The trails that loop around and behind the Silver Falls State Park waterfalls are a kind of compromise between experiencing the beauty of the wilderness and going to something like a waterfall museum. It’s the difference between capturing a glimpse of a wild bear on a hike and studying it in a cage at a zoo. Because there are so many people - so many feet impacting the soil - erosion can easily get out of hand if the masses wander too far from a carefully prescribed path. The solution to destructive environmental impact appears to be a generous contribution of railings and stonework that ultimately shape a kind of habitrail that allows selected viewing of natural spectacles but limits and controls any actual exposure to them. In other words, we’ve long reached a point where we have to ration wilderness, at which point it doesn’t really seem to be wilderness any more. The big “South Waterfall” It’s still kind of pretty though. Waterfall Pilgrimage Obligatory plant close-up Low...
a photographer's take on ART, SCIENCE & THEOLOGY in the Pacific Northwest