Swift
This is Swift Creek Falls in the Trinity Alps. I took this image when I was last up in northern California at the beginning of May for the grand opening of the Western Captures Gallery and Gift Shop in Weed. I have been to Swift Creek Falls before, and this was not supposed to be my primary destination of the day, but it is how things worked out.
I was trying to get to another waterfall which is on the same trail past Swift Creek Falls. I arrived at the trailhead in the dark and started my hike. I needed to start so early because the waterfall would be getting the early sun, and I needed to be there at sunrise to get a decent photograph. Swift Creek was certainly flowing very swiftly from the snowmelt, and I made my way past this waterfall and continued on. I climbed higher and higher in elevation and found snow on the trail, and a lot of it. I was surprised for sure because I was only at about 5000 ft. elevation. The snow was very soft as well, and I was sinking in big time. A short easy hike was now taking a long time, and I could see I would not likely make it to the other waterfall in time. I had two options: continue on, and get to the waterfall late, and miss out on the other two waterfalls I was hoping to photograph as well, or turn back, and still have time to photograph the other two falls. I decided on option B. The other two waterfalls were this one on Swift Creek and Kickapoo Falls. I was thinking Kickapoo would be really nice and it was actually the main waterfall that I really wanted to try to get to on this day. I did make it to Kickapoo but it was not flowing very well at all, so all in all it was a disappointing morning. In retrospect, I should not have turned back, and perhaps I could have made it to the first waterfall through the snow in time, but at least I did make it to a couple waterfalls.