I have a love-hate relationship with waterfalls.
I love them because they are such beautiful masterpieces of nature's creations.
I hate them because they're so dang hard to photograph.
Let's start with Snow Falls up Snow Creek near the Kootenai Wildlife Refuge west of Bonners Ferry.
In the spring they come bursting, flowing and splashing out of the hillside with such force and unbridled fury that ya have to put your camera away to save it from getting ruined from too much moisture.
So, unless it's later in the year, you generally just enjoy the experience and marvel at the magnificence of Snow Falls.
Then, there's Copper Falls up by the Canadian Border.
A lovely path and walkway leads up to the falls which tumble a long distance downward over rock faces into their pool in such a mesmerizing fashion that you can become transfixed.
Once again, bringing the camera out seems futile at best: these falls tumble down SO far that you have to take a couple of shots to get the full picture.
Maybe a fish eye lens would do the trick.
The other aspect of waterfalls is the tricky lighting, which can result in a less-than satisfying image for sure.
For an amateur like me, it's totally frustrating to come back home and see images that, in no way, represent the true picture of what my eyes and ears have just experienced.
That said, I guess there's a lesson to be learned from this discussion: Mother Nature crafts those things so that you HAVE to go see them and hear them and marvel at them to realize the true experience of why they're there in the first place.
I'm beginning to believe that waterfalls are the jewels of Mother Nature's overall palette, and to truly appreciate their impact, we must visit and marvel rather than experiencing them through photography or painting.
Seems like a good enough rationalization for why I did not get the best photographs on my first-ever trip to Char Falls yesterday.
We walked into Char Falls while on a drive through the Trestle Creek and Lightning Creek drainages.
It's a fairly easy, sometimes rocky walk extending about half a mile.
A few hundred feet down the road, the sound of the falls calls out, gradually increasing and adding to the excitement of what will soon be seen.
Once there, evidence of this being a popular spot appears with campfire settings and neatly arrange benches crafted from logs.
Heck, there's even a big tree with a peep hole!
Maybe someone who knows Char Falls better than I can explain the purpose of that peep hole.
The falls themselves, which flow past the campsite over and through huge rock slabs and in several layers are exquisite, to say the least.
Hard for me to photograph but still well worth the walk.
And, so, all I've got to say to folks who've never been to Char Falls, go see and hear them. You can go up the Lightning Creek Road from Clark Fork or come up the Trestle Creek Route.
Mother Nature will be happy to see you enjoying her intricate and spectacular handiwork firsthand.
For Bill and me yesterday, coming up the Trestle Creek route meant continually beautiful back road scenery AND coming out at Clark Fork where we HAD to stop at the Pantry deli for a fresh sandwich and a shake.
A delicious ending to an afternoon outing.
We were in my friend Connie's backyard playground yesterday, so it seems appropriate to send you to her latest blog entry. Enjoy.
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| No big deal until you realize this was about 10 inches across. A North Idaho toadstool pie! |
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