Leon Turnbull Photography

It has been almost two months since I’ve last hiked. The last one I did was Lake Aloha in the beginning of July. It is now beginning of September. I have been planning for a long time to go to Mt. Shasta this summer, but the fires have put a wrench in my plans. The smoke! The smoke has been horrible throughout the state. Hiking when the smoke is so bad is not smart, and I had to postpone my trip to Shasta because of it, but finally the delta breeze came and blew the smoke away (momentarily). Then the delta breeze stopped a day earlier than it was supposed to and the smoke returned. Should I postpone yet again? I was certain it would be worse the next weekend (the long weekend), so I decided to continue with my plan. Did I make the right call? Yes, I did! It was a fantastic weekend. There was definitely a lot of haze up on the mountain, but the smoke was not bad at all.

The road up to the trailhead is much worse than I remember it. I came to a spot where I could not go any further, even in a four wheel drive. My tires were just spinning in the very soft dirt and I almost got stuck. I backed off and parked by the road and decided to walk from there, about a mile from the official trailhead. I was not the only car that could not make it up. There were quite a few hikers on the trail, all going up to the summit of Mt. Shasta. This is the trail that people use in the late summer to summit the mountain, but I think it is quite sketchy at the top. No matter to me. I had no plans to do that. I was just going up to a little more than 10,000 ft. That was hard enough.

It is a 2000 ft. climb up to the place where I planned to camp. I found a secluded spot well away from the trail and other hikers. When I arrived at camp, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. I was extremely tired from the hike thus far and it was still another 2000 ft. climb to the upper falls; it was also already much later in the day than I anticipated. I setup camp, made my lunch, and tried to rest. But there was no time to rest. If I was going up, I needed to go up now. It was 3:30pm. I only had 3 hours to get up to the falls and I figured it would take that long to reach it. I decided to go. I would never have another chance to do this hike. I just prayed the waterfall would not be dry.

From the camp, the trail does not mess around. It climbs all that 2000 ft. in less than one mile. It is very steep, and the ground is very soft dirt. It is quite difficult to get any traction. The going is very slow but I did not feel that the high elevation was bothering me. 4100 ft. of total climbing today and I felt pretty good. My hike tomorrow would actually be a lot harder and it was at lower elevation (stay tuned). After 10,000 ft. elevation, I needed to get off the main trail and traverse over to the waterfall viewpoint. Across the volcano. The hikers coming down from the summit must have wondered what I was doing, and where I was going. All these people going to the summit and they have no idea there is a waterfall here. Most of them probably don’t even know about the main Mud Creek Falls, because you cannot really see it from the trail. They definitely would have no clue about the upper Mud Creek Falls. The traverse across the volcano was pretty sketchy. The ground was very soft and unstable (worse than on the trail). It was steep. I was worried about triggering a landslide and falling to my death. I prayed there would be no earthquake while I was out here. Imagine 100 tons of dirt and rock falling on your head from above you.

I made it to the waterfall viewpoint. It was about 5:45PM, so I had made very good time. Now I had to wait 45 minutes for the sun to go behind the mountain. I could hear the waterfall (it was not dry!), but I could not see it because the sun was right in my face. I sat down and waited. I ate my dinner, enjoyed the glorious views, watched an eagle soaring above me, and chatted with my wife (I had cell reception). It was so quiet. The only sound I heard was the waterfall and an occasional wind gust.

Finally the sun went down behind the mountain and I could see the waterfall. I had hoped it would be flowing a bit better but it was not bad. It is late summer, after all. All the flow in the creek is coming from the Konwakiton Glacier melting above it. You can also see the Mud Creek Glacier from here. I was a half mile away from the waterfall and this is the closest possible viewpoint. I have only seen one other recent photo of this falls, and it was from further down and much further away. I don’t know that anyone has ever been to this viewpoint before me. It is certainly not very easy to get here. Upper Mud Creek Falls is about 320 ft. high. In the other older images I have seen, over half the waterfall is covered by what looks like a large landslide or perhaps a dirt covered snowfield, making the height of the visible waterfall only 100 ft. high. I had thought this was a permanent fixture but when I was here, that was gone and I saw the full height of the falls. How fascinating.

I took my photos and traversed back across the mountain to the trail and then I booted it back down the hill. I was pretty much sliding down the soft dirt in the steep parts (which was probably not the safest thing to do), but I made very good time and got back to camp right at sunset. It was an amazing day in the Shasta Wilderness and there was still one more day to come.

