Leon Turnbull Photography

I have known about Donner Summit Falls for some time now of course, but had never been there before. You can see it as you whip by it at 80 miles per hour on I-80. Oops, I think you just rear-ended that slow moving car in front of you when you cast a glance over at the falls. Seriously though, why have I not been here before? Well … well … no good excuses really. Except that it is an awfully long drive up there, and all just to see a roadside waterfall? It is in the full sun pretty much the entire day and flows only in the spring, there’s nothing really else in the area, and just how big is it anyway? It didn’t really seem worth the effort. Plus I was not really sure how to get to it.

But … I had to do it sometime, right? And so I came up with a plan. I would go see Donner Summit Falls, arriving at sunrise, and then I would have time to go on a second hike to a second waterfall in good light as well. Now what about how to get there? There is no place to stop along the freeway. Well, maybe there is a way, but it seemed better to approach it from the other side. Perhaps I could hike down to it from the rest area. It would be quick and easy, and give me lots of time to get there by sunrise and get in that second hike as well. However, when I arrived at the rest area, I found a lot of signs, NO TRESPASSING signs. Doh. This would not work. Ok well what about from the Boreal ski resort? There is a trailhead there for the Pacific Crest Trail and that trail takes you close to Donner Summit Falls. So I drove all the way down to Donner Lake to get back on the freeway going the other way and back to Boreal, where I got to the PCT trailhead, still in the dark. I could not see where the darn trail started in the dark, however (even though I was right next to it). I guessed that with all the snow, it was not traveled in the winter. Well, I spent a lot of time trouncing through the snow in the forest, then finally got on the trail proper. It actually was quite well traveled, and now it was easy to follow. When I got over towards the waterfall, I got off trail, got on my snow shoes, and made my way down to the bottom of the falls. I didn’t quite go the right way, however, and it took longer than it should have. I finally got to the bottom of the falls, 10 minutes past sunrise, and the sun was already starting to hit the falls. With all that extra trouncing around, I was just a bit too late. But actually the photo turned out pretty nice. The comp was difficult. It would have been much better to shoot it from the other side, but it was too icy and I could not safely cross the creek. Still though, not too shabby. Donner Summit Falls is 34 ft. high, and if you can ignore the traffic whizzing by above you, it is a sweet one.

Speaking of long overdue, where is our snow and rain this year? Still much of nothing in the long term forecast. What little snow we have is melting quickly. The only reason Donner Summit Falls is flowing is because the little snow that is melting.

And here is another thing that I do not understand. At the PCT trailhead at Boreal is a mess of broken sleds. Not only at the trailhead, but scattered in various places along the trail. This is a popular area for sledding, but what the hey? If you break your sled you have to just litter it along the trail? Why are people such idiots that they cannot take their broken sled and dispose of it properly? Ugh! End rant.