Washington – A Darker View

Waterfall

So… I assembled something from all of the video I took at Falls Creek Falls and Panther Falls. A small taste of a waterfall hike in the forests of Southern Washington.

Two goals… Get out and enjoy a proper PNW forest hike. Yes, we have waterfalls in Hawaii, just not quite the same. Second… Take a pile of photos and video. I do enjoy a day set aside for photography.

The drone made a huge difference. Falls Creek Falls is particular is quite large and impossible to properly capture from the ground. The drone made all the difference, able to sweep along the waterfall from the air or fly right up to unreachable locations and shoot at lovely angles.

Waterfall Day

Falls Creek Falls drops into a large plunge pool

For the most part I was just spending time with the folks, a week hanging out and even doing some chores around the house.

I did have one day planned in an otherwise unplanned week… A hike somewhere, a chance to enjoy a bit of summer in a classic Pacific Northwest sort of way. This year it would be waterfalls.

I had two waterfalls picked out… Falls Creek Falls and Panther Falls, both located in the hills above Carson, on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.

Along with the waterfalls I had one other stop planned, a quick excursion to the new Mitchell Point Tunnel. Add a lunch somewhere along the way and I had a full day.

An important part of the plan was an early start. I left the house at 4am for a dark drive up the gorge for a planned dawn arrival at the trailhead.

The morning dawned clear and beautiful… It should be a great day.

The Eclipse Petroglyph

Among the petroglyphs at Horsethief Lake is one that has always caused me to wonder. Of course the site is home to the famous Tsagaglalal or She-Who-Watches image. This is not the one I refer to, rather a somewhat smaller and usually overlooked image.

To me this petroglyph is obviously a total solar eclipse.

To my eye the image is clearly that of the solar corona surrounding the black shadow of the Moon against the Sun. The image is all the more striking to me personally… In 1979 I witnessed a total solar eclipse, my first, just a short distance from here, from the bluffs above Maryhill.

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