Camera Walking in Nature
As many of you know I primarily do my Camera Walking in the city. I walk around my neighborhood, South Lake Union, and occasionally in some of our city's parks. Lately I have been feeling the urge to find a different destination to explore, particularly after reading that walking in nature is much more restorative for the body, mind, and spirit. After a quick search I decided on Snoqualmie Falls, the most famous waterfall in the State of Washington. It is 268 feet high with an average width of 100 feet, and is only a 40 minute drive from Seattle!
The Falls are known for its role in producing hydro power, and is the home of a lodge that serves a great country breakfast, a wonderful treat after hiking. Over the years Puget Power Energy, the company that manages the falls and the park surrounding it, has developed lookouts and trails. From the viewpoint at the top, you can walk down a trail that eventually leads you to the river and another viewpoint. The trails are well maintained and easy to navigate, but we found ourselves walking a bit slower coming back up the path. It was good exercise, and fortunately we weren't the only ones walking slowly. We offered to let a much younger couple walk ahead of us, but they politely declined saying that, "this is the right pace." Yes!!
The walk along the trail gave us opportunities to capture some interesting shots of the plant life, as well as enjoy the very tall trees that surrounded us.
As we made our way down the path, we walked by the hydroelectric plant and artifacts from earlier days of power production. Both gave us some good photo opportunities.
The trail eventually crossed a small bridge to a boardwalk that led us by the river to the lower viewpoint of Snoqualmie Falls. It was an overcast day, but the view was still impressive.
Our walk back gave us a good view of the river from another perspective.
All and all it was a great outing. We left feeling refreshed, and not too sore from climbing back up to the top of the falls. We also enjoyed a tasty breakfast at the lodge that completed the experience for us. I highly recommend mixing up your normal Camera Walking by going out to a state or national park over the summer. You will be glad you did!
