Leon Turnbull Photography

I have lost faith. Not in God. He has always been faithful. I have lost faith in humanity. Although, to be honest, I think I lost faith in humanity years ago.

I have been horribly upset with what has happened during the government shutdown in the national parks. They have kept the parks open during this shutdown, which I really liked at first. Last time, they were completely closed, which greatly upset me. I expected there not to be any problems (silly me). I mean, come on! The national forests are not patrolled by rangers, and there are no problems with them. Yes, people do litter and such. However, mostly, it is not too bad. But with the national parks? It is like people have literally lost their brains: Litter left everywhere (where wild animals can get into), pooping on the side of roads, driving snowmobiles illegally to the top of Lassen Peak, vandalism, cutting down rare trees, blazing roads where there should not be any roads. You can’t take out your trash? You have a car! You can’t bury your poop? You should have known before you even entered the park the restrooms were not being maintained and you should have been prepared for that! You have to vandalize precious places just because the government is shutdown and you think you won’t get caught? I can’t even comprehend that! I would like to think that 100% of my readers would never do any of these things, but if there is someone out there reading this that is guilty … why would you do this??? Please let us all take responsibility for our actions.

Well enough of that crap (literally), now let’s get to the topic of the Camp Fire … I drove through the area for the first time this weekend, where the fire started, along Highway 70 north of Oroville. As you would expect, the devastation was intense. It was absolutely awful. I was not hiking in the burn zone, I was just driving through it. Unfortunately, the traffic was also awful because of the construction and cleanup, and there were many road delays. I do not know why I did not think that they would be doing cleanup and that there would not be any delays, but alas, it did not occur to me. Well that was dumb. It took an extra hour to drive through the area.

I finally arrived at my hiking destination: Murphy Creek Falls. This is the second time I have come here. It is a short hike up to the first waterfall (pictured here). The flow in the creek was good, and again it was extremely tricky crossing the small stream just before you reach the waterfall. One slip here and you are toasted, down and out over a waterfall. I did actually slip in the stream. But smartly, I was using my rope to cross for safety and I caught myself before disaster struck. I took my photos of the first waterfall.

Next I wanted to try to get up to the second waterfall but unfortunately, I ran out of time. There is a decent trail up the mountain and I followed it. I was kinda surprised to find a trail here, actually. However, it did not go to the second waterfall. It continued up the mountain above the upper falls. It  made sense to continue following the trail. By the time I realized this was the wrong way, it was too late. I came to a dead end. I could see the waterfall but the view was obscured and it was not worth taking a photo. It was now almost dark, and I had to retreat back down the mountain. If I had not made that wrong turn and if there were no traffic delays, I probably would have had another hour of time and could have made it to the falls. I will have to come back up here another time. The sooner the better. I arrived back at the car just before dark. The workers were done for the day, and there was no delays driving back home. It was a nice hike to a beautiful waterfall in Plumas National Forest.

It did not get down to freezing in the night, but it was cold, so I was actually glad I had both sleeping bags. I was very warm in my tent. I got up at sunrise, and went out into the cold. It was not really very cold, though. As I said, it was much colder at Llewellyn Falls in September. It was a very pleasant morning, I made breakfast and had some coffee, then packed up.

Instead of going back up the mountain the same way, I headed up the creek. There are two more waterfalls upstream from the big drop on Eleanor Creek, both of them are pretty nice, and access is much easier, so I was very glad to see them.

It took 3 hours to get back to Frog Creek in only 2 miles. The climb back up the mountain was killer. It was after 12PM when I got there. I had lunch and filtered water. I still had 9 miles to hike back to the car. At least it was all on trail now, but it was a long slog back. The last couple miles of road walking back to the dam at Cherry Lake is particularly painful (because you just want the hike to be over!). I finally got back to the car at 4PM. It was another 7 hour hiking day. I lost 3 pounds of weight on this trip, and that is after the huge pizza dinner I ate at Pizza Factory in Groveland. It was a fantastic trip into the Yosemite Wilderness just before Christmas.

Twas the night before the night before the night before Christmas, when all through the national park, not a creature was stirring, not even a park ranger. The waterfalls were flowing by the lake with care, in hopes that the madman soon would be there.

And he was!

Yes, I was off to Yosemite National Park on the morning of the government shutdown for a one night winter backpacking adventure. I had my permit, and I was allowed to enter into the park. It was only a partial shutdown, and I would be walking into the national park from Cherry Lake. I would be hiking to Lake Eleanor, but not just anywhere at Lake Eleanor, I would be hiking to the very far end of the lake. It was going to be extremely difficult, and I was expecting snow and winter conditions, so my pack was much heavier than normal.

