This is a later-than-usual start to my WFOT series. Unfortunately, I think that will tend to be the norm for now on, simply because I've shot and re-shot every notable waterfall within easy driving distance of Seattle. (Do you
really want to see yet another series of images from the same viewpoint at Snoqualmie Falls? Neither do I.) However, that means that I have to go further and farther afield to find new subjects, meaning full day or weekend trips, of which there are only a limited number I can manage per year. On the upside, each of those trips should result in images from a number of different falls, rather than just one or two.
So it was last Saturday, when I took a hunch on the weather forecast not being as dire as earlier predicted, and headed out for the 3.5-hour drive to Oregon's Columbia Gorge. My initial objective was to finally make it up Eagle Creek to Punch Bowl Falls, a Mecca for Northwest photographers I had never visited before.
Initially, it looked like my gamble wouldn't pay off, as the skies opened up just as I was crossing the river into Oregon. After a quick break for lunch, and just as the downpour was starting to die down, I decided to first try to bag a few waterfalls with drive-by access before deciding if the weather was lifting enough to justify the three-mile hike up Eagle Creek. Accordingly, my first stop was the familiar and easiest-to-access attraction along the Gorge,
Wahkeena Falls.
Although the falls were, as usual, partly obscured (and never have been the easiest to shoot), it should be noted that Wahkeena Creek was running fast enough that you could easily make out the upper levels of the fall, at the top of the image, and not just the main attraction two-thirds of the way up.
Someone had left a couple of flowers on the stone railing by the lower part of the creek. I took advantage of them to create
A Bouquet for Wahkeena.
As I finished taking the photo, I heard the unmistakable sound of a group of other photographers waiting their turn behind me. Turning around, I found myself encountering outstanding Seattle
photographer and
waterfall expert Bryan Swan, leading a group of workshop students. While comparing some notes on the day's shooting, I mentioned my Eagle Creek plans. Bryan informed me that, according to his sources, Eagle was running so high that, to get the Punch Bowl shot I wanted, I'd have to wade up to my waist in fast-running snowmelt. Seeing as I had neglected to pack insulated waders, it was on to Plan B -- a couple of trails that would feature one new (to me) fall, plus one I visited several years ago, but with which results I'd never been happy.
First up was easily-accessible
Horsetail Falls, which have appeared here before.
However, if you take a short but quite-steep trail upstream from Horsetail, you find its source,
Ponytail Falls.
The trail to Ponytail passes behind the falls before heading onward. Here's a shot from behind the falls (the pool forms the source to Horsetail), with the Columbia River and Gorge in the clearing beyond.
On the way back down the trail, the sun, improbably, came out. However, since Horsetail Falls itself was shaded by the cliffs surrounding it, I was able to get that most-unusual of waterfall photos: an image with both slow-shutter-speed flowing water
and backlit, sun-dappled foliage.
Then, it was on to Tanner Creek, and the mile-long trail (which, I swear, gets steeper every time I hike it ;-) ) to
Wahclella Falls. Last time I visited there, a series of mishaps (long story -- don't ask) resulted in me taking a whole afternoon's worth of photos without a polarizer, then trying in vain for the next two years to find post-processing settings to mute the glare off the leaves. Needless to say, I didn't make the same mistake again.
If you look carefully above Wahclella in the previous photo, you can see a small stream of water dropping sideways into the gorge. That is actually a completely-different waterfall,
East Fork Falls, which is nearly impossible to shoot with a better angle and greater view than this admittedly-limited one.
On the way back down the trail, I stopped for a few shots of
Munra Falls, a small waterfall that is very hard to shoot because of its closeness to the trail. How close? I think this picture tells the story.
While it's virtually impossible to get an image of Munra in its entirety, it lends itself very well to detail shots and impressionistic close-ups.
That was all for this trip. I'm hoping to get back to Oregon at least twice more in the next month; once for that "holy grail" hike of Eagle Creek, the other for an encounter with central Oregon's Proxy Falls, another photographic icon of the Northwest.
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