This is from my last hike and backpacking trip to Desolation Wilderness. It is Lower Waterfall Camp Falls. It is such an incredibly beautiful area. I have not been hiking since then. I do not plan to go hiking. Well, not this month anyway. I do have a big trip planned next month, and a really big one for September. Normally, I do not hike at all during the summer. I hate the heat and I hate the mosquitoes. If you don’t know that by now, you must be new here. LOL.

As you know, we had a horrible winter last year. You may be wondering what is in store for next winter. I know I am. The bad news is that it does not look very promising. We are currently looking at probable ENSO neutral conditions, the same as last year. However, there is also a possibility of a WEAK La Nina, but even if we have the weak La Nina, that still does not bode well for a good winter. So I guess we will just have to see what happens as it happens. And PRAY for a good winter and that we are not heading back into another big drought in California.

I hate having to beat a dead horse, but I keep hearing things about our trails that really disturb me. People are just leaving trash everywhere, at the trailheads, in the streams, on the trails. Please people, leave no trace. Pack out your trash. Pick up other trash you see. Leave the place in better condition than it was.

Have a great rest of the summer, everyone. Be good.

Middle Waterfall Camp Falls, 30 ft.

It was not too cold during the night. Of course I slept awful anyway, but it was supposed to be below freezing and it wasn’t. Perhaps it was 40 degrees, but I don’t think it was colder than that.

I woke up at sunrise, packed up, ate breakfast, and started hiking down the mountain. I wanted to get going before the mosquitoes woke up, and I did. I encountered a few of them on the hike back, but really they were not too bad at all.

I was super tired when I reached the bottom of Horsetail Falls. The terrain is very rocky and it is so hard on the feet. It took me 5.5 hours to get to the car, and it is only about 6.5 miles. That tells you how difficult the terrain is. I encountered zero people on the hike from Waterfall Camp to the bottom of Horsetail Falls (except for one person I saw camped at Pyramid Lake). From the bottom of Horsetail Falls to the trailhead, I encountered about 1000 people. (give or take). The parking lot was completely full. It is a Monday! Why are there so many people doing this hike on a Monday! It is not a holiday. Don’t you have to work?

And of course, I picked up all your trash as well, people. There was a lot of it I saw along the trail. One piece was literally within 10 feet of the garbage can at the bottom of the trail. What the %#$&*? All you hikers that passed by the litter along the way and did not bother to help clean up the trail, why can’t you please help out?  I found a sock which someone had dropped, probably accidentally, but someone else had come along and placed it in plain view with a rock on it so it would not blow away. Seriously, why would you not just carry this obvious piece of garbage down the mountain with you? No one is going to come all the way back up the mountain another day to retrieve their old sock. Really? Just three pieces people. Come on. Well, anyway, the Horsetail Falls trail is now clean (for one day at least). You are welcome.

This is Lower Waterfall Camp Falls, about 40 ft. high. It drops right into Lake Aloha. Such an amazing place in the Desolation Wilderness.

I have been planning this hike to Waterfall Camp at Lake Aloha all spring and watching the snow depth very closely. The snow in this area lingers a long time; I was surprised about this as I waited impatiently for it to melt. Whereas the snow on the east side of Lake Aloha has been long gone for over two months now, the other side was completely snow covered only two weeks ago. I certainly could not have made it there two weeks ago. Last week perhaps I could have gone, but the mosquitoes would have been bad. This week was the perfect, and I mean perfect time to go. Sunday was to be a very windy day. Actually, it was an extremely windy day with gusts over 50 mph. There would be no mosquitoes. It was supposed to be very cold with below freezing temperatures at night. Well, I can handle the cold. I cannot handle the mosquitoes. They are out in squadrons right now in the Sierra Nevada. This would be my last hurrah. The last backpacking trip I would take before the Fall. It was a dandy, to say the least.

I was as much prepared as I could be for this hike. I brought my spikes in case there were still snow patches to cross. I brought my old tent because it stands up better in the high winds. I brought my sleeping bag liner and warm clothes. I brought my rain jacket just in case. All this added up the weight in my backpack and I needed all of it (except the rain jacket). There were some things, though, that I was not prepared for.

