Webber Falls

From the junction of Interstate 80 and Highway 89 in Truckee, follow Highway 89 north for just over 14 miles and turn left onto Jackson Meadow Road / Road 07, which is signed for Independence and Webber Lakes. Follow this road for 6.7 miles and watch for a large pullout on the left side of the road. Lower clearance cars may want to park here, but more dexterous vehichles can drive down the hill for another 200 yards and park along an older dirt road. From the parking area, the falls are about 500 feet away. Any of several unofficial trails will lead towards the river and canyon, upon encountering which one will have to walk up and down along the rim to find a good viewpoint.Webber Falls is a powerful but very two-faced waterfall along the Little Truckee River near Perazzo Meadows and Webber Lake. The falls make a three-stepped leap of 76 feet into a deep, arid gorge carved out of the basaltic bedrock, the upper and lower tiers tumbling in a cascading style, while the middle and largest tier drops nearly vertically. Because the Little Truckee River at this point harbors a fairly small drainage area, the volume of water present in the falls can vary widely. From March through the end of June the falls take on a powerful channel-wide shape, plunging into the canyon with exceptional force. By the end of July however (at least during most years) the volume of water is greatly reduced - possibly by as much as 15 times - to the point where the falls revert to a narrow column of spray dancing down the dark brown cliffs. The 4th edition of Ann Marie Brown's California Waterfalls guidebook says the falls occur on land owned by the Louisiana Pacific Lumber Company, however most maps show the land to belong to Tahoe National Forest.