Leon Turnbull Photography

Before we move on to the Ireland part of my overseas trip, let’s take a break and go back to my favorite area in the world: The North Fork American River. I have not been idle since I got back from the U.K., and indeed will not be idle in the near future. This is the best time of the year in California. The snow is melting, the waterfalls are raging, and the mosquitoes are not out yet. Since it is a big snow year, you know I will be out there enjoying it. How about you? By the way I still have tons of Scotland waterfall photos to process as well!

I first heard about these big waterfalls on Big Granite Creek thirteen years ago. Yes, that is correct. Thirteen years ago I started planning (or thinking about) this trip. It took me that long to get there. It was one of the most grueling and strenuous hikes I have ever done, and I am already planning a return trip. It was so incredibly amazing.

In 2006, the late Russell Towle and waterfallswest friend the Gambolin Man (Tom McGuire) came here. Tom almost died (literally) crossing the creek at the top of the waterfalls. You can read about their adventure if you do an internet search. When they were here, the flow in the North Fork American was at about 1800 cfs at the North Fork Dam. This past weekend the flow was about 50% higher than that (around 2500 to 2800 cfs). My best guess estimate was that Big Granite Creek itself would have a flow of at least 200 cfs. I think in actuality that it was quite a bit higher than this (at least 300 cfs). You do the math. Crossing Big Granite Creek would be out of the question. And yet … to get here you MUST cross Big Granite Creek. Was I foolish or suicidal or both to try the hike this weekend?

My 13 year plan in the making was to *NOT* go the same route they did. Obviously, I could not go the same route they did. I was hiking earlier in the year because of a couple big reasons: I would like to see the waterfalls at a bit higher flow. Also, and more importantly, I thought that with snow still on the ground, it would be easier to hike because the route is so very brushy. There is no trail. With snow covering up the brush, it should be easier. In retrospect, I think I picked the most perfect time to go. If there was any more snow, I don’t think I would have made it. But that creek crossing!

There was 5-10 feet of snow on the ground when I began the hike, climbing up to about 6900 ft. in elevation. The snow was very hard packed. I did not need my snow shoes, yet I carried them up anyway. I anticipated needing them, and indeed I would need them. My pack was much heavier than usual for this hike. I was carrying about 8 pounds of extra gear that I would normally not carry, but I expected that I would need all this gear: snowshoes, water shoes for the creek crossing, rope, and extra food. I thought I was prepared enough, but should have brought more, and this is one of the reasons I want to go back.

When I got to the top of the mountain, you need to descend down the other side. It is a 1900 ft. drop in elevation down to the waterfalls. It is a very steep descent in some places. I came to the first steep part, and I realized I would need to put on my snow shoes. I should have had my micro spikes! I left my spikes at home, thinking snowshoes would be good enough, but spikes would have been better. However, on the return trip the next day the snow was much softer. Snowshoes were much better in that situation. I should have had both. I was very careful on this first section of the descent with my snowshoes. Plant one foot solidly in the snow at a time. I made it down the steep section. My snowshoes broke. Well, not exactly. The binding on one of the shoes was hanging on by a thread. If it broke off, I would be screwed enormously. Would it hang together until I got home the next day? (it did, thankfully).

I continued on. I came to the end of a little (still frozen) lake at which I needed to cross the outlet stream. There were steep snow dropoffs on both sides of the creek. It was with great difficulty and after much scouting, when I finally found a way across. On the other side, I needed to climb up the side of a steep cornice. This was very hairy. Again, spikes would have been better than snowshoes. I almost turned back at this point. Not because of the cornice or stream crossing, but because I knew things were about to get much worse. There were going to be two more very steep and probably cliffy descents, much worse than the first one (when I first put on the snowshoes). I was almost certain that it would be far too treacherous to go down these in my snowshoes. I decided to just continue on to the top of the cliffs, and see what it was like. And then….

The snow disappeared! Now that I was on the south side of the mountain, the snow was all melted. I was able to walk down the cliffy sections in my hiking boots. It is a good thing too, because I certainly would not have been able to go down if there was snow, but with no snow it was very easy. This was a huge blessing, and an unexpected one, because I thought there would still be a lot of snow at this point. I carried my snowshoes all the way to the bottom. It would have been nice to leave them at the top, but there was no good obvious place to do so, and I thought I still might need them further down. As I got to the bottom, I was still not confident I was going to make it all the way to the waterfalls. That creek crossing!

This is where I planned to cross Big Granite Creek. I was a few miles upstream of the big waterfalls, and somewhat near (but not precisely near) the creek source. I did not even get my feet wet! It was simple to just rock hop across the creek. Easy smeasy!

