Let’s go ahead and get it out in the open! We all know that I am a waterfall junkie! Waterfalls make me happy! I absolutely love being outdoors, in the middle of nature, and facing a waterfall as it sprays my face! God knew what He was doing when He designed this earth. I’m telling you… He had me in mind when he was designing the lay of the land and the flow of water! I could spend hours standing at the foot of a waterfall even if I didn’t have a camera with me.
Meagan and I took off hiking again this weekend! Hiking has become a huge part of our adventures. I think we enjoy the hike as much as we enjoy whatever we are hiking to. I even bought a doberman pincher a few weeks ago, because I wanted a dog to go hiking with me as well. Anyway… this time we decided to take off on a five mile hike on the Polly Branch Falls trail in White County. This was actually my second attempt at hiking this trail… the first time didn’t go so well. I swore up and down that I would NEVER attempt to hike this trail again. But I guess I changed my mind. This time around it was WONDERFUL! I really think that my opinion changed about this trail because I have become such a hiking freak! I can’t tell you what hiking does to me. It’s like I get a natural high from it. I’m working my tail off and struggling to take the next step, while panting my butt off and barely breathing, yet I am so happy and thrilled every step of the way! I love every aching step I take and the steeper the climb, the more excited I am during the hike! Missie, my 16 week old doberman pincher, went with us on this hike. This was her first official hiking trip and she did WONDERFUL! I let her off of her leash and she never left my side.
Okay enough about hiking! Let’s get on with the photo part of this excursion! So we took off on this nearly five mile hike to go see if there was any water falling at the Upper Polly Branch Falls waterfall which is located approximately two miles into the trail. Meagan and I even joked about how disappointed we would be if we ended up walking this very difficult trailhead just to reach our destination and find it dry… although we would have actually been okay because we were just as excited about the hike as we were the waterfall (here I go again). But after hiking for what seemed like forever… partly down a very STEEP incline, and rock hopping over some extremely slippery rocks in an almost dry stream, and back up another pretty steep incline, we finally reached the top of the Upper Polly Branch Falls waterfall. There wasn’t nearly as much water falling from it as there was when I visited this spot this past February, but there was plenty enough to make some great silky flowing shots of the falls!
So I start looking around for a place to set up, and Meagan decides that she isn’t happy with the view from the top of the falls. GO FIGURE! Meagan has a motto that I try not to think about too much before taking off on a waterfall adventure with her. Her motto is this: “If it can be reached, I’m going to reach it!” She is referring to the foot of the falls. She believes that when it is her time to go, it is her time to go. So nothing scares her. Not even scaling the side of a mountain without any safety harnesses yet carrying a 50 pound pack of camera gear on her back! So after she makes it about halfway down the mountain, I am passing my 16 week old doberman puppy to her so that I can attempt to make it down to the foot of the falls as well. She and I continued this “pass the puppy” routine until we finally made it all the way down. I ended up sliding most of the way down on my rear-end… and I have the mud stains on my pants to prove it!
I may have been freaking out the entire way down, and I may have been cursing Meagan’s name under my breath during my life-threatening mountain descent… but it was all worth it in the end. The endorphins were definately flowing at this point! Even Missie warmed up to being at the foot of the falls and we all did a little rock hopping on some EXTREMELY slippery rocks. I managed to keep my balance on the rocks, as did Meagan… but poor Missie wiped out once or twice.
As we are playing around at the foot of the falls, Missie decides to plop herself down and be just as cute as she can possibly be. Of course we couldn’t resist the opportunity to take a few shots of her being the princess that she truly is. But bless her little heart… her ears look rediculous. She just had surgery last week to have them cropped, and she still has stitches in them. Not to mention that they aren’t quite standing up straight yet.
While we were taking shots of the pretty puppy, Meagan squated down and smashed a poisonous plant in between her thigh and her calf. She was in quite a bit of pain for a bit, and she even dropped trousers to check out her injury on her thigh! I felt so sorry for her at the time, but looking back on it now… I CAN’T STOP LAUGHING at the thought of her pulling her pants down in the middle of nature! Thank goodness we were in the middle of nowhere and didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her. I’m pretty sure that she would have died! But I’m glad she is okay.
At one point during our photographing, Meagan and I attempted to make it a little further downstream where the rocks had some pretty big drop-offs. At this point I was pretty comfortable with all the rock hopping, but Missie was getting a little irritated with us because we were venturing off into areas that she was too scared to attempt to go. She would get right up on the edge of a rock and start barking at us. When she heard the echo of her bark, she would look around and try to figure out what she was hearing. She definately was getting her own attention with the bark. I couldn’t help but laugh at her, but Meagan felt sorry for her and made her way back over to her to pet her.
Finally we decided that we were going to head back to our car. Let me just tell you how getting back up the side of this mountain was much easier than getting down. Why is that? Getting out is always easier than going in! But after climbing back up the side of this mountain, hiking back down the hill, crossing the slippery rocks in the almost dry stream, panting our way up the hill from hell, and hiking what seemed like forever and a day back to our car, I felt so WONDERFUL! I was exhausted, but I felt amazing!
Meagan then took me to Cumberland County where she grew up, and we photographed this amazing stone bridge at Cumberland Mountain State Park. I had seen photos of this bridge before, and fell in love with it. I couldn’t believe how close we were to this place, and when she asked me if I wanted to go… I couldn’t say no! There were other beautiful reflection surprises waiting for us there as well. Check out the photo with the trees and the pier! These two shots just may be my favorite shots of the day!
The hiking/waterfall adventures have become something that are a must! The feeling of both are amazing. And I am so blessed to have a wonderful friend and a wonderful camera to share my passion with. Don’t get me wrong… I love shooting weddings and portraits. If I didn’t, I would find another job. But if I could figure out how to make money hiking and waterfall hunting… I WOULD!
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