A Potentially Startling Admission

[backcountryhunter]

Wow!! This is great!

Look at all the Eagle Creek Trail haters come out of the closet!!

On the old forum I stated many times my dislike for Eagle Creek Trail. Over-rated!

There is just something to be appreciated about a desert hike during and after a thunderstorm!! Love that smell!

[Splintercat]

I'm firmly with Todd on this one - we're just spoiled in this part of the country. Eagle Creek is world-class on pretty much any level, with spectacular scenery, a unique and historic trail, the first (and prototype for all that followed) campground in the United States, and close proximity to just under 2,000,000 pairs of feet.

So yeah, it's loved to death, but having hiked this trail for 40 years (officially this year, since I first hiked it at age 6), it's a shrine and pilgrimage for me. I hike it every couple of years, to Twister Falls or just beyond, and am generally amazed at how little trash and vandalism exists, given the mobs. That's part of my concern over the Punchbowl jumpers, since too many are not really hikers, but just yahoos who don't have a clue about respecting nature.

I hike the trail on weekdays in late April and early May, or in late October, or do a quick hike up on Sunday afternoon in summer, hitting the trail at about 3:00, and hiking into the evening. You'll pass a lot of hikers for the first hour or so, but then it's very quiet and pleasant. But the other thing about Eagle Creek is that you meet people from across the country and around the world, and I do enjoy chatting with visitors from afar. Had a nice visit with a couple from Baltimore when I was shooting photos near Loowit Falls a few weeks ago - definitely an added bonus of all those hikers.

-PP

[jeffstatt]

What a great thread! Man this one picked up quick!

I grew up scouting waterfalls using a topo map and compass in Upstate NY (think Catskills, Adirondaks, finger lakes, thousand islands) and we'd bushwhack 5 miles to see something as pretty as Punchbowl Falls, so my first visit to Eagle Creek was downright jaw-dropping. So even now that I'm a bit Eagle-creeked out I'm quick to recommend it to newcomers.

I think we forget how green the green is, how big our trees are (even the 2nd and 3rd growth ones!)

And to me, this is the biggest consideration - Eagle Creek in any state East of the Rockies would be a built-up State Park with concrete walkwalls, handrails, and a gift shop. Watkin's Glenin NY is great example of this. So to have this unspoiled beauty is amazing to me.

So, as long as we're all doing folding-chair-in-a-circle-my-name-is-Jeff-"Hi-Jeff"-thing I have to admit I don't like summits that don't reward me with a 360 view - Like Angel's Rest, Hamilton Mt or Table Mt. Yeah, they're nice and all but I've hiked Hamilton once and never went back - even though given it's proximity to my house and it's near perfect mileage and elevation gain for a quick hitter after work. Meanwhile I've climbed Silver Star countless times - which takes twice as long to get there over so-so forest roads and no water features along the way.

Oh by the way - I'm a complete sucker for the long exposure waterfall pics so please keep them coming!!!

[scrambler2]

I'll cast a vote! I save this wonderful trail for rainy winter days - I never see it crowded. I have had to watch for falling icicles, traverse frozen waterfalls, and try not to keep from slipping off the icy trail!

Multnomah Falls from the lodge to the junction for Larch is my least favorite.

[pdxgene]

So that must leave me as the only one who has not hiked either Eagle Creek or Dog Mountain?

[Martell]

Eagle Creek is a great spot for an overnighter in the fall, when you can't get to much else. It gets a lot quieter in the evening. The steep cliffs by high bridge still blow me away, even more than the nearby waterfalls.

I'm not a fan of the big Gorge trailheads on summer weekends. I get this weird feeling when I arrive at a trailhead that has 100 cars already parked there- but there are plenty of places that aren't as popular.

[Robert Ballard]

I don't like the long exposure, dreamy, cotton looking waterfall pictures . I know, I know. It's not that I can't appreciate the beauty or the artistic expression involved. I mean, they are lovely, and I'm quite jealous of every photographer on this site. And perhaps that's why, I'm not a "photographer". But I like my waterfall pictures to look like the waterfall looked when I took the picture. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a personal preference. It's kind of like cosmetic surgery on an already natural, beautiful human being. Again, this is in no way a thumbs down to the remarkable work done by many on this site that I can only dream of coming close to. Whew....It's all out there on the table now .

I prefer taking slow exposures of water scenes, but my girlfriend is in your camp. She appreciates my photos, but she definitely prefers to see the stop action that shows the water falling as it does when you see it in person. Not everybody has the same preferences, and there's nothing wrong with that.

[Robert Ballard]

I will admit though, since I've gotten my new camera and played a bit with that flowy technic I'm starting to be swayed the other way, but not completely. Sometimes I'm undecided about the whole thing...for instance I took these two photos right before Falls Creek Falls. I can't decide if I like the original or the flowy one better.

You're smart to shoot both styles. That way you can appreciate the waterfall both ways. I'm not often smart enough to remember to do that.

[pyles_94]

I would take sweeping mountain vistas or an alpine meadow over a waterfall any day.

Ditto x10

-aaron

totally disagree!!!!!!!!!!! x52 though sweeping views are nice, i definitely love waterfall adventures more. and i like this thread, but i like slow shutter speed waterfalls more.... usually. if i'm trying to capture imensness such as the upper tier of multnomah... i like them shorter. but the reason i do most waterfalls longer is because they give a sense of peacefulness. somehow i am totally at peace at waterfalls, but then the pictures that dont flow generally dont do justice to how i feel at the waterfall. waterfall videos are also very nice as well.

my "startling admission": a hate multnomah falls. and its not just the crowdedness. i think it it is cool in medium low water only, and in ice. other than that i think its pretty ugly. i hate that bridge.... half of the reason that i think its ugly.

[mikerswllg]

re: waterfall photos

i think you people are missing the main point. Well to me anyway. The fake "flowy" shots require you haul around a tri-pod, and since I'm lazy, I don't take such shots. Thus I do not prefer them! I'll alter my preferences any day if it means less crap to carry around! Even if you really just need a tiny tripod that weighs nothing. In reality though I don't mind carrying a tripod I just forget to bring it most times (I'm mentally lazy as well as physical).

If you can't already tell I'm talking out of my ass because I love pictures that give a "fake" painterly look to just about anything. I have something of a slow shutter fetish, though mostly with video.