Leon Turnbull Photography

For the first time ever, our entire family went along on a backpacking trip with me. You heard me right, all four of us. It’s a miracle! How did I do it? It actually only took one word: ocean. If I say that word to my wife, she gets all giddy and excited. It probably took a few more words for my kids to agree.

I planned this trip months in advance. You have to do this because it is very difficult to get reservations at the Wildcat campground in Point Reyes National Seashore. Even a couple months in advance, everything was booked except for one last campsite, and that only for one night (Friday). All the stars need to align as well: the tides, and of course the weather. There are only a couple days a year where the tides come into alignment for what I wanted to do. As for the weather, we needed a lot of rain leading up to the event, and then nice weather on the day of the event. This is winter in California. Good luck with that madman. But that is exactly how it all panned out. We had quite a bit of rain in the two weeks before our trip (not nearly as much as I hoped – but it was enough). Then the weather showed a break for Friday. More rain was expected on Saturday afternoon. It turned out to be absolutely perfect timing. It was not even going to be very cold. I guess I could take credit for planning this out so perfect, but then I’d be struck by lightning. God is so good to us. Thank you Lord! I should also mention that I needed cloudy skies to take photos of this waterfall. That happened also. It was another miracle. Again, thank you God!

I was not able to do everything I wanted on this trip. We got a very late start. That is mostly because the visitor center does not open until 10AM! By the time we got our permits and got to the trailhead, it was 11:30AM before we started hiking. We did not arrive at Alamere Falls until 2PM, which is much later than I wanted. I had hoped to be at camp by this time, and then we’d have time to setup camp and hike up to Horsetail Falls before dark. Horsetail Falls is only accessible at very low tide and that was my primary goal for this trip, but we did not even get to camp until 5PM, and sunset is at 5:30PM, so going to Horsetail was out of the question. There is always next year. And next year, I will make sure I have enough time to get up to Horsetail.

We spent a lot of time at Alamere Falls, eating our lunch, and resting, and enjoying the waterfalls. Since it was Friday, there were not too many other people here (when we came back on Saturday, we passed a ton of people on the trail). It was beautiful and sunny for the hike up to the falls. We had grand views of the ocean. It clouded over in the afternoon by the time we arrived. Perfect. I went down to the beach to take my photos, while the rest of the crew rested up top. They were pretty tired, and so did not want to go down. It is a steep and tricky descent, and you need to be very careful, but I did not think it was too bad (it looks worse than it is). The rangers try (unsuccesfully) to dissuade people from coming down to Alamere Falls this way. They say there is poison oak (there is not), and that the descent is too dangerous (it is not – if you are careful). Don’t be stupid though and do something you are not prepared for and don’t have proper footwear for – such as going barefoot (we saw some hikers doing this – I could not believe it).

After photographing Alamere Falls, I went back up to get my crew. We would all have to descend to the beach with our packs on. With the tide going out, it would be an easy hike up the beach to Wildcat campground. We all made it down safely. Speaking of packs, you may want to know our pack weights: Leon: 43 pounds, Tara: 22.5 pounds, Jadon: 20.5 pounds, Nekoda: 14 pounds! You would think they would want to help the old man out and take on some more weight, but no sir! Actually, I did not mind taking on the extra weight. I wanted them all to be comfortable and to enjoy the trip as much as possible. Even with the light packs, they all had some difficulty.

The hike up the beach to Wildcat was the most enjoyable part of the entire hike. Too bad it was only 1 mile long. Along the way, we had a very close encounter with a huge elephant seal sleeping by the cliffs. We could hear it snoring as we passed by. We kept our distance (as you must), but it was a very cool experience.

We arrived at our campsite at 5PM. We setup camp, made our dinner and ate it in the dark, then we went to bed. There was only one other group in the entire campsite. Even though all the sites were booked (including one of the large group sites), no one was there. I am confused about this: If you book a campsite months in advance for January, what are you thinking? If it is not balmy and warm, you are going to cancel it? You do not get your money back if you cancel it. (and it is $20 – so not particularly cheap).  This is winter, people! Oh I am afraid it is only going to be 51 degrees, we just cannot go if it is that cold. If the weather was really awful then I would have canceled our trip also, but frankly I thought the weather we had was perfect. No rain, and the low temperature was only 51 degrees (which is very warm for January). There were showers forecast for overnight while we were sleeping, and I was expecting to have some, but we did not even get any showers at all. It was a fantastic day one in Point Reyes National Seashore.

This weekend was a disaster. Or it started out that way. I drove 110 miles to go on a hike to see a waterfall. It was a beautiful morning. The hike was good. I arrived down to the waterfall. It was completely dry. Not even a trickle. This was all just after a big storm. How could it possibly be dry? I was not expecting it be roaring, but I definitely expected it to be decent. After this hike, I had a second hike planned as well in the same area. However, I scrapped it. If the first waterfall was dry, the second one would likely be dry as well. I decided to just drive on back home, 110 miles.

I was feeling bummed, so I decided to redeem myself in the afternoon and go on another hike close to home. This one I knew would be flowing.

Going to this waterfall on a Saturday afternoon is iffy. I much prefer hiking here in the morning. There is only room for 4 cars to park at the trailhead. Well, I arrived at 1:30PM and there was exactly one space available for me. Thank you God for saving it for me. I saw all the other hikers coming up the hill as I was going down. One of them asked me if one could backpack down here on this trail. I thought that was a weird question, but afterwards it donned on me that he saw my big camera pack, and must have thought I was backpacking, not day hiking. Ha ha. I also noticed a LOT of small burned areas along the trail. It was as if people were having campfires in various spots all along the trail. After the first few, I realized this was some sort of official burning (ie. not random kids doing it).  But why? Why would the park rangers do all this burning of wood along the trail? I can think of three very good reasons not to do this: (1) It violates Leave No Trace principles, (2) It could easily start a forest fire, and (3) It is just plain stupid. I don’t get it. Someone please explain it to my little brain.

