MOAR Sol Duc Falls!
Sep. 11th, 2021 01:29 pmOlympic Peninsula Travelog #18
Sol Duc, WA - Sun, 5 Sep 2021. 3:30pm.
In reading my previous blog, about our hike to Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park, you might think we got to the falls, snapped a few pictures, and turned around. That's what some people do at waterfalls. Not us. We stayed there for a while!
In staying for a while we explored the falls from different angles. The photos in the previous blog were shot from a foot bridge over the creek below the falls. Here's a few from the trail on the other side of the bridge as it goes up along the cliff opposite the falls:

Part of what makes Sol Duc Falls special is the way it turns 90° and plunges down into a slot canyon. Also special, of course, is the way it divides into three chutes.
By the way, you might notice in this photo and others I've shared, "Wow, that's really intense green." Partly that's because the green, especially in that tuft of wild grass at the near edge of the photo, is intense. You know how I've written in a few of these blogs that the undergrowth glistens in this rain forest setting when the sky is dim and there's been recent light rain? This is part of the effect I'm talking about.
The other part of how I get these brilliant colors is using the right gear. Yesterday when a fellow hiker-photographer on the trail offered to take a picture of Hawk and me, he expressed astonishment as soon as he looked through the viewfinder. "The colors are incredible!" he gushed. "Nothing like mine."
"Yeah, do you feel how heavy that lens is?" I asked, referring to the brick. "A great lens can take great pictures. The trade-off is I have to lug it around all day."

As I mentioned we spent a while at the falls. Just upstream of the falls we climbed down onto the rocks at the creek's edge. The footing was slippery so we were careful. Hawk slipped and splashed a foot in the water. Meanwhile I noticed a photographer moving to the same spot I shot the photo above from, except he was setting up his tripod balanced precariously on the wet lip of the cliff. He may have gotten a great picture (it takes more than an expensive camera and the right location) but he also narrowly dodged a bullet in his camera not slipping over the edge and being lost.
After this we turned around and headed back to the car. Hawk's back was twerked from the small slip she suffered on the rocks. We may squeeze in another hike this afternoon; we'll see how she's feeling in an hour or so when we get there.
Sol Duc, WA - Sun, 5 Sep 2021. 3:30pm.
In reading my previous blog, about our hike to Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park, you might think we got to the falls, snapped a few pictures, and turned around. That's what some people do at waterfalls. Not us. We stayed there for a while!
In staying for a while we explored the falls from different angles. The photos in the previous blog were shot from a foot bridge over the creek below the falls. Here's a few from the trail on the other side of the bridge as it goes up along the cliff opposite the falls:

Part of what makes Sol Duc Falls special is the way it turns 90° and plunges down into a slot canyon. Also special, of course, is the way it divides into three chutes.
By the way, you might notice in this photo and others I've shared, "Wow, that's really intense green." Partly that's because the green, especially in that tuft of wild grass at the near edge of the photo, is intense. You know how I've written in a few of these blogs that the undergrowth glistens in this rain forest setting when the sky is dim and there's been recent light rain? This is part of the effect I'm talking about.
The other part of how I get these brilliant colors is using the right gear. Yesterday when a fellow hiker-photographer on the trail offered to take a picture of Hawk and me, he expressed astonishment as soon as he looked through the viewfinder. "The colors are incredible!" he gushed. "Nothing like mine."
"Yeah, do you feel how heavy that lens is?" I asked, referring to the brick. "A great lens can take great pictures. The trade-off is I have to lug it around all day."

As I mentioned we spent a while at the falls. Just upstream of the falls we climbed down onto the rocks at the creek's edge. The footing was slippery so we were careful. Hawk slipped and splashed a foot in the water. Meanwhile I noticed a photographer moving to the same spot I shot the photo above from, except he was setting up his tripod balanced precariously on the wet lip of the cliff. He may have gotten a great picture (it takes more than an expensive camera and the right location) but he also narrowly dodged a bullet in his camera not slipping over the edge and being lost.
After this we turned around and headed back to the car. Hawk's back was twerked from the small slip she suffered on the rocks. We may squeeze in another hike this afternoon; we'll see how she's feeling in an hour or so when we get there.