Fern and Shadow Falls

Seasons around here seem to follow the calendar pretty closely. Except for winter, that is. Winter comes early and stays late. But summer is usually right on time. This past weekend we had the first “real” summer weather of the season and we took advantage of it by going camping and hiking.

One of our favorite hiking trails is “up the river” to a small, but oh-so-lovely set of waterfalls. We’ve had more rain than usual this spring so the creeks were still plenty full.

The sunny, warm day was just perfect for enjoying the cool, refreshing spray of the water and the lush greenness of the moss and ferns along the banks.

Fern Falls is first along the trail. You probably can’t tell from this picture, but there are ferns growing upside down on the rocks that form the “wall” and “roof” of the falls.

The kids wondered what it would be like to stand behind the falls. Since the water is pretty shallow, they decided to find out. Look closely at the picture above. You can barely make them out behind the shower! They got splashed a little bit, but they weren’t soaked.

Here’s another shot with a faster shutter speed. I used the “action/sports” setting on the camera.

Then, there were bluffs to climb and explore. Lots of interesting nooks and crannies.

Shadow Falls was at the end of the trail.

Well, I didn’t mean exactly the “end”…It was the end of the hiking trail, but there was a well-worn climbing path up the side of the hill, leading to the top of the falls. So Lyle and the kids went on up. I stayed at the bottom to take pictures, of course. You’ll have to look closely again to see them at the top of the picture above. All three got their backsides dusty coming back down, which made me happy about my decision to be the photographer.

According to my daughter, “That was super fun!”