When I picked up my permit in the morning, I find it interesting to see who else is backpacking at the same time. There was one other permit there for someone hiking in the next day for 2 nights. Here’s the thing: there was a big winter storm coming in! Did he not know this? Even more interesting than this, however, is that I saw him! He was just starting out at the trailhead when I was finishing. This was 4PM on Sunday, only 45 minutes before sunset. He only had 3 miles to hike, but he would be arriving at his destination after dark for certain. I asked him if he knew there was a winter storm coming? He replied “there is? Well, I do have a rain fly”. He seemed a bit clueless and unprepared for a winter storm. I mean, if you are going backpacking, how do you not know what the weather conditions are going to be? In 2018, I went on 9 backpacking trips, and had zero days of rain. In 2017, I only had one day with an afternoon thunderstorm, no other rain on any of my trips. Is this just good luck? Or good planning? I think it is both, actually. I watch the weather very closely, and pick the best days to go backpacking. I may change my planned dates if the weather is not looking good. I just think backpacking is a lot more fun if you do not have to deal with a lot of rain. For this trip, I knew there was only a 10 percent chance of rain for the weekend. In fact, I was expecting a bit of a shower for the hike back out on Sunday, but that did not even happen.

I was expecting cold weather, though, and snow on the ground. That did not happen either, but I wanted it. You see, I have an idea for a winter backpacking trip in the near future, but it is a very hardcore trip, and I have not backpacked in the winter before. I wanted a first trip to ease into something that would be incredibly difficult. According to CNRFC, there was snow at Lake Eleanor, and the temperature would be about freezing at night. Well there was no snow, and although it was cold at night, it was not even close to freezing. It was colder at Llewellyn Falls in September. Thus, I did not really get the winter experience I was hoping for. I had brought my new Thermarest Neo Air X Therm winter sleeping pad, and I brought both my sleeping bags, tucked inside each other at night. That was a bit overkill I think, and added an extra 2 pounds, but if it was as cold as expected, I think it would have been needed.

It was a great trip nonetheless, and also extremely difficult. There is an easy trail from Cherry Lake to Frog Creek at Lake Eleanor. It is a long hike, about 9 miles. I started hiking at 9AM, arriving at Frog Creek about 1PM. From there, no more trails. I crossed the creek, and went up to Frog Creek Falls, a very lovely 30 ft. cascade. After this, I wanted to hike to the end of Lake Eleanor where there is a very large waterfall (in fact, you can see it from the trail along Lake Eleanor). I planned to camp somewhere along the creek above the falls. Getting down to the waterfall, though, was going to be a challenge. The cliffs are huge at the end of the lake, and I did not think I would even get to see the waterfall at all from up close. It was very tiring just getting to the end of the lake. You need to climb way high up above the cliffs, then back down to the creek. It is only 1.5 miles, but it took almost 3 hours. I finally arrived at my camp, a nice spot along the creek, at 3:45PM, just one hour before sunset.

I dropped my pack and headed straight down to the waterfall. It is not easy getting down to it. At the brink of the falls, it is extremely steep and cliffy, but amazingly I found a view of the waterfall from the side. It is not a great one, but I was pretty happy to get even this view. I was not expecting anything. However, I could not get any further down. It was just too cliffy. It was now very late, and I just had time to take some photos and get back up to camp.

I was almost back to camp when I realized that I forgot my Inreach device back at the waterfall viewpoint. Ugh! So stupid, madman! I had to go all the way back down to retrieve it. By the time I got back to camp, it was after sunset. I set up my tent in the dark. I was extremely tired. I had been hiking basically non stop for 8 hours. It was now dark and cold, and I did not feel like cooking my dinner, so I had a snack and hopped into bed. It was early, but I was so tired. I tried to watch a movie on my phone, but I was too tired even for that. Time to sleep!

Who’s the madman? Yes, that is me. Who can find hidden waterfalls in the middle of nowhere that no one else has been to? Me, again. Well, I can’t quite take full credit on this one. It was waterfallswest friend Trailscout that found this on Google Earth, and told me about this falls on Lost Creek, though she has not been to it yet. How did I miss this one in my study? I scoured Google Earth and the USGS Topo Maps in this area, but somehow missed it, but it was there and it sure looked like a good one on GE. I had planned to go in the spring, but with the recent rain and before too much snow fell, it seemed like now would be as good a time as any.

It is a very long drive out here. Basically, you drive to the end of the world, then go a little further, and then get out of your car and hike another 4 miles. I probably could have driven some of those 4 miles, but there was a bit of snow and I felt like hiking anyway.

Thankfully, I fixed my GPS. I was going to order a cheap SD card just to see if that was the problem (before buying a new GPS), and when I looked at the picture of the SD card on-line, I saw a “lock” switch on it. I thought to myself, “no way”. I took out my old SD card and looked at it, and saw that it was in the lock position! This is why the GPS could not write any data to the card! I flicked the switch, and voila! The GPS and card are now working fine. It makes no sense, however, because I NEVER take the card out of the GPS, so how could the switch possibly have been changed?!?! Little gremlins ?

