Leon Turnbull Photography

Now that you’ve had a bit of a break from waterfalls, let’s get back to it. 🙂 I have just a few more to share from the Columbia River Gorge trip. I ended up seeing about 15 waterfalls in a 24 hour period, and I had really good light for most of those waterfalls. So I was darn pleased, though there are just so many waterfalls there, it is impossible to see them all in one day. I did miss a few that I really wanted to see. I’ll be back there for sure.
Wahkeena Falls is a very pretty waterfall, located beside and overshadowed by towering Multnomah Falls. It is also incredibly difficult to photograph. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of Wahkeena that I really really really love (including mine), though I have seen some good ones. It is usually too hard to get an up close shot of this waterfall because there is just too much spray. This one was taken from right in front of it, and even in the late summer, it was hard to keep the spray off the lens as I took the shot.

With my family gone for the week on their annual “coast trip”, no adult males invited (did I say that before?), I figured that I had better get out and do some photographing while I had the chance. So after work one day, I drove up Hwy 50 towards Tahoe looking for some fall colors. I knew of a place along the South Fork American River that had some pretty fall colors from last year, and I had it on my list of places to go for this year. I found the place all right, but I guess I was about a week or two early to see a great display of colors. I took a photo anyway, since I had driven all the way up there. It is a nice little spot right along the highway, and it was close to sunset, so the light shining on the trees was nice and warm. I’m going to try to return here next week when the colors will be a little better.

You know it’s gonna be a bad day when … you dump all the grounds from the coffee you are making all over the floor and your clothes. Then after you clean up all that mess and try making some more, you spill the coffee beans. Then you end up making the coffee too weak cuz you are not paying attention to the amount of water you are putting in. SIGH. Then as soon as you get to work (late), your boss gives you a (crap) job because the person who should be doing it is away. I suppose I deserved that. At least it is Friday. I hope your day is going MUCH better.

Here’s another image from my morning on top of Monitor Pass. The colors were very vibrant that weekend. It will be interesting how the colors will change this weekend though, with a storm scheduled to come in. I suspect the colors will change very fast now. Hope Valley will probably be looking very nice after this storm, but I suspect Monitor Pass has already seen the best it will be for this year. So get out and enjoy the fall colors while you still can.

This is Heenan Lake at sunrise, up on Monitor Pass. I really thought this might be a great location for sunrise and showing some Fall colors from the Aspen trees around the lake, but I was wrong. For one thing, because this is a lower elevation, the Aspen trees hadn’t really started to change color yet. And for a second thing, I just didn’t really like the lake too much and I could not find a good composition that I liked. I waited around until the sun rose above the mountains and shone on the trees and lake. I did get a nice reflection but I just am not overly happy with the photo otherwise. Maybe I’m being too picky. Maybe I’d like it better if the Aspens were in full color. Ah well.

The lake I also found to be rather “dirty” and “yucky”. I had my dog with me, and I just KNEW she wanted to get in that lake. I told her NO WAY are you getting in that lake, my dear puppy. I had to tie her up on her leash beside my camera bag so she couldn’t wander on down to the lake while I was busy taking my photo. She didn’t like that too much, mostly because there wasn’t any comfortable place she could lie down on all these rocks at the end of the lake.

Hi folks. Just wanted to let you all know that I have a new “Current Conditions” page on my website. Click here:

http://www.waterfallswest.com/current.php

If you have been to a waterfall recently, please tell us what the conditions were like (the flow of the waterfall, trail conditions, etc.). This will let everyone know what the waterfalls are currently like before they plan their trip or hike. You can even submit pictures too! The more people that use this feature on my site, the more useful it will be to everyone. Thanks.