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Post date: Mar 18, 2012 12:11:18 AM
I decided earlier this week that I would try and see some waterfalls on Friday instead of Saturday because of the expected snow on Saturday. Therefore, I would need to trade my Saturday for Friday and work on Saturday. The area I chose to check out was the North Yuba River Canyon with the intent of seeing Fiddle Creek Falls, Pauley Falls, and perhaps Big Springs Falls on my way out. Britt couldn't come with me and I didn't want to bring Penny because it would be raining and there wasn't much hiking planned. Therefore, on Friday morning I alone left to see some waterfalls. Then, I noticed I didn't have my tripod and had to drive back home. After making sure I had everything I wanted (including chains), I left for the second time. The rain didn't start until I got to Sierra Valley, which turned into a downpour on the western part of the valley. I was surprised to find it snowing off the southwestern end of the valley (near the CA-49/89 intersection) and to find quite a bit of snow on the ground. As I made my way up and over Yuba Pass, the snow got heavier and deeper. It was really pretty driving through this section of CA-49 and the North Yuba River was especially beautiful in the snow. I passed by Big Springs Falls which was also surrounded by snow. Just before getting to Sierra City the big fat flakes starting turning into rain and by the time I was passing through Sierra City it had completely turned to rain. As I followed the North Yuba River, the rain kept getting heavier and heavier. Now, I started noticing how high the sediment-laden river and all the surrounding creeks were flowing. I also started noticing a few small waterfalls coming down just off of the highway along washes and springs and I would stop at a couple of these on my way back. Passing through Downieville for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised by this small town. I liked how small the roads were and how close the buildings were to the road (I later drove through parts of Downieville on my way to Pauley Falls). I also like the look and feeling of these little towns in the rain, don't ask me why. West of Downieville the canyon really started to put on a show of falling water. Everywhere I looked there was water cascading down from the cliffs. I was trying to scout out some of the bigger and "better" ones to check out after seeing Fiddle Creek Falls. There were too many to keep track of, so I would just have to do my best on my way back.
Snowden Hill Falls #1 (right), #2 (left), & the top of #3 (top-left)
Snowden Hill Falls #4
I arrived at the bridge over Fiddle Creek and found the creek raging. I've seen a few pictures of this waterfall, but those were taken at much lower flow. This waterfall looks totally different at higher flows. Since it was raining, I took pictures with our camera in a rain jacket. This worked fine, but the battery was being quickly drained since I had to use live-view to see what I was photographing. I decided for the next waterfall that I would try just holding the umbrella in one hand and set up the shot with the other. The next waterfall I stopped at was the first Fiddle Creek Ridge Falls. I was able to keep the camera dry with just the umbrella and take a couple of photos at the same time. The hardest part was getting the tripod set up. I left the camera attached to the tripod the whole time, so I had to hold onto the tripod and the umbrella while separating the legs and adjusting the camera for the shot. This wasn't the easiest thing in the world, but it worked and I could conserve battery life (we always have a spare battery as well).
Fiddle Creek Falls
After taking a couple of pictures of the second Fiddle Creek Ridge Falls, I proceeded to some big (tall) waterfalls I had spotted on the way in. These are the Snowden Hill Falls. The first five (ordered from west to east) are clustered near each other falling down the northwest side of Snowden Hill with the sixth falling down the northeast side. Many of these waterfalls can be viewed from further west or northeast, but I parked directly across the river from them (off the side of the road), walked a little ways up the highway to take a few shots, and then scrambled down off the southern side of the highway to get closer to the river for clearer views (trees block a lot of the views from the highway). Seeing them from the road gives you a pretty good perspective on how tall these waterfalls are. Most, if not all of the first five, fall over 500' to the North Yuba River. These waterfalls should have separate, distinct names but I couldn't think of any appropriate names. Also, these waterfalls probably only flow with decent volume during or immediately after heavy rainstorms or during rapid snowmelt. Interestingly, the second of these falls flows into the third just before it reaches the river. The third waterfall begins with multiple fingers before joining together (see above). My favorite of these was probably the fourth one (to the right) because of its many steps and splits around rocks as well as being surrounded by beautiful trees. The sixth one is also one of my favorites (as well as Britt's) because of its many fingers as it enters the river. To see the sixth one, I had to drive a little further to the northeast along CA-49. Before reaching the sixth Snowden Hill Falls, I past by multiple falls along the northern side of the highway. I stopped a little ways west of the sixth Snowden Hill Falls and took a picture of the third Fiddle Creek Ridge Falls to the west (across from the fifth Fiddle Creek Ridge Falls) before proceeding east a little ways to the sixth Fiddle Creek Ridge Falls.
Now it was time for me to start heading home and maybe stop by Big Springs Falls for some winter scenery photography. However, I couldn't help myself from stopping at a couple more waterfalls just east of Downieville. The first was High Commission Falls (named after the peak that it originates from), which was a very pretty waterfall cascading down through the trees just north of the highway. The second was Cedar Falls, which was also a very pretty waterfall, named for the multiple Cedar trees that it was flowing around (see pics on waterfall page). I had now seen the last new waterfall for the day and I made my back out of the canyon. I stopped by Big Springs Falls and took a couple of pictures of it in the snow. The parking area in front of the falls was covered with about six inches of powder and I considered walking up the highway to the eastern section of the falls, but decided not to. I left the parking area and followed a snow plow and one other car up to Yuba Pass before the plow turned off the highway and I passed the car. The drive up to the pass and back down to Sierra Valley was gorgeous with lots of snow hanging off of all the trees and only a single track of car tires on the road (only ~2 inches deep). The road was very icy at
Rosassco Falls
High Commission Falls
By now it was past 1pm and I needed to get going on to Pauley Falls. I told myself that I couldn't stop at any more until I got to Pauley Falls, so I skipped over many more waterfalls on either side of the river as I went, including a pretty big one across the river at Devils Canyon. However, when I came up to Rosassco Ravine Creek just west of Downieville I stopped. I really liked the setting of the waterfall and it had a large pullout area right in front of it, so I pulled over to take a couple of pictures. Rosassco Falls (to the left) ended up being one of my favorite waterfalls visited during this trip because of all the different colors surrounding it and the large rock face to the west of the creek. The white and blue water cascading down with the gray of the surrounding rock contrasted well with the surrounding green of the trees and moss, muddy brown of the water at the bottom, and the red of the bushes and plants at the bottom. I was glad I stopped at this one. Finally, I made it to Pauley Falls by driving through Downieville to the water management building. Pauley Creek was jammin' and, like Fiddle Creek Falls, looked a lot different than most people's pictures of it. Leon Turnbull of waterfallswest.com has a really nice photo of this waterfall at lower flow in the winter and was able to get nice detail of the creek rocks. This was definitely not possible on this day. The creek was loaded with sediment and was not gracefully flowing over the two tiers. Still, I enjoyed watching the power of the water. On my way back to the car, I ran into the very nice person working at the water management building (Pauley Falls is directly behind the building), who was coming down to check on me since the flow was so high and it took me a little while to take the pictures because I was juggling with the camera, tripod, and umbrella.
Pauley Falls
the CA-49/89 intersection and I almost skidded past it. As I drove along the western end of the valley, big fat flakes were falling everywhere and the fields that had been flooded by the rain in the morning had a soft white cover. The snow didn't let up until I passed through Vinton. The snow turned to rain as I descended towards US-395. I could smell the sagebrush (I love the smell of the desert after or during a rainstorm) and as I merged onto the highway only a few miles from home, I felt pretty satisfied with my adventure in the North Yuba River Canyon. Big Springs Falls
Waterfalls visited on this trip:
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