Waterfalls
This is one of my favorite winter time images. It was taken Dec 30th on a bitterly cold day at Dry Creek Falls. Even though it was nearly 25º F that day, the creek continued to flow, leaving a crust of ice on every surface it touched. It took the boys and I a solid 2 hours to get warm again after that one.
In the summertime, I try to get the kids out hiking at least once a week. Today we visited my favorite, Elowah falls.
This is a familiar viewpoint, but I just can't resist it, especially since I'm shooting with a slightly different kit than last time I visited. This was taken with the Sony A7rii and the Zeiss Batis 25 and is a pano made from 6 images. The final image is 135mp!
My Brother-in-law Dan and his wife Beth are in town this week and we thought we'd get out and see some waterfalls. You can't really come here and not got see them. Elowah fall is one of my favorites and I just had to take them there. This is also my first landscape photo with the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8. This lens is a beast and just does some really cool stuff you can't do with a narrower lens. This is a pano, merged from 4 images.
In late January the kids and I snuck out for a beautiful morning hike in one of our favorite spots in the Columbia River Gorge. Wahclella falls lies at the end of a fairly short loop that you can access from the same exit as the Boneville dam. The falls was in full-force, and fuller than I'd ever seen it.
This is a 14 image 42.6 megapixel pano of the Wahclella Falls gorge near the Bonneville dam on the Columbia River. We try to get out here pretty regularly as it's a fairly easy hike with a nice loop through this canyon with a view of Wahclella falls at the apex. You can click the link under the photo to see a full size section up close.
I've mentioned (I think) that I got my hands on a Sony RX1r on New Years Day and have been carrying it daily along with a film camera. It has a similar sensor to the one on my Sony A7ii, but no anti-alias filter which I'm noticing produces greater detail overall.
I really like how this photo captures the energy in the river, the thin veiling of the undulating moisture in the air and the warmth of the winter sun cutting into this secluded space.
For scale, If you look really close you can see my kids in the shadows to the left of the falls.
The kids and I both had this Wednesday off for Veteran's Day and instead of hanging out at home where they'd just play video games and I'd edit photos, I planned a fairly epic hike to use the free time.
South Falls is the most popular and most photographed, likely because of its proximity to the main parking lot.
The Trail of 10 Falls wanders through the Silver Falls State park and reveals views of these beautiful ten waterfalls over 7.2 miles. I'd recommend you give yourself plenty of time if you're with kids, or camera. Probably around 4 hours or longer. We took around 4.5 and barely made it back to the car before park closing at 5pm. I could have taken another 2 hours to set up shots and explore each spot, but the kids weren't having any of that.
Double Falls is off on a short 100 foot trail and it's hard to capture its beauty in photographs. The short upper fall pours into a small pool before overflowing and forming the second fall.
Be sure to take the trail behind Middle North Falls.
I lived a little closer (or so I thought) to these falls in college and we seemed to make it out there about once every 6 months. Things haven't changed a lot, except the condition of the trails. It used to be a muddy mess out there in winter, but the trails are all in very good condition.
This is an unnamed fall that only appears in rainy seasons. Not one of the 10.
If you like walking behind waterfalls, this is your place. One of the things I really appreciate is the different basic shapes of these ones. The Middle North falls is a huge sheet of water in most any condition or water level because of the way it breaks over the ledge. North falls cuts through a narrow channel creating a strong tube of water that almost twists as it pours off the cliff. South and Lower South are much more dependant on the level of water for their shape.
As you are planning your hike, I'd recommend reviewing the map to decide on direction and starting location. The South Falls parking lot is the most popular and has a bathroom, lodge gift shop and other facilities, but is often more crowded. The North Falls parking lot is much smaller, with less stuff. It has an outhouse.
This one is my favorite, likely because of how heavy the focused water hits.
The loop has one section that I found less exciting and perhaps worth skipping or considering. The Rim trail that leads from North falls back to the South Falls parking lot is roughly 2 miles long, and has much less of a view. It also parallels the road. You can cut back down to the main Canyon trail at the Winter Falls parking lot and overlook area. You'll be backtracking over trail you've already seen, but I find it really nice to see the falls from a different perspective and you can take the Maple Ridge Trail on the way back as well if you want to change it up a little. This was our standard method when I came here a lot as a college student.
Now that I'm reacquainted with this excursion, I'll certainly be coming back when the seasons change. Ice would be fantastic!
Silver Falls has a fantastic loop that's 8.7 miles long and winds through the forest outside of Salem Oregon giving pretty amazing views (some from behind) of 10 different waterfalls. The South Falls here is the largest.
This is a 91 Megapixel pano made from 17 images. Here's a peek at the detail
The kids and I hiked up past the upper observatory deck of Multnomah Falls to see the two waterfalls that most visitors never see. Dutchman falls is a smaller cascade over a mound of basalt chunks and then a gentle pour from the pull beneath. There's been a log in front of the falls for a couple years now, but hey, that's nature.
There's nothing quite like the view through a Hasselblad viewfinder. The kids and I took turns framing things up. I'll share those shots when I get them developed.
This is a 76megapixel pano made from 22 images. Click here for a peek at the detail
The trail continues to wind up into the forest, but not before a beautiful view of Weisendanger Falls. There are a bunch of logs to climb if you want to get right up near the falls, but it's pretty easy even for my 7 year old. Weisendanger can fluctuate quite a bit, and this photo shows it at a particularly light flow. I'm looking forward to coming back once the rains start up again and we get more snow pack.
