Onondago Falls

This has to be the best state park in Pennsylvania.  It’s just amazing with all the waterfalls.  It must be over the top when the fall foliage is peak.  I’ve been there a couple of times.  I could go back over and over.  It’s worth the travel to see this wonderful spot.  By the way, the state park is called Ricketts Glen State Park.

To purchase this photo or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase this photo or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Tuscarora

Here is another photo from last falls excursion to Ricketts Glen State Park in central Pennsylvania.  This is one of over 30 waterfalls 15 feet or taller on a 3 mile hiking loop. 

 

Bonus behind the camera video below

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To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

If you want to see my camera setup, you can watch the video below.  I'm sorry the sound on the video is so bad…..I used what I had…my iPhone.

This is one of 30 waterfalls over 15 feet tall in a three mile loop at Ricketts Glen State Park in central Pennsylvania. You can see my camera setup for creating an HDR image of this spot.

Taughannock Falls State Park

I know I over use this excuse, but I am going to do it again.  It’s been a busy week….so tonight’s blog post is short.  Instead of reading a bunch from me, please spend a little extra time taking in the beauty of the photo.  By the way, this state park is in central New York State.

Good night.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Chittenango Falls

This 167-foot waterfall cascades over roughly 400 million year old bedrock after flowing down the Chittenango Creek.  This waterfall sits inside the Chittenango Falls State Park in Madison County, New York.


This was another of the State parks I visited on my way to Canada.  It was a very nice spot that I enjoyed by myself.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Taughannock Falls State Park

This is a 7-exposure HDR picture of the lower Taughannock Falls in Taughannock Falls State Park in New York State.  This is one of the state parks I visited on my way to Canada. 

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click here.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click here.

Here is the dive team (left to right): Brook, Tom, Larry, Kyle, Steve, and Scott

Here is the dive team (left to right): Brook, Tom, Larry, Kyle, Steve, and Scott

Here is Kyle being a good sport for me, so I could capture this image.

Here is Kyle being a good sport for me, so I could capture this image.

Watkins Glen State Park

As you’ve probably noticed, I was absent for the last week or so.  I was traveling and didn’t have great Internet access (not to mention, I was just busy having fun).  I started out last weekend by jumping from one state park to another.  I started by going to Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania and then went to a few others in New York State on my way to Canada.  Visiting these parks wasn’t planned, but I realized I had some free time to myself before I had to be in Canada, so I took advantage of it.   One of the parks I visited in NY was Watkins Glen State Park. 

 

This was my first visit to the Finger Lakes area and I have to admit it is wonderful.  My friend and mentor (Mary Ann Eldred) tried to talk me into visiting this area years ago.  She claimed it was nice.  Like all her other advice over the years, she was completely accurate.  Watkins Glen State Park has a wonderful trail through the gorge taking you past a few wonderful spots like the one in this picture.  I started at the bottom and walked up all 800+ steps.

 

Combined, I think I hiked around 15 miles in those two days.   That doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider the ups and downs of the gorge trails in the foothills of Appalachian Mountains…15 miles was a lot.

 

Anyway, at the end of Monday, I ended my travels in Brockville Canada…by the way, this area along the St. Lawrence River was beautiful as well.  Just amazing views everywhere we went.  I met up with some diving friends from Michigan and we spent the rest of the week shipwreck scuba diving in Lake Ontario and in the St. Lawrence River.  Most of the dives were in the river.  This is difficult diving… the best way I can describe it would be to compare it to white water rafting…. Except we were deep underwater, it was dark, you couldn’t see (low visibility, maybe 15 feet if we were lucky) and the objects (like boulders the size of trucks) come at you very fast as the current pushes you downstream really really fast.  I had a great time, but this type of scuba diving isn’t for the faint of heart.

 

The trip provided some heart pounding activities, beautiful locations, wonderful story telling, good food and lots of laughs.  Big thanks to Steve, Scott, Kyle, Larry and Tom for making the week lots of fun.      

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Great Falls National Park

This is a small site within the National Park Service situated in Virginia about 20 minutes from downtown Washington D.C.  It is approximately 800 acres on the Potomac River with this wonderful waterfall called the Great Falls of the Potomac River. 


My co-worker, Darleen, told me about this location just prior to my Washington D.C. trip.  I am so glad she did, what an amazing location.  When you are standing here looking at this waterfall and the surrounding park, it is hard to believe it is so close to the city.  Just awesome!!

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Harrison Falls

I took this photo of Harrison Falls last year when MJ and I went to Ricketts Glen State Park in the middle of Pennsylvania.  The waterfall trail has something like 30 large waterfalls.   It is well worth the travel to see this wonderful site.  Finding that many big waterfalls in one spot are not something you’ll see anywhere else.   Here are links to some of my previous blog posts/pictures from this trip.  Note: the first link also has a map of all the waterfalls along the trial.

Oneida Falls:  http://brook-ward.com/blog/2013/10/13/oneida-falls

Erie Falls:  http://brook-ward.com/blog/2013/11/8/erie-falls

Tuscarora Falls:  http://brook-ward.com/blog/2013/10/25/tuscarora-falls

Delaware Falls:  http://brook-ward.com/blog/2013/10/15/delaware-falls

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.

Tuscarora Falls

Here is another photo from our trip to Ricketts Glen State Park.  This is the 47-foot tall beautiful Tuscarora Falls.  What more can I say?

This photo was created with a 5 auto-bracket set to create the HDR image, which I edited in Photoshop CS6.

 

Oh and I posted this for my friend Mary Ann. 

 

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above. 

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above. 

Oneida Falls

Back in 2010 before we moved to Pittsburgh, a former co-worker (Melissa) told me about Ricketts Glen State Park in central Pennsylvania.  She said her family had visited this park in the past and loved one specific hiking trail…The Falls Trail.  The trail is approximately a 3-mile loop and passes 21 named waterfalls ranging in size from 15 to 94 feet tall (see the map below).  There are dozens (maybe more then a 100) small waterfalls along the trail as well.

 

Falls Loop Trail

Falls Loop Trail

She suggested I visit this park to photograph the waterfalls and she had me interested since the day she mentioned it.  Well three years later, MJ and I finally worked it into our schedule.  We tried to time it with the fall color change, but missed it by about a week.  I think the leaves peaked about a week before our arrival, but we got to see some pretty colors. 

Oneida Falls is one of the first waterfalls we came across on our four and a half hour hike.  Yes it took us 4.5 hours to walk the three miles for a couple of good reasons.

It is a difficult hike with lots of climbing up and down large hills (we were in the mountains) and boulders.  Plus at every waterfall, I climbed down to the riverbed to get the right composition for the photos. 

I took numerous photos at different angles of every waterfall.  This meant climbing over things, crossing the river, jumping from boulder to boulder, waiting on other hikers to get out of the way, etc..

We are just plain out of shape.  Toward the end of our time, I was walking slower.  And honestly one day after the hike, I can tell you my body is tired and sore.

I’ll admit that Melissa was right.  This park and the Falls Loop hike are amazing.  This fact should give you some idea about how great this location is….the park was supposed to become a U.S. National Park in the 1930s (Congress approved it), but a little thing called World War II put a stop to the transition as the U.S. needed the money for their war effort.  Nothing more to say, it was outstanding and very beautiful.

I hope you enjoy the photo.   


To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, please click the photo above.

To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, please click the photo above.