A Visit To Secret Falls

Day 83: You won't find Secret Falls on the map. In fact, it's not named on the 7.5' topo for the area. It's only about thirty feet off the road, but it's set so deeply in a cleft that you'd never know it was there unless you got curious about its small stream. The creek is intermittent. It runs down to a trickle in the autumn, or sometimes dries up completely. It's only in the wintertime that it flows in full spate.

I've come here many times on snowshoes to find it iced up and glorious. Today, the snow was heavily crusted and snowshoes were unnecessary. For once, I thought to bring the tripod, but even so, the exposure was a nightmare. In hindsight, I wish I'd carried a graduated neutral-density filter. With bright sun streaming down on the upper portion of the falls and the lower portion in deep shadow, a few burned-out highlights were the trade-off for being able to see my face. Even so, I had to tone-map the image heavily and pull up the shadows substantially.

Yes, today Santa and his sack of goodies were upstaged by Ma Nature's gift of good weather. It was a chilly hike, but I put in seven miles as a warm-up to the winter Fitness Challenge between participating National Parks. I'm on the Interpretive team and am required to put in no less than 100 miles between January 7 and March 30. I hope to double that and then some! Too bad today doesn't count...