About Webber Falls
Webber Falls seemed to be a somewhat little known waterfall on the Little Truckee River north of Lake Tahoe. Although it had a two main plunges (an upper one of a reported 25ft tall and a more dramatic lower one said to be about 80ft tall), it was a bit of a challenge to try to find a satisfying view of the entirety of the falls without risking a fatal fall into the steep gorge carved out by the Little Truckee River. The photo you see at the top of this page was my best attempt (which was limited by a tree that was in the way) as the steepness of the terrain surrounding the rim of the gorge made me a bit too uncomfortable to try to get all the way to the rim’s edge for that better photo of the falls that you might see in the literature. It was almost as if Mother Nature was playing a game of dare to test how far we were willing to push our luck to improve our photo opportunities of the falls. That said, it was much easier to access the plunge pool and upper waterfall, which we could tell from the condition of the use trails leading there that this was a much more popular option for those in the know who’d come here and cool off.
The water from Webber Falls was said to be coming from Webber Lake, which was on private property that was owned by the Louisiana Pacific Lumber Company. We weren’t sure about whether the waterfall itself was on private property as well (or some kind of arrangement was made between the owner and forest service), but from what we could tell, the US Forest Service (Tahoe National Forest department) seemed to have managed the area by the falls as if it was open to the public. The waterfall itself was said to be only 500ft from the nearest parking area, but even getting there required us to do a short walk from a pullout alongside the paved Jackson Meadow Road (see directions below.
From the roadside pullout, we followed a dirt road leading down from there towards another parking area further down the hillside. Boulders were set up to prevent vehicles from taking this dirt road as it appeared that vehicular access was once allowed. In any case, this stretch of descending dirt road was quite short, and just at the bottom of the descent, we crossed a wider and more well-used dirt road to get into the parking area closest to Webber Falls (which we could hear at this point). Beyond on the parking area, there was a well-used trail that appeared to approach the steep gorge containing Webber Falls. It was pretty easy to see the 25ft upper drop of the falls as well as its plunge pool, but in order to try to go a little further downstream alongside the canyon rim for a better view of the taller lower drop, that was where things got dicey for us. You see, the terrain was steep and slippery (from loose rocks and pebbles), especially as it got closer to the edges of the canyon rim, and this was where I had trouble justifying getting all the way to the edge of the rim for that better photo at the expense of a potentially fatal fall into the gorge.
So instead of getting all the way down to the rim of the gorge, I found a trail-of-use higher up on the canyon that went further downstream of the falls (well backed off from the dropoffs) and eventually reached a ridge jutting out towards the gorge. The ridge looked scarier than it really was (kind of reminding me of the doubts I was having about Angels Landing when approaching its knife-like ridge with dropoffs on both sides), and I’d eventually drop down to as far as I was willing to go before looking back upstream at Webber Falls (yielding the photo you see at the top of this page). This short walk was roughly 1/4-mile to 1/2-mile (I wasn’t keeping track) but it took me roughly 10-15 minutes in each direction. As for reaching the top of the upper drop of Webber Falls, there was a more gradual descent leading in the upstream direction from the nearest parking area before it made its steep but shorter descent to the plunge pool at the base of that upper drop. From what I could tell, there was no way to get a safe view of the lower drop from here, but it did appear possible to cross the Little Truckee River and attempt to get a different view of the entirety of Webber Falls from the other side (something we didn’t attempt).
Related Trip Reports
Related Top 10 Lists
No Posts Found
Related Itineraries
Trip Planning Resources
Nearby Accommodations
This content is for subscribers only. See Membership Options.Featured Images and Nearby Attractions
This content is for subscribers only. See Membership Options.Visitor Comments:
Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...No users have replied to the content on this page
Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall
Nearest Waterfalls
