Big Sur
We are just back from spending the week at the coast, in the Monterey area. It will be my last vacation for awhile as I am starting a new job next week, and we had a great time. The weather was good. We saw plenty of wildlife. We had plenty of beach time. And we saw a few waterfalls as well.
We took one day and drove down the Big Sur coastline to go waterfall hunting. The weather report had indicated it was going to be a cloudy morning, and I was thus hoping to see quite a few waterfalls in good lighting conditions. I got the family up very bright and early, and it was overcast in Monterey. A very good sign. But by the time we got down to Big Sur, the clouds had broken up. I could see that it was going to be a very sunny day along the coast, and I would not be able to see all the waterfalls I wanted to see. In fact, I figured I would only get to about one before the sun started wreaking havoc on my waterfall photos. The first stop was Limekiln State Park, but the gate was closed (it did not open until 8AM). Doh. Next stop, Salmon Creek Falls. Salmon Creek Falls is a spectacular 90 ft. drop and the creek was flowing very strongly. Too strongly, in fact, to get right up to the base of the falls. We tried to get as far as possible up to the falls, and we had fun rock hopping up the creek, but we could not get even near the waterfall. I then tried on the other side of the creek, and actually found a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the waterfall right in front of it. I was pleased and I figured it would be the only waterfall I saw in good lighting conditions that day (not so, however).
This is also the first waterfall I got to shoot with my new camera. I purchased the Canon 5D Mark II just in time for our trip to the coast. I have been wanting to purchase this camera for about 6 months as my old 5D has been on life support all this time, but without a job I was holding out on getting it. Now I was finally able to get it, and I am very happy with the purchase thus far. Salmon Creek Falls was a very good first waterfall tryout for the new camera.
More info on Salmon Creek Falls:
http://waterfallswest.com/waterfall.php?id=289