November 18, 2009

Snow Examined II

As if our last adventure was not cold enough, I found myself on the eastern side of the cascades well over 5000 ft and quite cold. It was actually quite a bit warmer then last time I was at Cresent Lake, but the driving wind, blowing snow at quite a horizontal angle made it seem quite harsh... Or at least it may have to some. I was however rather occupied and enjoyed every minute of it!




The lake freezes over in the winter, the cold weather now is just a taste of what is to come. In the meantime the fish in the lake attract eagles and here is a picture of one that flew right over head!


Traveling a short bit up Hwy 58 gets you to Odell Lake.

A large lake and a perfect place for eagle watching.




I had spotted the lone eagle at Cresent, at Odell, I saw two pairs as well as solitary one, bringing the total for the day to six!

Snow Examined

The pursuit of waterfalls led high into the mountains, around 4000 ft snow covered the ground, and by the time the trailhead was reached the world had turned white.

Hemlock Falls is the name of the falls, and is a mere mile and a quarter from the beginning of the trail. The only two difficulties in reaching the falls were these: The one and a quarter were uphill... in the snow... And once you reached the falls you could not see but a small edge as trees blocked the view! What is a photographer to do? Well, climb down in to the ravine and travel up the stream bed jumping from rock to rock, scrambling under giant downed trees, and finally stopping on a massive snow covered boulder... That was easy... Now what about getting back?

Getting back was a must as there were lakes to be seen, first the aptly named Lake In The Woods. The lake was originally a swamp but was drained to provide pasture for horses, then later in the century it was undrained and dammed up to create the lake.





Then there was Hemlock Lake, bearing the same name and water source as the above mentioned falls. Dusk was here and mist swirled on the surface of the lake...

November 13, 2009

Idyllic Fall Days

Idyllic is not exactly an accurate description of Autumn. The dying summer... The earth being wrenched back into frost and cold... However it suits the accompanying picture well!











Scott

November 7, 2009

Waterfalls Observed III

Sometimes it is hard to get a good picture of a waterfall. And sometimes you don't get it- it gets you.
Watson falls(the second picture in the series) is southern Oregon's highest waterfall plunging over 300 feet. It is high enough that wind rushing along the side of the basalt cliffs can move the entire falls many feet in the direction that it is blowing.

When a certain intrepid, daring photographer ventured down the slippery, dangerous slope to the base of the falls, he began taking pictures just a few feet from the freezing water. Then without warning a strong wind rushed along the canyon wall and and began moving the waterfall. The photog was drenched. He tried to move but the slippery rocks, and the pounding water(bitingly cold) slowed his progress... Instinctively he pointed his camera upwards and snapped a few frames. Then realizing that the settings would be wrong(All this happened much quicker then it takes to tell!) he hunched over his gear and fiddled with the buttons and knobs, and then snapped a few more. The moss covered rocks that littered the gorge afforded little in the way of a good foothold and yet our brave shutterbug scrambled with his soaking gear bag and dripping camera(weather sealed!) out of danger and went sloshing down the stream.

In spite of this somewhat wet affair, our cameraman's spirits were not at all dampened and he(conveniently having a change of dry clothes in the car!) went on to enjoy the rest of the day...

If you have ever wondered what it would be like to look straight up into a waterfall, this picture may give some indication of what it would be like.

Waterfalls Observed II

This Waterfall is called Grotto Falls. It is interesting in that there is a low hanging but sizable cavern behind the falls. The trail to the grotto wraps around the canyon, along the cliffs and eventually ends behind the cascading torrent.

November 6, 2009

Autumn Gold

A delightful array of fall beauty!