After crossing this creek way up near the source, my plan was to just follow it all the way down to the waterfalls. At first it was pretty easy. There was even snow down along the creek, and since it was hard packed it was easy (easier) to just walk on top of it. I had left my snowshoes at the creek crossing. I would not need them anymore. And then …

When I came to the first of the waterfalls, things became much more difficult. It became extremely brushy. I am not referring to the big waterfalls, but there are a couple others much further upstream. I knew about these waterfalls and I planned to photograph them – which I did (these are new discoveries, and were not seen by Towle/McGuire). It looked easy enough on Google Earth to get around them, however they were NOT easy to get around whatsoever. Once again, I almost turned around here. I could not figure out how to get by the waterfalls. It was just far too brushy, and I was also well past my physical limits. It is only a 6 mile hike one way. It took 8 hours to hike this 6 miles (each way). That is over 1 hour for each mile. It was grueling, and I was absolutely exhausted. I was going to just find a spot to camp along the creek somewhere (but it was so brushy, I did not even see any possible campsites).

So in fact, I actually did turn around and start heading back upstream to find a campsite. I took one last look back over my shoulder. Wait! Is that an opening through the brush? I may as well go check it out. It was an opening indeed. Right around this point, I saw two bears, the first two I have seen this year so far. They looked to be juveniles, perhaps brother and sister, and when they saw me they ran away from me, leading me on the path through that brush. Thank you, my friends. And they were my friends. All bears are my friends: I LOVE seeing bears in the wilderness. We were way high above the creek, but there was a good opening through all that brush. I then had to drop back down to the creek, away from the bears, and down to the bottom of the waterfalls, a couple hundred feet down. I got down, but still there was no place to make camp.

I continued downstream, looking for a campsite. It was still very brushy down here and difficult hiking. I finally found a decent place. There was not much room for the tent because it was very rocky, but it was a nice open area near the creek. It would do for me.

At 5PM, after dinner, I went downstream to see the big waterfalls. Big Granite Creek was absolutely raging, and as I knew, there would be no way to cross if I came the Towle/McGuire route. Now for the crazy part …

I came to the first big waterfall. I knew it was a dangerous and tricky descent to get down. This is why I brought my rope. If your name is Russell Towle, you may have no need of a silly rope, but for me, I always play it safe. I did not know if I would need the rope, but I did need it, and I did use it. I do not think I would have tried it without, but with a rope, it was not too horrible getting down.

This first big drop on Big Granite Creek (shown here) is my favorite.  It is absolutely spectacular, about 150 ft. high, and just so incredibly powerful and magnificent. Below this, there are more big drops. I needed more rope to descend down the next sections. You can also see the tall and majestic West Snow Mountain Falls free falling into the main channel. It is an overpowering experience being at this location. You can see why I am already planning the return.

 

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No waterfalls on this day, but it was the best day in Scotland and the best day of the entire trip. The photo is the upper waterfall of the Fairy Pools from Day 2.

I met my wife and kids at the airport in Edinburgh the previous night. They went over separately from me because they were doing a tour of various places with another group. They saw quite a few places in England and France, but that was not something I had any desire to do. They were in Paris just a couple days after Notre Dame burned. It is sad they did not get to see it (except from the outside). But I want to see waterfalls, not museums.

However, there is one thing I really did want to see that is not waterfall related, and that is my family heritage. Turnbull is Scottish, and there were quite a few things to see from the Turnbull history. My wife also wanted to see her Dunbar heritage (my wife’s maiden name).

From Edinburgh, we drove down to Hawick in the Scottish Borders. There is a statue here of a man turning a bull. The legend goes that William of Rule saved the king of Scots Robert the Bruce from a bull attack, by turning the bull’s head around the year 1313. The king changed his name to Turnbull, and thus our heritage was begun. The king also granted land to the Turnbulls on the Borders. The Turnbulls were famous fighters, and this area was frequently attacked by the English. There is a castle here called Fatlips Castle which we hiked up to and had lunch. It was built and owned by the Turnbulls for around 200 years, serving as a lookout against invading English. It sits on top of a hill with a stunning view of the Borders area. We also visited a church yard in Bedrule where there is a cairn dedicated to the Turnbull Reivers (fighters) and many old tombstones of Turnbulls. Some of these are so old you cannot read them any more.

His arms robust the hardy hunter flung
Around his bending horns and upward wrung
With writhing force his neck retorted round
And rolled the panting monster on the ground
Crushed with enormous strength his bony skull
And courtiers hailed the man who turned the bull.
John Leyden

We then drove to the town of Dunbar. Here there are ruins of the old Dunbar castle. Not much is left of the castle, but it is very interesting to visit. I was also thrilled to visit the birthplace and museum of John Muir, who was born in Dunbar. We arrived at the museum 20 minutes before closing, just enough time to walk around it. It is a fantastic little museum, and I’m so glad I got to see it.

In Dunbar, we watched some Scottish boys jumping into the harbor (in the ocean). No wet suits. No towels to dry off afterwards. You have got to be kidding me. That water must have been freezing. I would think they would get hypothermia in minutes, yet they continued to jump in multiple times. Scottish boys are NUTS.

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I arrived at the House of Bruars around noon. This is a strange place. It is a big fancy high-end mall out in the middle of nowhere. There are no big towns around anywhere close, and yet it is a very busy place. How odd!

