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canyonwalkerNorth Cascades Travelog #14
Okanogan National Forest, WA - Mon, 4 Sep 2023, 12pm.
I didn't expect this one trail hike to stretch to 3 blogs especially because it's not even that long, but here we are. There's just been so much beauty to share.
After we reached near the top of the Falls Creek trail and had seen several waterfalls on the way up (previous blog) we turned around to go back down. As hard as the steep uphill stretches were on the way up, we ate up the distance quickly on the descent. It seemed like we were back down to flatland in 5 minutes. (I think it was actually 15 minutes.)
Before going all the way out to the trailhead, though, we stopped back at the first falls. On the way past them the first time we'd noticed a perch we could scramble up to to be right next to the falls. We skipped that on the way up, figuring we'd hit it on the way back after seeing everything else. Plus, the scramble up to it was really steep. Well, after seeing how steep the rest of the trail was, we were like, pfft, let's just do it.
It was fun to stand up next to the falls. The wind wasn't blowing, so spray wasn't much of a problem. The sun dodging behind clouds was a problem, though. It was dim. But as I noted a few blogs ago, dim light is something of a secret boon to waterfalls photography. Not only I was able to get lots of motion-blur photos of the water using my neutral density filter but the scene took on an eerie color cast. On the downside I hadn't carried my tripod on this hike, so I had to capture these slow exposures free-hand, relying on the camera lens's image stabilization system to avert excessive blurring from camera motion. Not all the shots I took are keepers (I shot a lot) but I'm happy overall with the results.
Okanogan National Forest, WA - Mon, 4 Sep 2023, 12pm.
I didn't expect this one trail hike to stretch to 3 blogs especially because it's not even that long, but here we are. There's just been so much beauty to share.
After we reached near the top of the Falls Creek trail and had seen several waterfalls on the way up (previous blog) we turned around to go back down. As hard as the steep uphill stretches were on the way up, we ate up the distance quickly on the descent. It seemed like we were back down to flatland in 5 minutes. (I think it was actually 15 minutes.)
Before going all the way out to the trailhead, though, we stopped back at the first falls. On the way past them the first time we'd noticed a perch we could scramble up to to be right next to the falls. We skipped that on the way up, figuring we'd hit it on the way back after seeing everything else. Plus, the scramble up to it was really steep. Well, after seeing how steep the rest of the trail was, we were like, pfft, let's just do it.
It was fun to stand up next to the falls. The wind wasn't blowing, so spray wasn't much of a problem. The sun dodging behind clouds was a problem, though. It was dim. But as I noted a few blogs ago, dim light is something of a secret boon to waterfalls photography. Not only I was able to get lots of motion-blur photos of the water using my neutral density filter but the scene took on an eerie color cast. On the downside I hadn't carried my tripod on this hike, so I had to capture these slow exposures free-hand, relying on the camera lens's image stabilization system to avert excessive blurring from camera motion. Not all the shots I took are keepers (I shot a lot) but I'm happy overall with the results.
