The Narrative Image

I got a new waterproof, breathable jacket for Christmas so I took it out for a test drive on the Wahclella Falls trail. The canyon walls rose on either side of me as I followed the path in along Tanner Creek. Heavy dark clouds scraped across the treetops enclosing the chasm below in a dark gray gloom. Ice fell from the sky. Soft hail accumulated on the ground here and there. Like water overflowing leaf clogged gutters, streams and rivulets of instant tributaries poured into the valley. The rain-jacket did an admirable job of keeping exterior water out, but I’m afraid no current technology is sufficient to dissipate the sweat produced by a feverish semi-fat man. It seemed I had only got started, when the trail forked upward to the left or downward to the right. I chose to head upward and was soon surveying the lower trail as it snaked its way through an evident landslide. The unremitting precipitation was making it difficult to keep my camera lens dry. I found a dry spot on my t-shirt...

It rained Sunday. It rained all day. I was East of Salem, trying to hike the Opal Creek trail. Here, you can see rain clouds settling into the North Santiam River watershed. I tried the rubber band and plastic sack rain shield that I used last February in the Columbia Gorge ( http://thenarrativeimage.blogspot.com/2007/02/rain-water-and-digital-cameras.html ), but for best results, you need to at least start with dry equipment. It was raining so hard that I was reluctant to take the camera out, and I didn’t until I reached the Opal Pool. By that time, my rain jacket had proved that it wasn’t very water resistant anymore. I was essentially soaked to the skin, and when I opened up my backpack, I discovered it wasn’t that water resistant either. Every dry cloth I brought to wipe off the camera and lens wasn’t dry anymore. The best I could do was smear water drops around on the lens and create an uneven diffusion effect which only became more pronounced as condensation set in. Since it is...