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Post date: Apr 08, 2012 11:49:13 PM
This past Saturday I went on a second trip into the North Yuba River Canyon in the last month. My mission was to revisit Pauley Falls at lower flow, find Federal Falls along Pauley Creek, and to find the waterfall marked as "Loves Falls" on the USGS topo maps (not the actual Loves Falls). Britt was feeling under the weather because of food poisoning, so I was again heading out alone. This was a nice day to be doing something outside- sunny, not too hot and not too cold- although it was not the best conditions for photographing waterfalls. Heading through Sierra Valley I saw the typical 10 or so hawks perched on the telephone poles and scarce trees. If you like viewing predatory birds, Sierra Valley is the place to go. As Britt and I were passing through previously (on a rainy day) there was a hawk perched on just about every telephone pole along CA-70 between Beckwourth and Vinton. I made my way over Yuba Pass along CA-49 and found quite a bit of snow with several RVs parked at the snow park.
As I approached Bassetts, I stopped to enjoy the view and take a few pictures of the Sierra Buttes. If you've never seen the Sierra Buttes, you should definitely check them out. On this day they were out in all their snowy, craggy glory. They remind me of pictures I've seen of peaks in the Italian Dolomites. I really enjoy visiting them. An especially pretty place to view the Buttes is from the Sardine Lakes (Lower & Upper). Next, I passed by Big Springs Falls and through Sierra City. Before reaching Downieville I scouted out a couple of waterfalls near each other that I would stop at later and stopped at a particularly pretty one a little further west. This is New York Ravine Falls and can be found just off of CA-49. I spent a few minutes there before heading towards Pauley Falls. The last time I passed through Downieville it was pouring but I still really liked the little town. This belief still held after seeing it in daylight. Shortly after entering Downieville, I arrived at Pauley Falls. I was surprised at how much water was still passing over it. I knew the flow would be a little over 100 cfs, but I thought that this would look a little differently. I was able to venture into the creek a little to take some pictures this time, but I'd like to return when the flow is even lower so that I can really get into the creek. Now, it was time to find Federal Falls. I had first heard about this waterfall on the World Waterfall Database (WWD) and later found a few videos of kayakers going over it. From those videos I was able to figure out its location, which is a little upstream of where the WWD placed it. In the kayaker videos, they pass under a log bridge just upstream of the waterfall and I was able to spot this on Google Maps as well as a short section of trail near the bridge. I checked out the WWD location for this waterfall but only saw a decent-sized rapid. I drove past the spot on the road that was directly uphill from the log bridge because I couldn't see a path leading down and it looked very steep. I stopped a little further up the road, where there was a road leading down the hill.
From here, I traversed the steep hill back towards the log bridge. It didn't take long before sweat was streaming down my forehead. A little later I almost lost my Nalgene bottle to the creek because I forgot to hook it to my backpack. I slid almost all the way down to the creek, retrieved it, and then climbed back up to continue towards the log bridge. After about 20 minutes I came upon some remains of what looked like a storage building and a path leading down to the log bridge. I found Federal Falls about 50 feet downstream of the bridge. I took a few pictures and then sat down along the cliff to have some lunch. This is a really pretty spot along the creek canyon and I enjoyed relaxing here. Once it was time to leave, I followed the path up the hill, passed where I met it, and up to the road where I had driven by earlier. Oh well. I guess this is why I do what I do-to spend all the time and energy finding a more efficient way so that others don't have to. I walked the road back to the car and then headed back towards Downieville.
On my way toward Loves Falls, I stopped at a couple of waterfalls along the highway. The first, Mobile Ravine Falls, is a decent waterfall just north of the highway. The second, Quartz Point Falls, is across the river from the highway. I took a few pictures of this one from the shore of the river, but really wanted to get a closer look because I could see that there were at least two more (larger) tiers to the waterfall a little ways upstream but blocked by trees. Perhaps at a later time I'll try and cross when the river is lower (and hopefully the creek is still flowing). I finally reached the parking area just after passing through Sierra City and headed towards what the USGS topo maps mark as "Loves Falls." What I found was a decent little (short) drop along the river just downstream of where the topo maps mark "Loves Falls." I called this waterfall Lower Loves Falls. I hiked back up the hill and headed towards the real Loves and 1001 Ridge Falls. I stopped at the latter waterfall first and realized that I had forgotten how tall it is. I conservatively estimated its height at 55 feet. Also, just upstream of where the 1001 Ridge creek meets the North Yuba River, I found another, larger (than Loves Falls) waterfall. I called this waterfall Middle Loves Falls, because I was being unoriginal. Here, I could view 1001 Ridge Falls, Middle Loves Falls, and Loves Falls (in the distance) at once. I finished my waterfall adventure on this day by revisiting Loves Falls before heading out. Loves Falls is not that big of a waterfall but its surroundings partially make up for that. Loves Falls was named for the giant heart-shaped boulder that splits the river in two at the waterfall during periods of higher flow. Also, just upstream of the waterfall is a nice Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) footbridge over the river which makes for a more interesting composition. As I made my way home, I said goodbye to the Sierra Buttes through my rear-view mirror and then spotted 5 hawks soaring over the highway in Sierra Valley. In summary, I visited 9
waterfalls, which included 6 new ones, during this trip. Waterfalls visited on this trip:New York Ravine Falls
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