There were ZERO parking spaces available when I arrived at the Echo Lakes trailhead at 7:30AM on Sunday morning. This was shocking. Even the secondary parking lots were full. Are all these people backpacking to Lake Aloha? There could not possibly be that many people backpacking there. There are permit limits in Desolation Wilderness. Now if I had prayed for a spot, I am certain God would have saved me a space, but I was not expecting this to be an issue whatsoever. My mistake! What could I do? There was honestly no place at all I could park for an overnight trip. I figured I only had one other option: Start my hike from the Horsetail Falls trailhead.

The route from Horsetail Falls is shorter but it is MUCH MORE DIFFICULT. There is a lot more elevation gain. It is pretty much all off-trail hiking and it is very rocky. Compare that to starting from Echo Lakes, where most of the hike is on the very well groomed Pacific Crest Trail with minimal elevation gain. Let’s not forget that getting up to the top of Horsetail Falls is extremely sketchy and I would be doing it with a heavy backpack. I have done this 2 or 3 times in the past couple years, and am somewhat comfortable with the route now, but it still freaks me out. It is much more difficult with a backpack. There is the one very narrow section where you need to hoist yourself up and through. When I arrived at this spot, there were some backpackers coming down. They decided not to go down this narrow section but instead go down a MUCH sketchier section beside it. I cannot do that route (I have tried before). It freaks me to the bone. They were having a lot of trouble with it. There was one other backpacker coming down the narrow section, but it was too narrow to come down with his backpack on. He told me to go the sketchy route. Umm, no thank you. I managed to hoist myself up through the narrow section with my backpack on, but the next day coming down, I found it is impossible to do so with a backpack on (as this other person also learned), so I had to take it off and slide down, dragging my backpack behind me. It worked, but it was not easy.

Once at the top of Horsetail Falls the going is easier, but it is still all off-trail and very rocky. It is very slow going. It is also up hill, and so not really that easy. The wind was strong. Some gusts almost blew me off my feet (literally). You hope you are not on a sketchy cliff section when a strong gust comes. I arrived at Pyramid Lake at about noon and had my lunch there. I had hoped to be at camp by now and if I had started from Echo Lakes, I probably would have been.

The entire hike is incredibly beautiful, and the views are magnificent, but when I finally arrived at Lake Aloha, I was awestruck. It is such a stunningly beautiful lake (I have been to Lake Aloha before, but it has been many years). No wonder everyone wants to backpack here. I did not see anyone at all, however, after climbing up Horsetail Falls. Everyone would have been on the other side of the lake, but nonetheless, I prayed I would not see anyone at my camp and that I would have it all to myself.

Now I had to work my way up the west side of Lake Aloha to Waterfall Camp. I could see a waterfall in the distance. Was this my waterfall camp? No, it was a new and unexpected waterfall, and it seemed to drop right into the lake. Would I even be able to cross it? As it turned out, it was easy to cross, but then I reached the snow field. It was a big snow field and there was no way around it. Was it stable? Would I slide into the lake and drown? Would I posthole 10 feet through the snow and not be able to get out? I put on my spikes here. The snow was stable and crossing it was easy and safe. I did not really need the spikes today, but the next morning coming back it was icy and spikes were definitely required. I saw one set of boot tracks in the snow. Someone had already been to Waterfall Camp this year, and quite recently, probably the day before. It looked like they had gone back, so hopefully that meant no one was there today.

After the snow field, the rest of the route was relatively easy. The anticipation inside me was getting intense. I knew I was close. The hike along the lake was so beautiful, but it was about to get even better. As I rounded the last corner, Waterfall Camp finally came into view. Wow! There are no words to describe this place. There are five incredible waterfalls right at the camp, but there are actually more than this. Waterfalls are streaming down the cliffs above the camp in all directions. This is Rivendell. I was alone at Rivendell. I was … well, no words can describe how I felt.

Setting up my tent at Waterfall Camp proper proved to be impossible. The wind was intense. There are some tent pads, but they are on rock, so I could not get my tent stakes into the ground. If it was not windy, it would have been perfect with stunning views of the waterfalls and Lake Aloha, but there was no way to get my tent secure here. There was another spot just down from the waterfalls that was in the trees and more sheltered. It was beside a mini waterfall and I could see the upper falls from this camp, but no views of the lake. No matter. I was able to get my tent set up securely. I ate my dinner, then afterwards went to photograph all five of the main waterfalls. All of them were spectacular. I took my time. I was in Heaven. I was in Rivendell. I was in the Desolation Wilderness.