Leon Turnbull Photography

Firstly, the bad news. Here are the April 1 statistics: snow pack is at 57% of average (northern CA), 58% (central Sierra), 45% (southern Sierra). Rain fall is at 55% (north), 53% (central), 51% (south). Despite what you may have heard, we did NOT have a miracle March. March precipitation was above average (thankfully), but it did not make up very much in the snow pack. So it is going to be a bleak year (as if it wasn’t already). Interestingly, the late March storms added a lot of snow to lower elevations, so despite the low snow pack, you cannot access anything above 5000 ft. elevation right now (if you were even going to go out). Storms are continuing into April, but that will end soon and the snow will start melting quickly and soon be over. Yosemite is closed. 🙁

Secondly, for my hike this past weekend, I need to say that I did not break any rules or orders. I did not interact with a single person the entire weekend. I did not stop anywhere in between my house and the trailhead. I did not put anyone at risk whatsoever, including myself. I should not have to say any of that, and I’m sure 99% person of my readers are good, but … There are two sides, of course, and they are both wrong: On the one hand you have the people who are irresponsible, and don’t care about getting the virus or about spreading it to others. (or they don’t believe they will get it). Then on the other end of the spectrum, you have those living in fear, and they are spreading their fear and hate to everyone else, shaming those who go out hiking (even though they are being completely responsible). At this time in our history, we must be united. We must be helping each other and loving each other. So please everyone, stop spreading hate. Start spreading love.

I had hoped to go to higher elevation this weekend, but the low elevation snow stopped me in my tracks, and I could not get anywhere near the trailhead. I turned around and went to Plan B. This is one of my all time favorite creeks in the North Fork American River drainage. There are no less than seven magnificent waterfalls on this creek. It has been quite a few years since I have been down there. In fact, it has been 11 years since I went all the way down to the river. I’ve been wanting to return for quite some time now, and I’ve been wanting to camp down there so I would have more time. This would be a good weekend to do it.

There were three big problems, of course, and not necessarily in this order: (1) Ticks. This is Tick City. I have been down this trail more than once and had to retreat because the ticks were so bad; they were all over me, and literally forced me back. (2) Poison oak. Nuff said. (3) Crossing the creek. There used to be a bridge over the creek but it is long gone. If the creek is too high, it cannot be crossed (and I have had to retreat because of this also).

I got to the trailhead, and started my hike. It was a beautiful morning. There was a storm coming the next day, and I hoped to get out of the canyon before I got too wet. As you get closer to the creek crossing, you begin to hear the creek although you cannot see it yet and you are high above it. It did not sound very crossable. The North Fork American River was flowing at 800 cfs. In my notes, I anticipated that I should be able to cross the creek if it was 1500 cfs or less, definitely not any more than this. So it should be crossable, but it did not sound crossable.

Eventually, I arrived at the creek crossing. Well, hmmm, … It definitely looked a bit tricky, but it did look crossable. I made it across successfully and without incident. I do think 1500 would be too much, but maybe a little more would be fine. I had my lunch on the other side of the creek on the rocks. From here, things now get much more interesting as the trail descends steeply all the way to the river. Waterfalls galore. Magnificent views galore. Narrow trail. Huge (deathly) dropoffs. Poison oak galore. Ticks galore.

The ticks were actually very manageable. Surprise surprise! They were definitely out, hanging about on the grasses, but they were easily avoidable if you were careful. (and I was careful). The poison oak was a different story. It was all over the place. The urushiol oil was just oozing off the leaves, daring you to get close to it. On the way down, I somehow avoided touching it (thankfully), but on the way back up, I touched it multiple times. I scrubbed myself down when I got home. Hopefully, I do not get the rash.

I was hoping to camp either down at the river (preferably), or at the sixth waterfall (just above the seventh). There was no way to get down to the sixth waterfall that I could see, and there were no places to camp along the river (it was far too rocky). There was literally one small place to set up camp along the cliff, essentially right along the trail, above the river. It was a short walk down to the river from here, and the spot was tight, and uncomfortably close to giant poison oak leaves. It was a little windy here as well, so I had to set up the Zpacks tent much lower than preferable. It would have to do.

I ate my dinner, then went up to see the sixth and seventh waterfalls. I should have gone up to see more waterfalls since I had a lot of time;  they were further up the canyon, however, and I had planned to see them in the morning on the way back up. I think that was a big mistake since I had so much time and the weather was so perfect. In the morning, it would be raining. Oh well. I definitely will be back here again.

Shown above is the seventh waterfall, 26 ft. high, located right at the confluence with the NF American River. It is a magnificent place. I was camped essentially right near the top of the waterfall. There is a better campsite on the other side, but very deadly to cross the creek above the falls. Not taking any chances on that, I chose my small spot next to the poison oak. I had a good night, listening to the multitudes of birds throughout the canyon. I still wanted to see the Big Waterfall in the morning. Hopefully, before the rain started …

I went out hiking on Sunday afternoon. This is what I observed…

Firstly, I went up into the snow at higher elevation. There was 7 feet of fresh snow on the ground, and it was not compacted. I took 10 steps with my snowshoes on and sunk in at least 6-12 inches on each step. On the eleventh step, I sunk in 3 feet, and barely stopped myself from sinking in more. This was extremely dangerous. I could easily sink in 5 feet and not be able to get out. I quickly went back to the car and drove to lower elevation at Jenkinson Lake. There was 3 feet of snow on the ground here, but it was a lot better for snowshoeing.