 

There is an easy hike here to a couple of waterfalls. It was around noon, and sunny by now when I started this hike, but God really blessed me by providing clouds as I got up to the waterfalls. This allowed me to take some good photos of these falls. Thank you Lord! Maybe it is just Scotland/Ireland. I don’t think this could have happened in California (well, it has happened in CA, but not very often).

 

The upper falls is very hidden with no good view of it from the trail. I scrambled down off trail to try to find a closer viewpoint. This was the first off trail scrambling I did in Scotland. I found a much better viewpoint, though it was still somewhat obscured. Getting to the creek level would have been great, but it was out of the question. Unless you are a canyoneer. I saw some people rappelling down this waterfall when I got down to my spot (not shown in the photo – obviously). Anyhow, it was still a better view than from the trail.

 

I ate lunch at the fish n chips place at the mall afterwards. It was a little bit embarrassing when I went to pay because I could not figure out the weird Scottish change and how much I needed. The Scottish restaurant owner with a very strong accent had to pick the change out of my hand, laughing at me. Oh well.

 

Also weird here was that I could not figure out where the restrooms were. I did not see any sign for “toilets” (as is elsewhere in Scotland). I asked someone and he said it was just inside the store. So I went into the store, looked around, and I could not see the restrooms or any sign for them anywhere. I walked around and around and finally found them, and there was this sign: CLOAKROOM. That’s it! Oh my goodness! I have never seen that word used for restroom before. I guess this is what rich people call restrooms? Ahh!

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Easter Sunday. It was a rainy morning but the rain did not last long as I drove back from Isle of Skye to Edinburgh. I had to pick up my  family at the airport in the evening. The rest of the vacation we would all be together. Along the way back to Edinburgh, I would see more waterfalls (of course!).
There were two waterfalls in Scotland I really wanted to see but did not get a chance to: The Falls of Glomach. This is a 12 mile hike, and I just did not have time to do an all day hike. There is a shorter version of the hike I was hoping to do, but the road to this other trailhead was closed. Strike one. Plodda Falls was also high on my list, but this was just way too far out of my way. Strike two. Instead of these, I went to the Falls of Foyers at Loch Ness. I did not see any monsters at Loch Ness except for the sheep grazing at the end of the lake. The small ones are especially scary. They look cute but they are deadly. Kidding!

It is a long drive to the Falls of Foyers, but it was worth it. It is a very beautiful falls, and monster high at 203 ft. tall. It is a short and easy hike if you do it correctly. However, I did not see the sign (which said “to the falls”), and I went the wrong way. Doh. I ended up going most of the way down the mountain towards the lower falls (which is just a very small one), and then had to climb all the way back up the mountain to the big waterfall. I had my Easter Sunday service at the viewpoint of the waterfall, reading the resurrection passage from my Bible. It was a wonderful morning. Day 3 Part 2 coming soon.

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It was a very easy hike up to the Falls of Rha in Uig. It is about as easy and short of a hike as you can possibly do. Along the way I encountered dogs barking at me, and a mama and baby cow. And at the end of the hike? A very pretty two tiered waterfall. Pure, raw beauty.

 

After this I went to Fairy Glen. Fairy Glen is the most unique and interesting place I visited in Scotland, and much unlike anything I have seen in California. This is what I pictured Scotland to be like in my head, but I only found it here at Fairy Glen. The area consists of these fascinating little rolling green hills all over the landscape, big green mounds with steep slopes. The highlight is one hill with a castle like looking rock on top of it. You can climb to the top of this rock by squeezing through a very narrow spot. I had to take off my pack to get through it. I was in such a tight spot, I needed help from another lady to get it off my back. Eek! On top, the views of the surrounding country side are stunning. You feel like you are on top of Scotland.

 

Fairy Glen is a very busy place. I hiked the mile and a bit from my lodge to the trailhead along the road. I am so glad I did this because the road is crazy narrow (single lane!) and very busy. It was a big mess of cars trying to get past each other on the narrow turnouts. Well, I took photos and video of Fairy Glen, but I did not realize my iPhone storage was full. It did not tell me! When I got back to the hotel I realized I had no photos or video. I decided to go back to Fairy Glen in the evening after clearing up space on my phone. This time I drove to the trailhead. Since it was later (almost sunset), there were not as many people and there was no traffic on that crazy road. I did the short hike again and took more video. It was far more enjoyable as well, with much less people on the trail. This time, the video saved, and when I got back to the hotel I transferred the video from my phone to the storage device that I bought for this trip. However … the stupid thing corrupted my video! I was so mad about this! I did not lose all my video, but it seems I did lose some video of Fairy Glen, and also some from Steall Falls and Falls of Rha. I have not gone through it all yet, but definitely some was corrupted. For the rest of the vacation, I had another backup plan to save video from my iPhone. I’m just glad I realized this early on. How on earth can something like that corrupt your files? Unbelievable.

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