiking back up the mountain and got back to my mother-in-law’s place by noon. Then the long drive home in the afternoon. I was very tired and went to bed early. Eleven hours of sleep felt so good. It was a marvelous morning at Pit River Falls in northern California.

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Sometimes it is not all about the waterfalls. Sometimes it is about the scenery. That is what I am telling myself anyway.

I plan all my trips around waterfalls, of course. Sometimes it does not work out as planned. Especially this year, 2020. For my big Fall backpacking trip, I was not planning to go to this location, I had a different trip planned. The fires. The smoke. That put the nix on my big plan this year. For my alternate trip, Plan Z, I chose northern Yosemite National Park. This was pretty much the only place in all of California where the air seemed all right and not too smoky. There *are* waterfalls here that I had not been to before, and I thought they would be flowing decent, at least a few of them. And you can’t go wrong with Yosemite. I go to Yosemite every year, but this year, I had not been to Yosemite because of COVID-19. I thought I was not going to make it this year, but then Plan Z came into being, and off I went to my favorite national park.

I hiked in from Twin Lakes on the eastern side of the Sierra, hiking through the Hoover Wilderness, over Mule Pass, and into northern Yosemite National Park. I arrived at Twin Lakes on Friday evening. If I arrived any later I would have been out of luck. Apparently, you have to pay for parking here. You should not have to pay for parking at a wilderness trailhead, and I did not think I had to pay. I have hiked here before and I did not pay (though maybe, I was supposed to pay?) There are no signs about parking or about paying for parking, and I was not sure where the trailhead parking was, so I asked the attendant at the campground kiosk, (who was about to close). He told me I had to pay $15. Well, crap. Even though I thought I was being screwed, I payed the $15 and parked. (I don’t think I was being screwed, but I also think there should be free wilderness trailhead parking).

It was after 6PM. My plan was to hike up to Barney Lake and camp the first night. I would arrive at the lake well after dark. I saw one deer just as I started the hike, the only wildlife I saw on the whole trip. The hike took longer than I expected and I did not arrive at the lake until 8PM. (sunset was about 6:30PM). There were quite a few people on the trail, coming down from the lake, even after dark. There was also someone camped at the lake (in the best spot), but I found another place to setup camp, and went to bed.

I got up early, packed up, and continued my hike. First stop: Robinson Creek Falls (pictured here). This was the only waterfall on the entire trip. It was not flowing very decent, but I took a photo anyway. It is a big waterfall and would be impressive at high flow (if you can get to it at high flow). It was also quite difficult to get up close to. There is a large rock slide beside the creek. The boulders were huge. This, as I found out soon enough, would be the main theme for the trip: Enormous rock slides. I managed to find a path over the rocks and to the creek, but only by squeezing through a very narrow slot through a couple large rocks. If I was two inches wider I would not have made it (I am not kidding – on the way back I almost could not squeeze through). Once at the creek, I had to cross over to the other side of the stream to photograph the waterfall. In high water, this is not going to be possible, but the waterfall certainly would be much better if you could find a view of it.

So what can I say about the rest of the trip? Are you still reading? This is going to be long, and there are no more waterfalls. But as I said, the scenery is impeccable. It is Yosemite National Park.

Mule Pass is at 10,500 feet elevation. I started at 8300 feet at Barney Lake. It is a killer climb. It was not so much the high elevation, but it was my 40 pound backpack. I think that is what really did me in. This was intended to be a 5 day trip, but I ended up cutting it short because of the lack of water. On the west side of the pass, there was quite a bit of water flowing in the streams, even the small unnamed streams. I thought this was a good sign. Piute Canyon should have a good, decent, amount of water in it. Wrong. On the east side of the pass, there was no water at all. On the descent, I was starting to worry that Piute Canyon would be completely dry. I was almost out of water, and if that creek was dry I would be dead (literally). Also, the smoke was starting to roll in to the canyon from the south and it was starting to get noticeably bad. I chose this area because there was no smoke here! Ugh. I prayed it would clear up by evening. (and thankfully, it did).

I arrived at the bottom of the canyon. I could not hear the creek flowing. This could be really bad. It was a half mile up the canyon to where I planned to camp beside the waterfall. As I continued and approached closer to the creek, I could finally hear a trickle. Whew. I would not die. But it was definitely not flowing much. Not nearly enough for a decently flowing waterfall. This was very disappointing to me. I really thought this creek and waterfall would be good, even this late in a dry year. I camped beside the almost dry waterfall. I was tired. I slept well.

What would I do the next day? I did not want to go home yet. I decided to explore down Piute Canyon. Maybe there would be more water in the creek downstream. The hike started off tremendously well. There is no trail, but it is easy hiking and when the canyon opened up it was incredibly beautiful. Then I came to a dead end. THE SLIDE. I don’t know when this rock slide occurred, it was a very long time ago, but it is absolutely MASSIVE. It spans the entire canyon, from one end to the other, and up the other side (over a quarter mile wide). The rocks are absolutely ENORMOUS, from one end to the other. I could find no easy way past them, and I spent a couple hours trying to do it. This is no simple rock hop! I finally gave up. I think that it can be done and I just did not go the correct way, but I was tired, and I decided it was not worth the effort because of the lack of water. It was time to go home.