So … I am not a little concerned with what I have seen lately and what is to come.

The fear and mass hysteria that the media has created is overwhelming, causing people to buy up all the toilet paper and bread and other items. The national parks and state parks are now closed. I am upset about this. Some people say it is necessary but I disagree. It is not necessary. *IF* people would just follow the “rules”. There is nothing wrong or dangerous or infectious about hiking. It is the safest activity you can do. People are saying on Facebook to stay home. Do not go hiking. Someone actually said you cannot even drive anywhere to go on a hike. Honestly, respectfully, if you are in such a state of fear, you should not be going anywhere, especially not to the grocery store. If you are going to get the virus anywhere, it is going to be at the grocery store. It will not be on a hike.

Do not be in fear as the media wants you to be. God is in control, just trust in Him and believe in Him. Please. The Bible states that in the end times, billions of people are going to die. Not thousands. Billions. Why? Because at that time, most everyone on Earth has rejected God and His love, and has turned to evil. We are not in the end times (though it may not be far off). This event (events) will happen in the future for certain. Every Bible prophesy in the past has always come true, and the future prophecies will also come true. You should be in fear for those days (if you are not a believer), but not for today.

Here is the problem today, however: Some people are ruining it for everyone else. This is why the national parks are closed. People are not following the guidelines and staying 6 feet away from others. This is why the national forests are going to close as well. I think this has happened in Utah already. Very soon, we will not have any hiking at all. I have seen this disregard in a number of places, in southern California for instance (people flocking to the beaches and other hiking trails). I saw it first hand at Jenkinson Lake as well. There were a ton of people out at the lake, playing in the snow, sledding, four wheeling, and shooting targets (annoying). They were not keeping safe distances. They are going to ruin it for everyone else (all of us who are respectful). This is what upsets me the most.

I drove as far as I could on the road through the snow, and then decided to park and walk the rest of the way to my turnoff. A lot of big jeeps and trucks passed me as I walked along the road. They were all congregated (of course) at the exact spot on the road where I wanted to turn off. In order to avoid them, I put on my snowshoes before I got to the turn off, and went down the snow bank. From there I continued on a 3 foot snow covered trail down towards the lake. I did not encounter anyone from here to the waterfall.

There were no tracks on the trail and it was tough going. I realized that this route was going to take too long. I would have to turn back. But wait. What if I just went straight down to the lake (off the trail). The forest was open, and it was not very steep at all. This would cut off a heckuva lot of time and mileage. So this is what I did, and made it down to the lake in short order. Once down at the lake, I found quite a few other tracks. Obviously many people had been to the falls recently, although it would have been a much longer hike for them because the park was closed.

I got to the waterfall (it is man-made, if you did not know this). I took some photos and video, and then started hiking back. It was getting late. I was not sure if I would make it back before dark, but the return hike went very quickly. Even though it was uphill, it was easier because I had already broken ground. I got back to the main road. My feet were wet and cold. There were still a lot of other people out, and some were still driving up the road from town, even this late, which I thought was a bit ridiculous. Anyway, I had a great and SAFE hike in the soon to be closed Eldorado National Forest. ( I do hope I am wrong about that but ..)

It was the biggest storm so far this winter. I suppose that is not saying much because we have had zero big storms this winter, and it is now mid March. Nonetheless, this was a big storm and it was starting early Saturday morning. I usually get up and hike Saturday morning, but I just was not feeling it. Should I go out somewhere in the rain? That did not appeal to me very much. Should I go up into the snow? The temps would be very cold, and the winds were supposed to be huge, so that did not appeal to me much, either. However … thanks to you know what, my wife had nothing to do today since all the normal Saturday activities were canceled. So I wondered if she would want to go snowshoeing with me? If she agreed, it would give me some much needed motivation to get out in the wilderness and do some hiking. Guess what? She agreed!

And bonus … we could practice our social distancing as we hiked out in the wilderness. There would certainly be no one else out hiking today in the biggest snow storm of the year. We would have Bassi Falls all to ourselves. Social distancing … oh my. I don’t know about all this, but there is one thing I will say: I hate hate hate that I can’t buy the bread I like for my lunches next week because everyone has lost their minds.

Bassi Falls was where we decided to go since it was pretty easy to get to. The road is normally plowed, so I expected it to be in good shape for driving. I also expected there to be about a foot of new snow on the ground, and another foot falling from the sky. Not exactly. Firstly, the road was not plowed at all. This made the drive a little bit interesting. The road was very slick, and there was quite a bit of snow on it, especially when we came back down the mountain later. Any more and I would not have wanted to drive it. However, there was not a foot of snow on the ground, and we did not need our snowshoes whatsoever. The main reason I chose Bassi Falls in the first place was because I was pretty sure there would be a lot of snow. There was not.

