These are just a couple of the small stream waterfalls that were along the Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier National Park. I wonder if the second one follows a fault line that helped it carve such a deep (little) canyon. That’s my Geology background coming to the surface.
I was going through some past photos and came across this one that improved dramatically when I spent some time with it in Lightroom. It was from a backpack trip up the Elwha River valley in the Olympic National Park a few years ago. A nice hike … especially since it was before the road washed out and so was 10 miles shorter than it would be today. Just one of the many unnamed streams.
I have posted several images of hikes along the Dosewallips River trail in the Olympic National Park. Here are a few more images that I enjoy and thought I would share. The first (above) shows the trail above the old Dosewallips Campground (below) … now isolated by about 6 miles by washout of the road. Hiking the (closed gravel) road is a different experience than the lovely trail shown above. The bottom image shows the river dropping down the steep rapids (falls) just below the campground … the highlight of the road hike.
One of the most heavily hiked trails in the Olympic National Park is the High Divide trail. The High Divide is a section of the ridge between the Sol Duc and Hoh Rivers. Overnight reservation permits are required and get booked up months in advance.
The first section of the High Divide loop follows the Sol Duc River Trail and then heads up along Bridge Creek (which is not easily accessible at most locations). The image above shows the trail climbing from Sol Duc Park to Heart Lake (shown below). I have hiked the trail to Heart Lake several times without continuing along the rest of the High Divide loop. The reasons to do so usually involve weather … or, early in the season) lots of snow left on the ridgeline.
The trail to Heart Lake climbs up into and through some of the finest samples of mountain meadows in the Olympics. (see above) There are many small streams, keeping the flowers well watered and providing a water source for thirsty hikers.
On the return, it is worth the short side trip to Sol Duc Falls (shown below).
Fossil Falls Recreation Site is on Highway 395 between Lone Pine and Ridgecrest, California.
There aren’t any fossils, except the falls. An interesting geological feature. A good example of differential weathering.