I ate my lunch, then proceeded back up to the top of Mule Pass and down the other side. I stopped at Robinson Lake for the night. There was no one there when I arrived (so I got to choose the best spot). Someone came up later, however, and camped near by. I told him I was coughing a lot and would probably be keeping him awake at night. I think the smoke was causing me to cough so much. (it was not horrible, but there was still a little bit of smoke in the air). I hope I did not keep him awake, but I probably did. I did warn him, however, so it is not my fault; he could have camped further away. Anyway, I enjoyed the beautiful alpenglow at the lake at sunset. The next day was a very long and tiring slog back to my car at Twin Lakes. Thankfully, it was all downhill. I arrived at my car at about noon and got home by dinner time. Pizza again (thank you, Tara). It was a good time in Hoover Wilderness and Yosemite National Park.

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The fires this year in California have been horrendous, seemingly much worse than a normal year. For the first time ever, all the national forests were closed for a couple weeks. Some are still closed. Some parks are still closed. (Sequoia National Park, in particular). So what caused the increase in fires this year? Do not say “climate change”. Honestly, this is a personal opinion, but I hate when people say that, and people say it all the time. Climate change does not cause fires. It may play a factor in the fires (one of many factors), but it does not cause them. I will tell you what caused the increase in fires in 2020: COVID-19. When I say that, I do not mean the virus causes the fires. (that is as dumb as saying that climate change causes fires). It is people! Over 90% of all forest fires are caused by people. And this year, with COVID-19, a much larger number of people than normal have been out in the forests, hiking and camping and recreating. And that means, a much larger than normal amount of stupid people have been out in the forests. And that means, a much larger than normal amount of fires. Am I wrong?

Speaking of fire, I figured it was time to return to the Pool of Cold Fire, an absolutely magnificent canyon with very difficult access.

Actually, though, I had no intention of returning here this Fall, but I bought a new raft. My old raft had a number of holes in it. I fixed all the visible holes, but it was still leaking. It was time to buy a new one. I had big plans to go on a particular rafting adventure this Fall, and after I bought the raft, that area caught fire and is still burning right now. I will not be able to do it this year. (and that is not the only one of my Fall plans that have gone up in smoke – literally).

I really wanted to try out the new pack raft, so I decided to return to the Pool of Cold Fire, which is pretty easy introductory rafting adventure, but not so easy hiking adventure. I started the hike at 2PM on Saturday afternoon, finally arriving at the pool at 4PM. (it is only 2 miles). It is a big descent down to the river, then you need to hike up the river, crossing it, wading through it, hiking through poison oak, and finally you arrive at the Pool of Cold Fire. I was tired by the time I got there. My legs were actually shaking from exhaustion. I guess it has been too long since I’ve gone on a tough hike. I had my dinner and rested, and then blew up the raft.

I found it was a bit difficult to maneuver the new pack raft with the new paddles, more difficult than I anticipated, but I managed to get to the end of the pool, where there is an obstacle you cannot paddle around (rocks in the middle of the river). That required me to get out of the raft in the middle of the river, trying not to dump myself and my gear into the river, and drag the raft up over the rocks. It is a bit tricky. On the other side, I left the raft and walked up to the waterfall, Lower North Fork Falls.  It is also tricky to view it as you need to climb up on a very steep slope with a very steep drop-off into the river. It is an absolutely beautiful little waterfall, even though it is small.

I took my photos, got back to the raft, paddled back, packed up, and scrambled back down the river to the main trail. My legs, as I mentioned, were very tired. I tried to be careful, but I fell a couple times. No injuries, but it could have been worse. One time, however, I slipped on the wet rock and started sliding into the river. I was certain I was going in for a swim. There was nothing to stop me. Yet somehow, I managed to stop myself just in time. The truth is, however, that it was God that stopped me in time, because I was definitely going into the river. If I had, I think my camera and phone probably would have been ruined. Thank you, Lord. I got back to the trail. It was 6:20PM. Sunset was 6:50PM. I grossly underestimated how long it would take to hike out of the canyon. It is only 1.5 miles, so I figured it would take 30 to 45 minutes. I forgot about the elevation. It is a 1300 ft. ascent to the top. I should have known it normally takes about an hour to climb 1000 ft., so this hike out would take well over an hour, and it would be well after dark when I got back to the car. It took exactly one hour to climb out (better than I thought), but it was still dark when I finished the hike. It was a magnificent hike in Tahoe National Forest.

