My recent trip to Oregon was one of those trips where nothing went as planned. Everything was improvised, and 100% of the locations I had intended to visit had to be scrapped due to the weather conditions and lack of plowed roads. Having never photographed in Oregon, and only knowing the well-known places like Multnomah Falls and Thor's Well, I was lost as to what to shoot. So I fell back to typing "oregon" into 500px and scrolling through the results.
I was able to find several new locations that I thought would be interesting. I had seen these locaitons before, however, I hadn't planned on making my way to them during this trip. Luckily for me, central Oregon offers some amazing waterfalls, canyons, and mountains to photograph, so I was still very happy with my options.
My first stop was on the McKenzie River, about an hour northwest of Bend. I was heading towards two waterfalls that were only about a mile apart on the river, making for two easy targets in one trip. I planned to visit the two falls during the day, since it was projected to be overcast for most of my time in Oregon, and this meant there would be nice and even light over the falls.
One thing I hadn't predicted was the amount of snow. The pacific northwest is looking at a record amount of rainfall and snow this year and Oregon certainly had its share. The parking lot was only partially plowed, and offered space for maybe five cars to awkwardly park. Nobody was there, however. It was snowing, it was below freezing, there was no sun, and the wind was light but ice cold. The ground was iced over as well, and even my Salomon hiking boots, which have notoriously good grip, couldn't find a safe footing on the ice.
The first waterfall, Sahalie Falls, is only a two minute was from the parking area. I wasn't satisfied with the viewpoint from the trail, so I decided to increase the difficulty of my hike by making my way down to the foot of the falls.
From here, the view was far better, but the waterfall was throwing off so much mist, I suddenly wished it was snowing. The mist was freezing and blinding, and I pulled the hood of my jacket all the way over my head and zipped it over my mouth. It's moments like these where I have a great deal of respect for good Gore-Tex, and my Arc'teryx jacket.
I feel worse for my brother, who agreed to model for me. We had to wade through a few inches of mud and water to reach the hill he is standing on in the photo. Getting up there took some muddy hands and a lot of slipping. I got back to my camera as soon as I could after he was set up so he wouldn't have to get too wet (it didn't matter, he got soaked) and fired off a few shots. Normally I don't worry much about water on my gear, since I use the weather-sealed x-t2 and 16-55 f/2.8 (not that weather sealing does that much, but it's good for peace of mind), but I had thrown a waterproof cover over my camera, lens, and polarizer. Since the waterfall was throwing off a considerable amount of mist, I couldn't expose for long enough to get the silky water look, but I enjoy the final image and the powerful look of the water.
We hiked about a mile to the next waterfall, Koosah Falls. The trail was completely snowed in, and it made for a cold and slippery hike through the woods along the river. The hike wasn't terrible, and was flat most of the way. Once more, the designed lookout point simply wouldn't do. This time, I actually had a reason, since the only clear view of the falls was beyond the fence line. I would not recommend walking on the thin path in the rain. I had to ditch my bag on a bench and take only my camera and tripod. Even still, it was precarious. Once again, I had to use a faster shutter speed, since the detail i the water became muddied if I slowed it down too much. In any case, I like the image, and I think it shows some nice atmosphere. I only wish I could have found a way to show the scale of the falls, but the path all the way down was far too risky to attempt in the rain/ snow, and the river was flowing especially high with the extra snowfall in the mountains this year. Ultimately, no shot is worth your life, so I'll have to bucket list that one.
The next two days I spent skiing. As much as I would have liked to shoot around on the mountain, I decided to leave the camera in the cabin and enjoy all the fresh powder. Not shooting every day of a vacation or photography trip can be a great way to prevent burnout and stay inspired to shoot more.
My next location was Smith Rock, less than 30 minutes north of Bend. Smith Rock is a well known location for rock climbing, and people visit form all over the country to climb here. Aside from photographing the climbers here, the landscape is impressive. When researching the location, I found that everyone shot from the same angle. It was a good angle, it had a strong leading line with a river snaking through the canyon, and it showcased some of the more interesting rock features. I decided to shoot something a little different, in part because I wasn't blown away with the view from the easy spot to shoot. Instead, I ventured down into the canyon a little and look for more unique compositions. I found a ridgeline I found interesting and went for a more abstract shot. I like that the shot shows the volcanic past of the area (Smith Rock was a volcano that blew its top) with the sharp rocks along the ridge. It was fun shooting something different. Shooting sweeping vistas or the 'easy' composition can be nice, but I tend to find it more rewarding to seek out new composition or views of well-photographed locations.
My final location was supposed to be Crater Lake, which I had intended to hit on the way home. However, the north entrance was still closed, so it didn't make logistic sense for me to drive all the way around. I research what other locations where in on the way home, and found Toketee Falls. It was the same turnoff as Crater Lake, as wasn't much more out of my way. I had intended to visit the falls at a later date, but this seemed like a good time.
This proved to be the most dangerous thing I did on the entire trip. It was snowing during the hike out, and the ground consisted of several inch deep puddles or a couple inches of mud. Once more, I thanked my GoreTex hikers. For a third time, I didn't want to shoot form the lookout point, so I tried to get down at river level. This proved to be a terrible idea. My boots were coated in slick mud, and the weather had gone from snow to rain. To get down at Toketee Falls, there is a section of the railing missing, from which there are torn up climbing ropes hung. The drop to get down at some points was near vertical, and the fall ranged anywhere between 10 and 50 feet onto rock. In dry conditions, with my own roped, this would have been no problem, but in these conditions, I struggled not to fall. Despite being covered in mud from head to toe, and a little wet from my lack of waterproof pants, I immediately decided this location was worth a wait to get the proper light. I found my composition and set up my tripod is perhaps the strangest way possible, each leg at a different angle and length. I sat and waited while getting sprayed with water, but I managed to capture what I think is the best image of the trip, and one of my favorite waterfall images I have ever managed to capture.
Oregon in the spring was northing like what I expected. I had to throw out all my plans and come up with new ones on the spot. Despite everything being closed due to snow, I still am very happy with what I managed to capture on this short trip. My biggest two takeaways form this trip were that I need to come back in the summer or late spring once everything is open (after May 1 seems to be the magic date), and that I need to get some waterproof pants. Like all trips, it was hard to leave, and there is so much that I need to come back and see. Hopefully I can come back soon to photograph everything I missed out on. Until then, I'll hold this experience fondly in my mind, and start planning my next visit.