Oregon Day 2 – Washington

Spirit Falls – Cook, Washington (Kyle Jones)

Day 2 of our Oregon trip brought us across the Columbia River into Washington. My goal was Spirit Falls. I had never visited this one before but I had been captivated by its turquoise waters in pictures I had seen online. Access to Spirit Falls is somewhat sketchy. As I understand it (because the internet says so) the falls themselves are public. However, access to the falls may be across private property and the owner has been known at times to make that clear (as is his right). So we decided to leave early in the morning to minimize the likelihood of running into anyone and arrived at the “trailhead” just after sunrise. The trail is mostly just a scramble down some loose rocks, eventually reaching a wet, wooded area and the Salmon River.Continue reading→

Horsetail Falls

Black & White Horsetail, Yosemite National Park, California (Kyle Jones)

Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park has received a lot of attention on social media and even in the press lately. There are a few reasons for that: (1) February is the time when the phenomenon occurs (when all the right conditions line up); (2) Since California has gotten some rain and snow this winter, the falls are actually flowing; and (3) It really does look spectacular. Horsetail Falls is a small, seasonal waterfall just east of El Capitan in Yosemite. For a couple of weeks in February the geometry of the cliffs align with the setting sun to make the falls appear like a ribbon fire against the shadowed cliff face at sunset. Continue reading→

Bay Area Waterfalls

Black Rock Falls, Uvas Canyon, California (Kyle Jones)

I took advantage of the nice weather last weekend to do some hiking in the Bay Area, which also gave me a chance to see how the rains we’ve gotten this year have affected some of our local waterfalls. On Saturday, Sandee and I hiked the waterfall loop in Uvas Canyon south of San Jose and on Sunday I hiked one of my favorite loops in the Sunol Regional Wilderness. There was definitely a lot more water in the creeks flowing through these parks than I saw last year.Continue reading→

2015 Favorites

I figured I should get this posted before we get into February, so here are my 10 favorite photos from 2015. I pick my favorite (not necessarily best) photographs based on several factors, the most important of which is “do I like it?”. I also account for the feedback I’ve gotten over the year along with how much I enjoyed actually going out to get the shot. I’d appreciate hearing your thoughts in the comments below!

Presented in no particular order…

Lunar Eclipse at Pfeiffer Beach

Big Sur, California (Kyle Jones)

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Return from Beyond!

Hi Everyone! About a week ago I was readying some new photos to add to my web page, when I discovered that my web page no longer existed! I frantically searched to figure out what went wrong, only to discover that Comcast decided to do away with their personal web space hosting service back in October. So I guess my site had been down since then.Continue reading→