Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Wildman Twin Falls

Last weekend, I headed out west with a friend (whose name shall rename anonymous since he/she may or may not have been playing hooky from work the day before) to try and visit a few waterfalls. There had been some decent rain the week before, so we hoped the falls would be running well. The only downside was that the forecast was to be sunny for most of the weekend, which isn't optimum conditions for waterfall photography.

So we headed out Friday evening, eventually ending up at the Cove Lake campground by Mount Magazine. We camped overnight, and woke up to a brisk 40 degree temperature before dawn on Saturday. After getting the campsite packed up, we headed off in the darkness towards a nearby waterfall. And after a few miles of driving down some dirt roads, I parked the car next to a jeep road that headed off into the woods. The hike to the falls was short, but it did involve a steep slide/scramble down the hill towards the creek. But we eventually made it to Wildman Twin Falls, two 43 foot-tall waterfalls...

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Both falls seemed to have a lot of personality, as they dropped over different steps along their way to the creek below.

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Another wide shot with both falls, which I made into black and white to try to look a bit different...

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And the view looking back at the falls, from the creek...

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There were several small waterfalls and cascades along the creek below the falls. We hiked along the creek hoping there would be a less steep place to hike back up the hill, but we never found one.

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After that, the sun came out and officially nixed any waterfall photography. So we climbed up the hill, and eventually made it back to the car. It was a brilliantly sunny day, so we headed back over to Mount Magazine. At 2,753 feet tall, Mount Magazine is the tallest point in the state. Which compared to the Rockies, doesn't seem all that tall. But it was still a high enough elevation that the trees on the top of Magazine had yet to start getting leaves, unlike the millions of trees below at the base of the mountain.

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And one last shot, from an overlook on Mount Magazine. This is looking south...

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