Trail of Ten Falls: Silver Falls State Park, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Spring in western Oregon is an amazing time to be out photographing waterfalls. The new foliage is so green it practically glows, wildflowers are popping up everywhere, and the falls are at their peak flow.

Located in a temperate rain forest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range, Oregon’s Silver Falls State Park is one of the state’s premier locations for photographing waterfalls. Its 8.7 mile Trail of Ten Falls is the star attraction, passing by more than ten falls, four of which can be accessed from behind and all of which are photo worthy.

The weather was perfect on this particular Saturday. It poured rain in the morning which served to increase the flow of water even more than the typical spring day—as well as to create interesting opportunities for macro photography. This is one area that is relatively new to me. I couldn’t imagine a more beautiful place to practice although Darla and Lewis would have probably preferred that I spend less time practicing and more time making my way down the trail. At one point Darla started calling me “Marilyn”, a little joke that will come back to bite her once her mother-in-law reads this post.

By early afternoon the rain had let up leaving me with sometimes sunny-sometimes cloudy light. It was sunny when we arrived at Lower South Falls. As a rule, direct sun is not particularly desirable when photographing falls; in this case, the sunlight on Lower South Falls was gorgeous and the leaves on the surrounding trees looked as though they were illuminated from within. I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

After Lower South Falls we had a decision to make. The 8.7 mile trail is not a loop so at some point one or all of us would have to turn back. Darla decided she would walk back to the camper and meet us further down the trail. Lewis decided he would stay with me. He paused for a quick portrait among some ferns as we headed toward Lower North Falls. With so many different falls to take in, we spent quite a bit of time ranking them and discussing their pros and cons.

By the time we all arrived at the North Falls, Darla included, it was starting to get dark. It had begun to rain again—harder than ever—but I was able to set up my final shot of the day out of the rain. North Falls flows over a massive overhang creating a conveniently sheltered location in which to capture a unique view of the falls and the valley beyond (featured image).

[Click on the featured image or any link to view the six-image gallery.]

©2012 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Bamboo Forest: Haleakala National Park, Maui

Posted on Saturday, Oct 1, 2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011

When most people think of Haleakala National Park, they think of a beautiful sunrise at the top of a dormant 10,000 foot volcano. There is, however, another less visited section of the park known as Kipahulu. It is on the windward side of the island twelve miles past Hana town. Kipahulu features one of the best hikes on Maui, the four mile Pipiwai Trail.

Despite being at the very top of our Maui “to do” list, we almost aborted our plans to take this hike due to the effects of the previous day’s bee attack. Neither Lewis nor I had slept well the night before and we both felt an overwhelming sense of malaise that made even walking out to the rental car seem like an insurmountable obstacle. When we finally arrived at Kipahulu, the two of us ended up languishing in the car for an hour while Darla explored the visitor center on her own. When she returned to the car, I decided we should at least try to do the hike. This turned out to be a good decision although we had our doubts at first; we thought we were going to die during the initial climb. After a long break at the Banyan tree featured in last week’s blog post, we eventually started to feel better. By the end of the hike Lewis and I were much improved. We were all glad we did it.

Although the Pipiwai Trail leads to an impressive waterfall, the best part of the hike was the bamboo forest one must hike through to reach it. I had never been in a bamboo forest before. It reminded me of being lost in the middle of a corn field—if the corn grew randomly instead of in planted rows, and if the corn was thicker, five times taller, and blocked out the sun. It was amazing. I was glad I had chosen to lug my tripod along. It would have been too dark to handhold the camera for any of the bamboo images.

After exiting the bamboo it was still a short walk to Waimoku Falls. There were two swiftly moving streams along the way that lacked an easy, dry way across, something that struck me as odd given the extensive boardwalk that had been built through the bamboo forest. Some people simply removed their shoes and waded through the water. This was the easiest solution but left them with wet, muddy feet on the other side. Others chose to cross the two streams with shoes on, hopping from questionable slippery rock to questionable slippery rock. This approach resulted in varying degrees of success; most shoes arrived on the other side wetter than when they started but with mud on the outside of their shoes, where it belonged. A walking stick or, in my case, a tripod came in very handy in this situation.

Our final destination, 400 foot high Waimoku Falls, was magnificent. The final image in this set does not begin to do it justice. The east side of Maui had been deluged with heavy rains overnight resulting in a massive flow of water over the falls and into the air. It was all I could do to get a shot off before my lens became covered with water drops. Still, one can get a sense of the scene.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Upper Waikani Falls: Road to Hana, Maui

Posted on Saturday, Aug 27, 2011

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

It is ironic and a little sad that I must follow up my last post about the beginning of Lewis’ love of honey bees with a blog post about the end of it. Like other recent posts, this one features a waterfall—one of many along the road to Hana on Maui’s rugged windward coast—and bees.

