Saturday, April 18, 2009

High Water at Petit Jean

So I was driving home on Easter Sunday and decided to make a quick side trip to Petit Jean Mountain. It had been pouring down rain all day (no doubt ruining thousands of Easter egg hunts), and there was water everywhere. I hurried to get up to the mountain before it got dark, eagerly thinking about all the water going through the many waterfalls at Petit Jean.

And man, were those waterfalls going - I don't think I'd ever seen more water flowing through Cedar Creek. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to hike the trail down to Cedar Falls before it got dark (looking back I should have at least tried, oh well), but I ended up being able to see a few waterfalls up there.

The first was the waterfall off of the small stone dam that forms Lake Bailey. I was both impressed and amazed to see the large volume of water flowing over the waterfall there. It was awesome.
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To compare and contrast, this is the same waterfall taken during my last trip to Petit Jean, in February:
Lake Bailey Falls

The wind was still blowing heavily, so most of the leaves on the trees have a bit of blur in them.
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And a view from the other side:
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And a view from about the same place, taken in January (I've made a lot of trips to Petit Jean so far this year):
A swirl at Petit Jean

And one last view of these neat falls, I'm still amazed at how much water there was going through.
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I hurried over to the other side of the old stone bridge and got another quick shot of the traditional place to get a shot of these falls - from underneath the span of the old 1930's bridge.
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And the same view, from January:
Under the Bridge

It was about 30 minutes before it started to get dark, so I hurried over to an overlook of the main waterfall at Petit Jean - the mighty Cedar Falls. Those falls are 95 feet tall, and were running full-tilt after all the rain. This is the view from an overlook, with some nice mist raising up over the falls.
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And one last comparison shot, this one taken in February:
Cedar Falls

And finally, a view looking down on the steep valley created by Cedar Creek. The trail to the falls is below, while the hillside is showing off its new spring greenery and blooming dogwoods:
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1 comment:

Jonw said...

Great comparisons! I almost like the lower river shots better as the falls seem more graphic with they're a touch less bloated. Great to see the change, though!