It is a good thing it is working now, otherwise I would have been completely lost. I started down the road and realized I needed to turn off down another drainage and road. Except there was no road! There was a very overgrown drainage that there is no way I could have navigated down. Looking at my map, I saw another possible road to take. It would add about 1.5 miles (1 way) to the hike, but I thought I had plenty of time so off I went. At first, this other road was very overgrown, with many fallen logs. I was about to turn back, then I noticed a light at the end of the tunnel, and the road opened up. From there on it was easy. Until, that is, I came to the end of the road, just above the waterfall.

It is a steep descent from here, there is no trail, and a lot of brush (but no poison oak!). You are descending down to the creek beside a seasonal stream, which had a little bit of flow. Thankfully, not much flow because there was one little section where I had to go down right in the middle of the stream, because it was too steep on both sides of it. The only way to continue was to go right down the stream bed. It was very slippery and I had to be extremely careful. It was short, though, and once I got by the steep sections, I was able to get all the way down to the main creek. The waterfall was out of sight and around the corner. I could not even hear it yet. In order to see it, I had to cross the creek. I was able to rock hop across it, but it was difficult, and the rocks were very icy and slippery. I made it across, then I climbed up the icy rocks and logs on the other side, then across a sketchy talus slide, and there it was! An incredibly gorgeous 38 ft. high falls dropping into a magnificent emerald green pool. I was lost in another world. Such beauty. Such allure. Such grace. And who has ever seen this one or heard about this one before?

For more info on this waterfall, see my website:
https://www.waterfallswest.com/index.php#recent

It felt like a long time coming but winter has finally arrived in Northern California. It WAS a long time coming. However, as of Dec 1, we are almost back to average for precipitation this winter in Northern CA, and we ARE above average in Central and Southern Sierra. You heard that right: Not “below average”, but “above average”, thanks to a couple big late November storms, praise be to God who provides. In Northern CA, we are at 83% of average. In Central Sierra: 118% of average, and Southern Sierra: 147% of average. The snow pack is very similar: 82% North, 117% Central, and 128% for Southern Sierra as of Dec 1. This is fantastic news! I am not sure if the rain and snow will continue strong into December; there look to be a few storms in the next week or two but nothing really big.

So …. What’s the deal, man?

We always have dry periods throughout the winter. This is why I only tally the totals at the end of each month, not during the middle of the month. This year, our “first” dry period (and it won’t be the last one) began right at the beginning of the year, and in mid November we were at only 20% average for the year. But in two storms, we are now above average overall. Why bust your hearts looking at daily stats?

Sadly, the slow start was a major contributor to the Camp Fire, which was an awful and devastating catastrophe. But it did not cause the fire, nor did global warming cause it. The fire was caused by humans, (as are the vast majority of fires, by the way). Frankly, it makes me mad because the fire was (most likely) caused by PG&E negligence, and it should never have happened in the first place, and they did the exact same thing last year in Napa. Global warming should not be used as an excuse for accepting that devastating fires will occur. Do not say fires are the “new normal”. Let’s prevent fires from starting in the first place by being responsible.

I hear a lot that global warming is causing the drought in California. That is what everyone says, but is it true? What are the facts? Gimme the facts, man. If it is true, then shouldn’t we see an increasing pattern of dry winters in California? Yet:

2009 – avg
2010 – above avg
2011 – above avg
2012 – below avg
2013 – below avg
2014 – below avg
2015 – below avg
2016 – above avg (everyone seems to conveniently forget that 2016 was an above avg year, yet this was the year we started to climb out of the drought)
2017 – above avg
2018 – below avg
2019 – ???

I do not see any pattern of increasing dry winters here. Do you? I see an awful drought period, but even with that we have a 50/50 split of good/bad winters over the past 10 years. Going back further in years does not make any difference. Indeed, I checked back 50 years, and for every decade there was pretty much an exact 50/50 split of good vs. bad winters. 50 years! I also checked back 20 years for slow starts to the winter. I only found one other year (2014) that was as bad as this year to start (through mid November). Even so, we still ended up above average by the end of November 2018, and as I said that is why I only tally totals at the end of the month. So again, I do not see any pattern of increasing slow starts to the winter. Do you?

Are we even in a drought in California? What are the facts, man? Southern CA is still in a more serious drought, but Northern CA is not in a drought (or officially I guess you can say it is in a low drought status – which is normal after summer). I think it will all depend on if we have a good winter or a bad winter this year, as to whether we go back into a drought in California. Don’t say we are in a drought before winter has hardly even started. Let’s wait to see what happens by the end of the season. So pray for rain and snow! God is the only one that can seriously help and make a difference.

Anyhow … this photo is the upper waterfall of Bear River Reservoir Falls. It is 21 ft. high in total, including the upper 4 ft. tier. It is a pretty little one, but just a little one.