Graveyard Falls
Sep. 28th, 2023 05:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerNorth Carolina Travelog #14
Pisgah National Forest - Thu, 21 Sep 2023. 6pm
Graveyard Falls. I'm not sure that's the official name, but since it is a waterfall in the Graveyard Fields area along the Blue Ridge Parkway, that's what I'm going with. We spotted the falls 1/2 mile away while driving toward the area and knew we had to stop. After spending a bit of time at the valley overlook and learning how this area got the name Graveyard Fields (previous blog) we started down a trail toward the waterfalls.
Like many of the falls we've seen in the Blue Ridge Mountains this trip, Graveyard Falls pours over a rounded rocky bald. That means instead of pouring off a chute or ledge and dropping down one big tier in free-fall, it cascades over rocks in numerous smaller drops. The photo above shows the upper part of this falls. Altogether these falls are about 60 feet tall; this upper part is just the topmost 15 feet.
I got across the falls from Hawk (who's sitting near the top of the photo) by rock-hopping across the stream above the falls then scrambling down dry parts of the exposed rock on the far side. Also, I created the silky look of the water with the backcountry waterfalls photography technique I wrote about earlier today. Now you know why that topic was on my mind— I'm making frequent use of it this week!
After enjoying the scene here for a while I scrambled back up the rocks, across the stream, and then back to the trail with Hawk to hike down to the bottom of the falls.
Well, okay, you can see the whole falls from the bottom, here— because it's far enough back. And because the area is open enough.
Once again I picked a rock-hopping route across to the opposite side of the stream.
Same falls, different perspective. And different effect. Here the motion blur of the water flowing over the falls, especially on the lowest part, really does make it look like a silk sheet laid across the rocks. This photo I made with an exposure time of about 1/2 second... and no, I didn't use my hiking-pole-turned-camera-monopod to stabilize it. I braced my camera on a good, old-fashion rock in the middle of the stream!
Pisgah National Forest - Thu, 21 Sep 2023. 6pm
Graveyard Falls. I'm not sure that's the official name, but since it is a waterfall in the Graveyard Fields area along the Blue Ridge Parkway, that's what I'm going with. We spotted the falls 1/2 mile away while driving toward the area and knew we had to stop. After spending a bit of time at the valley overlook and learning how this area got the name Graveyard Fields (previous blog) we started down a trail toward the waterfalls.
Like many of the falls we've seen in the Blue Ridge Mountains this trip, Graveyard Falls pours over a rounded rocky bald. That means instead of pouring off a chute or ledge and dropping down one big tier in free-fall, it cascades over rocks in numerous smaller drops. The photo above shows the upper part of this falls. Altogether these falls are about 60 feet tall; this upper part is just the topmost 15 feet.
I got across the falls from Hawk (who's sitting near the top of the photo) by rock-hopping across the stream above the falls then scrambling down dry parts of the exposed rock on the far side. Also, I created the silky look of the water with the backcountry waterfalls photography technique I wrote about earlier today. Now you know why that topic was on my mind— I'm making frequent use of it this week!
After enjoying the scene here for a while I scrambled back up the rocks, across the stream, and then back to the trail with Hawk to hike down to the bottom of the falls.
Well, okay, you can see the whole falls from the bottom, here— because it's far enough back. And because the area is open enough.
Once again I picked a rock-hopping route across to the opposite side of the stream.
Same falls, different perspective. And different effect. Here the motion blur of the water flowing over the falls, especially on the lowest part, really does make it look like a silk sheet laid across the rocks. This photo I made with an exposure time of about 1/2 second... and no, I didn't use my hiking-pole-turned-camera-monopod to stabilize it. I braced my camera on a good, old-fashion rock in the middle of the stream!
