The skies were clear when I packed up and left Bend, Oregon this morning and headed south. It made me wonder if my chances of shooting any waterfalls that day were going to be slim to none. I was working my way down to the Willamette Pass area and had scoped out a couple of falls around the Newberry National Volcanic Monument that I thought I could catch before noon. I turned off the highway and started to ascend upwards to the top of the crater. The clear skies soon gave way to clouds and then the rain set in. By the time I reached the park entrance it was snowing. It’s amazing how the craters seem to create their own weather patterns!
The first stop was Paulina Creek Falls. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot out of these falls, but since I was in the area I thought I would at least pay them a visit. The pictures I had seen weren’t all that impressive, and guess what? The falls aren’t at all that photogenic. I spent a little time there trying to come up with something, but to no avail. The highlight of the stop was having a bald eagle land on a tree branch not more than 50 feet from me. We stared at each other for a while before I decided it was time to move on.
Further back down the road from the top I found the turnoff to McKay Crossing campground. The descent had of course brought a change in the weather and the sun was now breaking through the clouds occasionally. After a little bit of looking I found the McKay Crossing Falls. I figured that they were surely not in the campground itself and investigated downstream a ways only to find them practically where I had parked! Waders were necessary to get around a bend in the creek to where I could frame up the falls. The falls are quite pretty with the creek flowing gracefully into a fairly narrow gorge. I spent some time working some compositions and waiting for the sun to go behind the clouds. It all came together in this image with blue skies behind the falls and the foreground in shade. It turned out to be a great day after all!
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