I wandered along in the fresh snow trying to make out the trail in my search for Proxy Falls. Everything I had read said it should be easy to get to, but since I was the first one on the trail, I was having to really work at it. I managed to find Upper Proxy Falls first and spent some time there before continuing my quest. After a few wrong turns and a little backtracking I came upon the sign I was looking for and made my way to the viewpoint. From there, the falls are visible through an opening in the forest. It is a pretty scene and you really notice how tall the falls really are. This would be the picture that most tourists would come away with from a visit, but not what I and many other photographers come looking for.

To get the shot I wanted required scrambling down the hillside through trees and brush to get down to Proxy Creek. I am sure it would have been a lot easier if everything wasn’t covered with snow! Once I got to the bottom, I donned my waders and started working my way up the creek. It was quite a workout with all of logs that you have to scramble over and around. The base of the falls is covered in a wide mass of fallen logs and rocks covered in moss. The creek winds its way in all sorts of directions as it drops to the valley below. With all of this chaos, it took a lot of work to come up with a couple of pleasing compositions. I would get setup and then notice that some log was protruding into the scene. This went on for a while until my shooting was cut short by clearing skies overhead. I could have worked the area for hours if it would have remained cloudy, but I had to be happy with what I came away with. This was my favorite of the group.

Click on the image to view a larger version in the galleries.