Horsetail
Well I really hadn’t been out hiking in a long while and I was anxious to get out and see something. It’s been awfully hot, it is mosquito season, and the waterfalls are well past their peak by now.
I knew 790 ft. high Horsetail Falls would be flowing well, however. And since it was 100+ degrees in Folsom, I figured it was time to escape the heat and head into the mountains for a breath of cooler air. I watched the temperature gage in my car decline from 100 as I drove up the hill. When I arrived at the trailhead, it was at 83. Well that is not too bad. Any higher and it would have been a bit too warm for hiking, so I was pleased, and it would get cooler as the evening went on.
There were lots of people and cars parked at the trailhead on this Sunday evening. It is a very popular trail, but when I have been here before, the people are usually all exiting by sunset time. This was what I expected again. I would see a lot of people on the trail while I was hiking up to the falls, but once I got there I would be all alone. That was almost but not quite the way it worked out. I did see a lot of people exiting as I hiked up to the falls. When I arrived at the waterfall, there was no one else in the vicinity where I was photographing the falls, so I did have it to myself mostly. But there were still quite a lot of people descending from the top of the falls surprisingly, so I was not the only one in the area, and I was not the last one to leave the area either (when I went back down). The best thing though was that there were ZERO mosquitoes! I’ve never really encountered a lot of mosquitoes here before, but when I was here at the same time a couple years ago, there were a lot more. But zero is very good! I wonder if mosquito season is about over now. Perhaps it is time to head out more into the high country.
Anyway, Horsetail Falls was flowing quite well, but not quite what I was expecting. Considering the large snow pack we had this year, I was expecting this waterfall to be amazing, but it was clearly past its peak. It had about the same flow as it did when I visited here in July two years ago (and that was a drought year). Nonetheless, it is still an awesome waterfall. I think though that I arrived a bit too late in the evening for best light. The waterfall was all in shadow and the nice warm light on the rocks was all gone. I probably should have been there an hour earlier in the day.
As I was photographing the falls, I was approached by a family coming down from the top. The very friendly guy asked me if I could photograph them by the waterfall, and he would pay me. I said sure, and that he didn’t have to pay me. But he insisted on giving me $10. Well that was enough to pay for my parking and a hamburger later. Sweet. Anyway, I photographed them by the falls. We talked for awhile and then they went on back down while I took a couple more shots of the falls before I headed back down myself. It was a lovely evening.
Please sign up for one of the new Waterfall Photography workshops I am offering this Fall. Sign up by July 31, and receive a free 20-30 print of your choice.
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