 

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I have seen a couple posts recently from people going to waterfalls in California that are dry. They were shocked that they were dry, even though it is late summer. For example, Dutch Creek Falls in Coloma is a rain fed creek. It has not rained in California in over 3 months. Yet this person thought it would be flowing very well (he said so). Bassi Falls flows from snow melt but the snow has been long gone for a couple months now. It always dries up in the summer (or becomes just a trickle). One person was shocked it was dry. And of course there is always the person that goes to Yosemite and wonders why Yosemite Falls is dry in late summer. Come on people. If you don’t know, Go to my website! I have this information on my website and I tell you the best season to go see it. Sometimes I have more information about flows as well (such as for Bassi).

So why is Mud Creek Canyon Falls on Mt. Shasta still flowing? How did I know it would be flowing when I went there at the end of August? It is because it is a glacier fed waterfall (mostly), and glaciers melt in the summer. It does flow better with snow melting in the spring, but nonetheless, I knew it would still be decent in late August. So there you go. Please check my website!

With regards to the fires, all southern California forests are now completely shut down, and all camping is shut down in the northern forests as well. I had a big backpacking trip planned this month in Kings Canyon NP, and as of now, it looks like that will have to be postponed. I am running out of photos to share! The El Dorado fire in southern CA was started by some idiots playing with pyrotechnic devices. I strongly suspect the Creek Fire was also started by people over the long weekend. (there has not been any lightning recently). Although quite a few fires this year in CA have been started by lightning (this is quite unusual, actually), more than 90% of all forest fires are started by humans. So thanks (not) to those of you people that started these horrendous fires and forcing the Forest Service to close everything down for the rest of us, not to mention the people that have lost their lives or homes.

In other news, and not related to waterfalls, I am upset about something that happened recently and thought I would share … I had a certain friend (who apparently is not a friend), and we had even discussed going hiking together in the near future (which, if you know me is a rare thing since I much prefer to go by myself). Well, then he found out my political views differ from his, and immediately, just like that, he unfriends me and blocks me. I asked him about it, and he replied basically he cannot stand me because of this. Just like that? One day he wants to hike with me and the next he hates me? I expect politicians to behave like this but not regular people. Essentially, he said he hates or strongly dislikes half the country! This is not American. In America, we should be supporting and loving each other, recognizing and accepting our differences (our beliefs or whatever it may be), and not get so stupidly offended if someone says or does something you don’t agree with. I am more American than him and I am not even American! I hope no one else reading this is like this other person when it comes to politics or religion. Love one another. End rant.

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I woke up at 5AM and I was on the trail by 6AM. It was still dark. I had one more waterfall to see, and I needed to get there by 8:30AM.

It took longer than anticipated hiking back down the trail, and I became concerned that I would not make it to the falls in time. Nonetheless, I could not resist stopping for a photo of Mt. Shasta as the rising sun illuminated the mountain so beautifully. When I got back down to the Mud Creek Falls viewpoint, that waterfall was already in the sun, or the top of it was. Would I still have enough time?

I got to the point where (again, as usual for the madman), I had to drop off the trail and into the trees and down the steep mountain side. It was an 800 ft. descent to the bottom of the canyon. This was probably the toughest 800 ft. I have ever descended (or ascended –as it was much tougher going back up afterwards – of course). Same as the Clear Creek trail the previous day, the ground was very soft dirt, but this was even steeper than that trail. It was almost a cliff but not quite a cliff, so it was not deadly, but potential for injury was very high.

Finally I emerged at the bottom, Mud Creek Canyon. Now I had to cross the creek and go upstream to find the waterfall. The creek had very good flow down here, but I was able to rock hop across it, only because there happened to be two very strategically placed large rocks on each side of the creek, otherwise I would have had to get my feet wet. The creek was very muddy (no surprise about that). I placed my hand in the stream and felt a lot of dirt running through my fingers. Yuck. I needed to filter some of this to drink for the hike back up the mountain.

It was an easy hike upstream and I enjoyed walking along Mud Creek very much. It may not be the prettiest creek, but it is a beautiful canyon. I eventually arrived at Lower Mud Creek Falls, a dirty but incredible 50 ft. waterfall dropping off a cliff in a narrow corner of the canyon. I was so excited! I took my time and really enjoyed this beautiful and muddy waterfall. Finally I was ready for the big climb out of the canyon.

The good news is that there was a little side stream at the falls, so I could filter water from there instead of from the muddy creek. The bad news is that there were little ticks in the water, and before I realized this, a few of them got into my water container as I was filling it up. It is not tick season and I had no idea ticks could swim, but they sure looked like ticks and I most assuredly did not want to be swallowing any of them! Imagine if they started biting you from the inside of your throat or stomach. How horrible would it be to die that way? Well, I managed to get them all out of my container and filled it up again in a different spot (with no ticks).

The climb back up the mountain was killer! That is probably obvious. But I need to say again. It was killer! Hiking straight up 800 ft. in soft dirt and unable to get any traction. It took a while. Once back up on the trail, it was a very easy hike back to the car, and then a long drive home. Thanks to my wife who had pizza ready for me when I got home. What a glorious two days in the Mt. Shasta Wilderness.

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