A few miles west of Willamette Pass on Highway 58 is the parking area for Salt Creek Falls. A short walk leads to a guarded viewing area along the edge of the sheer basalt wall that the falls plunge over. The view is quite remarkable. I had seen pictures of this area and was always amazed at how green the valley looked. It wasn’t until seeing it with my own eyes that I realized how vibrant everything was, especially in the steady rain that was falling.

I followed the trail down around the side which leads to the bottom of the valley looking for a good view of the falls. It winds through the woods, occasionally offering a glimpse up the valley. I descended until the trail broke out of the forest only to find that the trail petered out and became very slick. Besides that, there wasn’t really a shot to be had from that vantage point. I stopped and studied the landscape back down the valley and saw what looked like a prime spot to setup and set off back up the trail.

When I reached a corner close to the site, I crossed over a fence into the brush. It was pretty much straight downhill at this point, so it was fortunate I had bushes and trees to brace my descent. Shortly I burst out into the open and caught my balance. The grass was extremely slick beneath my feet, so I set up my tripod and used it as a walker to shuffle to a safe place to shoot from. The spray coming off the falls came in sheets blown by intense swirling breezes. There were a couple of times I quickly sat down thinking I might be blown down the hill! I began to wonder if this was a sane place to be, so as soon as I framed up a couple of compositions, I struggled back up the hill. I was beat. It was just another easy day photographing waterfalls!

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