I thought we could cut off some time on the hike by taking a short cut. This was a mistake, and I really hate myself for trying it. It was definitely not a short cut, and in fact it took much longer than the normal trail, and the worst thing is it took too much out of my wife. Also, stupidly, I did not load my maps properly into my GPS, so I was not entirely sure which way to go at some sections. Tara eventually decided to turn back to the car. I continued on and arrived at Bassi Falls.

Just as I got to the falls, the blizzard started. It had been pretty nice up until my arrival at the waterfall, but now the wind was howling, it was cold, and the snow was falling very heavily. (as you can see in the photo). The granite rock was also very slick (I did fall once), and it was very tricky crossing the stream to get closer to the falls. I did not spend much time here at Bassi. I just took my photos and then started hiking back. It was a great and blustery day in the Eldorado National Forest.

This is Blue Hole Falls, where I camped for the night.

It was supposed to be down to below freezing in the night. I wore an extra layer because I expected it to be much colder than the first night. It was not even cold at all! It was very pleasant in the morning, and I took my time packing up, eating breakfast, and enjoying the beautiful morning that God provided.

I had 6 miles to hike back to the trailhead. It felt like a very long 6 miles. I have hiked this trail along the Salt Springs Reservoir 3 times, and every time, it felt agonizingly long. It is not difficult, it is just long, most likely because I am always tired before I even start the hike back.

There were ticks on the trail, but not too many. There was poison oak. Somehow, I touched it, but I do not know how. I certainly don’t remember touching any. The worst thing, however, as I already mentioned, were the gnats. They were just so incredibly annoying. Ugh.

Anyway, I arrived at the trailhead about noon. I saw no one the entire weekend. I ate my lunch, and made the long drive home. It was an epic weekend in the Mokelumne Wilderness.

I decided in the morning that I would try one last time to get to Fantasy Falls, this time by yet a different route. If I made it, I would camp at Fantasy Falls that night, and if not, I would hike all the way back to the trailhead and drive home. I would probably never come back after this to try again. If I failed, I was resolved there was indeed no way to get to Fantasy Falls. It was all or bust.

I’m not going to say the route I chose. Suffice to say, I did not go down the cliff on the other side (because that would be suicide). The route I did choose had many sketchy sections, and one extremely sketchy section. It was one of the more dangerous hikes I have ever done. If my wife is reading this, it was really not dangerous at all, I’m just saying this for effect. Okay? (and everyone else is thinking, huh?) It took two and a half hours to hike the one mile or so from Island Slide Falls to Fantasy Falls (and the same back). But guess what? I made it!

I was absolutely ecstatic that after four hard tries, I finally made it to Fantasy Falls. Previously ONLY accessible by extreme kayakers. Now accessible by waterfall madmen as well.

Interestingly enough, I did see rock cairns along the river leading up to Fantasy Falls. What does this mean? Obviously hikers have been here before. But how? I am absolutely certain no one has ever gone there via my route before. It is too crazy. I am equally certain they did not go down the cliffs (unless they were canyoneers and rapelled). I suppose that canyoneering is possible, but if not that, then how? Well, I do have an idea how one could hike here and without too much difficulty. Hint: It was not in February. Whoever it was, never documented the journey. As far as I know, I am the only one who has ever done this trip on foot.

As you look at the photo, you may be thinking it is just a very small waterfall, and not very exciting. You would be wrong about that. Actually, this section shown here is at least 25 feet high. There is a lower tier as well, about 10-15 ft. high, so the total height of Fantasy Falls is about 40 ft. high. It is difficult to get both tiers in a good photo, but I took many pics and spent over 1.5 hours at the falls.

As I was taking photos and fiddling with my camera to get it set up as I wanted, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a large animal coming down the rock beside the waterfall. I looked up and I saw it run down the rock right beside the falls, and dive into the water. It was a river otter! It all happened too fast for me to get a photo, of course. I waited for it to surface in the pool below the falls (with my camera ready this time), but it never did. I saw it splash once, but then nothing. Where did it go? The only thing I can think of is it went over the lower falls and down the river. So that was a cool experience.

In the end I decided NOT to camp at Fantasy Falls after all. It was a very tough hike to get here, and if I had to hike this very difficult section in the morning, and then continue all the way back to the trailhead and drive home, and then go to work the next day, well needless to say, that would be just plain crazy. It was 12:30pm when I was finally ready to leave Fantasy Falls, and I made it back across the multiple of sketchy sections (which was easier than I thought it would be going back), and then back down to the river at Island Slide Falls, and continued hiking back to Blue Hole, arriving there at 4PM. It would be just a short 6 mile hike from here back to the trailhead the next day. It was a tiring but very rewarding day. Would I ever come back to Fantasy Falls? Yes, I think I definitely would go back here now that I know how to do it. The Mokelumne Wilderness is an absolutely amazing place.