Because we had devoted so much time this spring to exploring the waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge, most of the falls along the road to Hana were relatively unimpressive as photographic subjects. Upper Waikani Falls, aka Three Bear Falls, was the first one we encountered that struck me as worthy of the time it would take to photograph it. I decided to do so; and Lewis decided to come with me while Darla watched us from the bridge above. Reaching the base of the falls involved navigating down a steep muddy slope, scrambling across a series of large slippery rocks, and then wading through the pool at the bottom of the falls. At least that is how I imagined things going; we never made it that far.

As we carefully made our way through and across the rocks, I was focused on Lewis, who was in front of me, and on my own footing. I didn’t want to see either of us slip and fall head first onto a rock and then, potentially unconscious, into the fast moving stream coming off the upper falls and flowing toward the lower falls. As it turned out, the real problem was the hive of bees in the adjacent vegetation. Unfortunately, I only noticed it after batting it with my elbow as I walked by. I felt an acute burning sensation in my elbow just before becoming enveloped in a swarm of angry bees.

Being in front of me, Lewis had no idea what was going on as he started to get stung. If Lewis hadn’t been involved, if it had been just me, I could probably spin this into a humorous story about my own wilderness incompetence but it was such a terrifying experience for him that there just isn’t anything funny about it. We couldn’t run away so, in the end, we just sat down in some shallow water and waited out the attack with me trying my best to swat bees off of Lewis as they attacked. By the time it was over we each had been stung about 20 times.

Twenty bee stings is no picnic but it could have been much worse. We were fortunate to be wearing clothes that we had treated with permethrin, a very effective organic insecticide, as well as insect repellent on our exposed skin. This seemed to make many of the bees reluctant to sting. We were also fortunate that neither of us were allergic to bee stings since we had no cell service and were hours from medical facilities.

The following day, the doctor in Hana—who was also the one answering the phone at the small hospital—expressed surprise that we hadn’t had to come in to the emergency room. She said we both needed tetanus vaccinations; and that the worst day is always the day after. She was right. We both felt like someone beat us with a baseball bat. There wasn’t any part of our bodies that didn’t ache.

If there is a humorous aspect to this story, it is listening to my wife tell this story and talk about how stressful it was to watch this all take place from the safety of the bridge. I’m sure it was; and I always tell her how bad I feel that she had to endure that… Meanwhile, honey bees are now insecta non grata in Lewis’ world.

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Wahclella Falls: Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Jul 9, 2011

Saturday, April 24, 2011

Wahclella Falls is my favorite waterfall along the Columbia River Gorge. It is unique, even among dual-tiered waterfalls, because the upper tier consists of two falls which face each other as they come crashing down into a narrow gap from which they emerge as a single thundering stream of water. Yet it is not just the falls themselves but the setting that makes Wahclella so compelling. One particularly striking feature is an enormous wall of bright green moss sustained by yet another waterfall. It served as a great backdrop for a shot of Lewis in his new North Face coat.

I felt like a kid in a candy store as Darla, Lewis, and I arrived at the falls. It was late in the evening and there was only one other person there. Soon we would have it to ourselves—or so I thought. After setting up my first comp and capturing it I turned to find no less than 14 people milling around behind me! Every one of them was a photographer and every one of them was setting up a tripod. It took me a minute to figure out that a local Portland photographer had chosen this exact time and place to hold a workshop. In the words of the immortal Homer Simpson, “Doh!” Despite the crowd, there were plenty of compositions from which to choose. In fact, the situation forced everyone to look beyond the obvious comps since those vantage points were almost always occupied.

The one mile hike to get to Wahclella is easy. (It is not quite as easy as Elowah Falls but much easier than the beautiful hike up to Fairy Falls.) When you reach the loop at the end of it you have the choice of continuing on straight ahead or taking a fork to the right. The right fork, the one that goes down, is the preferable alternative. It offers some nice views as you approach the falls.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.

Elowah Falls: Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Posted on Saturday, Jul 2, 2011

Saturday, April 24, 2011

Elowah Falls is another spectacular waterfall set in the lush green that is spring in the Columbia River Gorge. Compared to the hike up to Fairy Falls, getting to Elowah is more than a third shorter and significantly easier due to the minimal gain in elevation. The walk is not nearly as pretty as the one along Wahkeena Creek but the waterfall at the end is much more impressive.

On this Saturday, the enormous volume of water plummeting over the brink of the falls was generating waves of heavy mist that soaked anyone who crossed the bridge near its base. The slick rocks and slippery bridge planks forced everyone to slow down at the crossing, insuring that even the most fleet of foot could not avoid getting a cold shower. A couple of regular summer visitors expressed shock at the experience. They were used to spending an afternoon sitting against the logs near the bottom and reading a book. That wasn’t going to happen today.

The final image was my only successful attempt at capturing Elowah. The breeze picked up long enough to keep the mist off my camera lens for the time it took me to focus, compose, and click. I can imagine coming back when I might have a little more time to set up and explore a couple different compositional options closer to the falls.

[Click on a thumbnail to view the entire image.]

©2011 Timothy Linn. All Rights Reserved.