I have been to American Canyon Creek Falls many times before. It is a fairly easy hike. It is a little thing, but it is a pretty little thing, and very unique. I love this littlest waterfall. I did not really want to go back to American Canyon this weekend, I would have much preferred better success in the morning on the two different hikes, but nonetheless I enjoyed myself down at the littlest falls. I hiked back up the hill, arriving at the car just before dark, I drove home, ate my spaghetti dinner, and watched my Vancouver Canucks move into first place after beating the Sharks. Yeah. It may have been a bad morning, but the afternoon and evening were great.

Sometimes I just feel like staying home and doing absolutely nothing, and that is just what I did this past weekend. So no new waterfalls this week. This one is from Christmas Day, in Marysville BC, Canada.

The new stats are in: As of Jan. 1, we are at 68% of average for rainfall in Northern CA, 73% (central), 81% (south). For snowpack, we are at 82% (north), 96% (central), 112% (south). As you can see, we did not progress much in December. We had zero big storms last month. The first half of January is also looking bleak, but there is hope for the last half of the month to do some catchup. Let’s keep praying.

At Christmas, we went up to Canada to visit my sister and family in Cranbrook BC. They had very little snow this year, the ski hills were not even open yet, and it was very warm. In fact, it was the warmest I can ever remember it being there at this time of year.

So skiing was out of the question, and snow shoeing was out of the question, but I was hoping to do some hiking at least. On the first day (Christmas Eve), I took my wife on a hike to Moyie Falls (or so I hoped). I have been there before in the winter, but my wife has not been there. When I was there before, I was able to cross the river easily on snow bridges. I expected there would be no snow bridges this year because of the warm temperatures, but I still hoped to be able to find a place to cross, perhaps on logs or at a very easy and shallow crossing. But we had no such luck. The river was flowing strong and deep. Any attempted crossing would have resulted in hypothermia and probable death. No thanks. Plan B was to try to get up to the falls on this side of the river. I made a very strong attempt at it. I found a way around the first cliff, and indeed we even found a trail going up high along the river, above the cliffs. I felt good and certain this would work out well. But alas, the trail just went to the top of the falls (and you could not see the waterfall). I found a way back down to the river below the falls, but again got cliffed out. There was absolutely no way to get up to the waterfall on this side. Strike out. Not only that, but I strained my back climbing around in the bushes and snow (what little snow there was there). Terrific. Not.

On Christmas Day, in the afternoon, I was determined to get out and do something, so I decided I would just go to Marysville Falls, which is very easy and which I have been to before, a few times. That is about all my back could handle. My sister then told me about another waterfall in Kimberley, which I had not been to before, and indeed had not even heard of before. It was a bit shocking to learn of this waterfall, because I have researched the area extensively, and did not come across this one. Yet, how could I miss it? The park is called: Cherry Creek Falls Park. Kind of obvious, madman. So anyhow, after seeing Marysville Falls, my mom, sister, bro-in-law, and wife made the short drive up to the park. (none of the kids wanted to come – they would all prefer to stay home and play video games – shocking). It is a very easy and short hike down to Cherry Creek Falls, which is a very lovely 30 ft. slide. I stood as close to the creek as I dared, because it was impossible to tell if I was standing over rushing creek or solid ground, and the ground did seem very unstable. All in all, this little hike and new waterfall was a huge make up for the first day’s debacle at Moyie Falls. I was a happy madman again.

I think this will be my new saying whenever I find something new and awesome: Sweet Baby Yoda!

Sometimes I feel really bummed when I strike out on hikes (such as what happened last week) , and cannot get to where I wanted.  I feel like I should have done better.

Then sometimes I feel as if I killed it out of the park, such as what happened this week. This was one of my top hikes of 2019. Perhaps Lower West Cherry was more awesome, but this was probably the best day hike of 2019 for sure.

After striking out last week, I did not want another strike out this week. I was perhaps 80 to 90 percent sure I could make it up to this waterfall on Murphy Creek. Those are pretty good odds.

The flow was about perfect. If it is too high, you cannot even get to the lower falls. There is an extremely dangerous stream crossing just before the lower falls. It was all right today, but the rocks were wet and slick, so you need to be very careful. If you slip, you will go over a big waterfall and probably be dead. Needless to say, I was careful.

I had lots of time, so I took plenty of photos of the lower falls before beginning the big climb up to the upper falls. I climbed up high and then back down to the creek, eventually reaching the same point I got to last time. Last time I was here, I ran out of daylight and did not have time to get to the waterfall. Today I had plenty of time. I needed to cross the creek. It was almost but not quite rock hoppable, so I put on my water shoes to cross. I probably actually could have rock hopped it. Anyhow, better safe than sorry. Once on the other side, you just need to climb up the bank. There was oak here, but I think (I hope) I avoided touching it. Finally, I came into full view of the magnificent waterfall. I let out a huge whoop and holler. No one heard me. I could not believe I actually made it here. It seems so difficult and impossible from down at the highway. As far as I know, I am the first to make it here, and the first to document its discovery. It is another waterfall madman first encounter.

I measured the waterfall to be 113 ft. high (the lower falls is 67 ft. high). It is absolutely stunning, and you can get right up to it and touch it if you like. It is also difficult to photograph because of the spray. I took plenty of photos anyway, and spent a lot of time here enjoying the moment.By the time I got back to the car, it was noon. The sun was out. Time to eat lunch and drive home. It was a most awesome day in Plumas National Forest.