Adam’s Canyon – Round 2 – Springtime

 

I have already blogged about Adam’s Canyon, when I hiked up there last September. I wanted to return during high run off so I did. Due to being a repeat I will try to keep this post short.

We are having a rather wet spring this year, and weekend days with sunshine are very few and far between so I am trying to take advantage when I get the opportunity. Landis had to work today, so this was a solo hike. After looking up the directions I headed out, and well I need a navigator. I don’t take my eyes from the road when in motion, and the turn out, as I remembered is not easy to find. So I turned out onto the wrong street, pulled over to check the map, recalibrated and kept going 3 times. Sigh. Not very familiar with the area.

To the right of the random reservoir is the parking area. As you can see this was a rather popular destination today. My car is not pictured, as I had to park a little bit down the street.

It is the end of May and even the respectively shorter mountains of Layton still have snow on them. This is crazyness!

But very, very pretty. Even before I got to the stream, I knew the water level was higher, I could hear the difference.

Definitely a lot more water than Last Year.

This section of of the trail was washed out.

The water was so high this year that I was forced to get wet crossing to the other side before the falls. You cannot see them unless you do. During low flow last year, the water was low enough that we managed to cross using stepping stones with no worries. Not this time. Both shoes filled with water, and soaked up to the shins. However, it was not as slick as I feared it would be, and the water was spread out enough I didn’t think I would be knocked over, nor feared for my cameras safety (let alone my own)

I am rather proud of this shot. This is an EXTREEMLY hard to photograph waterfall. Note the main falls are in direct sunlight, and everything just below it is shadowed by the canyon.

As you can see in this shot of a trio of girls crossing the stream. Note the main waterfall is a bit washed out, or over-exposed. While I am here, Take a look at last years photo, from as far as I can tell at almost the exact same spot.

This, and many upcoming images brought to you courtesy of my Neutral Density .09 filter. I could not have gotten the desired “smoky effect” on this waterfall without it. It is in full sun. The ND Filter darkens my shot for me, allowing me to leave the shutter open a little longer to get the desired smoky effect, without being washed out. YAY for fun little toys.

This one is good but it also shows how frustrating it is to shoot this waterfall, and get the lower cascades at the same time.

So sometimes you have to completely re-think your shot.

This one is just to show how big the falls really are. (note the couple to the left just under the shade line)

Just playing with the ND Filter. I am really impressed by what it can actually do.

Pretty view, showing what I believe will be a short lived low Great Salt Lake. We had a very wet year last year, and an abnormally wet year this year. I believe the lake level will rise significantly.

And a nice panoramic of the valley.

Again, this trail is rather popular, and is generally easy, with some tough parts, but the waterfall at the end make it worthwhile. It is approximately 3.5 miles round trip. I will give it a nice even 9 squirrels.