Tag: Waterfall

Twin Falls day hike

A couple weeks ago, I organized a hike to the Twin Falls, mostly because it’s better to look at water features on a gray day. 🙂

I’ve been there several times, so I mostly took pictures of mushrooms and other plants. For some reason, the photos are out of order, but I’m not going to worry about it.

Group photo, and I'm in it for once! — Group photo, and I’m in it for once!

Palouse Falls State Park

I have always loved Palouse Falls State Park. In arid eastern Washington, there is a big waterfall. What a contrast!

After I left the Juniper Dunes, I visited Palouse Falls since it was relatively close. I have gone there several times, but this time I hiked over to the falls (previously, I looked at the falls from the parking lot). What a wonderful experience! I got to see the falls up close. In addition, I got to see the falls and the Palouse river canyon from a different perspective.

Naturally, I have included pictures. Enjoy!

I shot this from the trail going to the falls. It's still at about the same level as the parking lot. — I shot this from the trail going to the falls. It’s still at about the same level as the parking lot.

This shot shows the falls and the trail.

Still heading to the falls. I wish I had a wide angle lens. This is my best attempt to show the waterfall and the Palouse river canyon.

A marmot. I thought that they were only in the mountains, but I guess that I was wrong.

I love the wall's texture! — I love the wall’s texture!

This is behind the waterfall, which is to the right.

This is an interesting rock formation next to the waterfall.

This is as close as I dared get to the falls. It's a long way down! — This is as close as I dared get to the falls. It’s a long way down!

You can't see this rainbow from the parking lot. Beautiful! — You can’t see this rainbow from the parking lot. Beautiful!

I didn't want to go back the same way, so I followed the trail on the canyon wall. — I didn’t want to go back the same way, so I followed the trail on the canyon wall.

You can see the trail in this shot. See? It's not that bad. :-) — You can see the trail in this shot. See? It’s not that bad. 🙂

Another shot of the falls, further down the trail.

The trail continued down the canyon, but I went back to the car at this point.

Hiking the Big Creek trail in the Olympics

Last weekend, I had two outdoor events. On Saturday, I led a hike in the Olympics, and went four-wheeling the next day! This post is about the hike.

Six of us hiked the Big Creek trail in the Olympic National Forest near Mt. Elinor and Lake Cushman. It was fairly low in elevation (maximum was a little over 2000 feet), so there was almost no snow. There were a few rain showers, but overall the weather wasn’t too bad.

The hike is a 4.3 mile loop which gains about 900 feet, but most of us thought that was too short. So, some of us went another two miles to see a viewpoint. Okay. Truth be told, one of the group (Chad), literally ran ahead to the viewpoint (he has a surplus of energy). By the time, the rest of us had hiked 3/4 of the way, he ran back and said that you couldn’t see a darn thing from the viewpoint, because it was socked in. We decided to head back down after hearing that.

Everybody enjoyed the hike. I’m glad, because it almost got canceled. The organizer along with a lot of other people were discouraged by the weather forecast. I volunteered to lead the hike, and the rest is history.

So, here are a few pictures. Enjoy!

A much better, more natural picture of everybody on the trail.

I like the color contrast of the branch on top of the wood. It also has a nice leading line, and other compositional elements (that nobody except a photographer cares about :) ) — I like the color contrast of the branch on top of the wood. It also has a nice leading line, and other compositional elements (that nobody except a photographer cares about 🙂 )

Spring is coming! I shot this when it was still (barely) winter.

A moss "waterfall". — A moss “waterfall”.

There were lots of streams on this trail.

Pack Forest and Waterfalls – the sequel

I don’t repeat a visit to a place very much, but I made an exception in this case because there was more to see.

We saw all three waterfalls this time, and 90% of the ice was gone. Lastly, we hiked up Hugo Peak. It isn’t very high, but it was a nice walk. All told, we went about 7.5 miles on mostly moderate slopes. Not too strenuous.

Onward to the pictures:

I managed to get a more candid group shot as we started out.

Fellow hikers getting some pictures from the top of the falls.

You can see the rest of the group way down below.

Bottom of Middle falls. It puts out a lot of spray.

I like the shape of this side waterfall.

I love the color! It seems so out of place in winter.

Pack Forest and waterfalls

I joined a new meetup group, and went on a hike in the Pack Forest, near Mt. Rainier. This was fairly low elevation (about 1,000 feet), so there was no snow. There was some ice, and that was a good thing! The highlight of the Pack Forest trails is three waterfalls on the Little Mashel River, and the ice made them even more spectacular.

We only visited two of the waterfalls, but we’ll be returning next Saturday. I can hardly wait!

Oh yeah, we had one other special treat. The lowlands were foggy all that day, but we had sunshine! That gave us a nice view of Mt. Rainier for a bonus.

On to the pictures…

The hike starts on a logging road. That's our group and one of the dogs. — The hike starts on a logging road. That’s our group and one of the dogs.

I like the way that the sun makes the trees shine.

I love meta-pictures. In this case, a person is getting her picture taken in front of Mt. Rainier. I'll show the mountain later. — I love meta-pictures. In this case, a person is getting her picture taken in front of Mt. Rainier. I’ll show the mountain later.

Middle falls 1. This waterfall had a lot of spray, so it was surrounded by lots of ice!

Bridal Veil Falls / Lake Serene

Last weekend’s hike was to Bridal Veil Falls and Lake Serene. The weather wasn’t too promising at the beginning. We knew it would be fairly chilly, but we weren’t expecting to be hiking in the clouds. It even snowed briefly while we were on the trail. Fortunately, most of the clouds rolled away eventually, and we were treated to a grand view.

Sigh. I am too much the photographer. I fell behind everybody else, because I kept seeing things to photograph. I think that next time I go hiking with normal people (i.e. non-photographers), I’ll leave the DSLR behind. I’d better not bring my cell phone, either. 🙂

Well, this is a photoblog, so let’s get to the pictures. As always, click on an image to enlarge it.