A Frigid 'New Year'

The start of a New Year has brought with it frigid, sub zero temperatures. A 'bomb cyclone' as the meteorologists term it is making its way up the Eastern seaboard tonight with 60 mile an hour winds and snow and ice and sleet. This frigid weather immediately took me back to a visit I made almost a decade ago in January to Hocking Hills State Park in Logan, Ohio. I watched and waited for the perfect opportunity when frigid cold and snow would leave an ethereal landscape of white. Then I set out to photograph the frozen waterfalls in Hocking Hills.

My favorite image was of the Upper Falls of Old Man's Cave. A twisting path lead down to the waterfall with a thin layer of snow that had blanketed the region the night before. The path was slippery as the snow had covered the remains of an ice storm earlier that week. Temperatures were in the mid 20's so I drove to Walmart in Logan and bought thicker gloves to wear. My North Face jacket, wool scarf,  thick gloves, boots and jeans were just enough to achieve my goal against the cold. It was simply stunning to see huge frozen icicles hanging from what I later learned was Blackhand Sandstone cliffs. I fell straight down on my bum once making my way to the base of the falls. Here's an excerpt about Old Man's Cave.

Old Man's Cave derives its name from the hermit, Richard Rowe, who lived in the large recess cave of the gorge. His family moved to the Ohio River Valley around 1796 from the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee to establish a trading post. He and his two dogs traveled through Ohio along the Scioto River in search of game. On one side trip up Salt Creek, he found the Hocking Region. Rowe lived out his life in the area and is buried beneath the ledge of the main recess cave.

This next image is the very frozen over Middle Falls of Old Man's Cave with barely a sliver of water falling over. I struggled to get a decent vantage point to snap this image. I finally gave up and snapped this image and moved on. Sadly though, I couldn't reach the Lower Falls. The stairway down was a solid sheet of ice. You couldn't get down and you would never get back up. There is also an Upper and Lower Gorge between the different falls which I didn't photograph. The entire length of the trail to these falls and gorges is approximately a mile.

Thanks for coming along with me on this trip back in time. I would love to be there right now taking new images in various perspectives having learned so much more about photographing waterfalls since that day. Stay warm and bundle up if you go out of doors. Thoughts of warm mittens, hot cocoa and warm bowls of soup come to mind as I put up this post. ENJOY!

Winter, Hocking Hills

Beautiful Old Man's Cave, Upper Falls, in Hocking Hills, Ohio.

I captured this image and several others in mid January 2005 at Hocking Hills State Park near Logan, Ohio. It was bitterly cold and the temp was around 25 degrees. The wind was up a tad and made it seemed even colder. That winter reminds me a little of this winter only this winter might have that one beat by miles. This week we began with a six inch snowfall when I awoke Monday morning and looked out the window. Now this evening around 4 p.m. snow and freezing ran moved into our state. It's now turned to freezing rain and will continue until early tomorrow morning. I am daydreaming about the Caribbean or St. Martin or somewhere where there is a beach with blue skies and sunshine and the average temp is 75 degrees. ENJOY!

Frozen Upper Falls, Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills!

Have you ever taken an image, wanted to post it for its mere context, but the image was sub par. And for this particular image, by that I mean, the whites had washed out a great deal of the detail in the image overall. That was this image. This is what I did to improve upon that. Originally a landscape image, I cropped it to a portrait. Then I dropped it into the free trial version of Lightroom 4 beta, available online at Adobe right now through March, and worked judiciously on the whites of the waterfall. And after getting those whites almost where I'd like for them to be, the real work began. Getting detail in the stone along the bridge and detail again in the rocks at the base of the waterfall. If I could bring out some of the detail and not throw off the white balance, perhaps the image could be salvaged. Having accomplished all of that with a fair amount of success . . .

This is one of the Upper Falls at Old Man's Cave in Hocking Hills State Park in south central Ohio. I took this image six years ago in January. The upper most waterfall was flowing quite freely with only a slight base of ice pack. That image is on my sidebar as a feature image to view at your leisure.

And just for the sake of clarity, there is an 'actual' Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave that I could not reach on this day as the steps were frozen solid. Unless I wanted to slide down the steps and use climbing equipment to climb back up, I wasn't going to get a view of that waterfall on this day.

You may think all of this work is a little much. Well you have to understand, I traveled 200 miles to this area of Ohio, in the dead of winter, with twenty two degrees being the high that day. There was at least two inches of snow on the ground and most of the trails in the park were completely frozen over especially around Old Man's Cave. I slipped. I slid. I fell. I got back up. Only to fall again. However, it was one of the most memorable experiences in my entire life.

Oh, and least I forget. Remember that 'old' Pentax film camera of mine I so sadly had to retire. This image is from that camera. So kuddos to my Pentax, my ever faithful companion, for oh so many years. I would recommend clicking on the image so that you can view it in a slightly smaller version on your screen. When you do that, you will get a better representation of what I was shooting for in the way of 'the work' I put into it. I like looking at the detail in the smaller view. Now I'm not saying I'm 100% happy with this image, but I did feel it was worthy of a post. Hope your weekend is fairing well. ENJOY!

Photographer's Note: I felt I should add this note after I put up the original post. Seeing these beautiful waterfalls in winter was absolutely more fun than I could describe or put into words. My friend and fellow blogger, Barb, hikes, skis and snowshoes in the dead of winter in the high altitude of the Rocky Mountains with trees, mountains and wildlife as her companion. I try to imagine how fantastic that must be. So to drive to such a beautiful part of our country during the dead of winter with temps so low and see such beauty in these frozen water features. Well, all I can say is, I recommend it.

My Hocking Hills!

Should you ever find yourself in southern Ohio, I beg of you to take the time to visit a beautiful state park called Hocking Hills near the small town of Logan. There is an area in Hocking Hills called Old Man's Cave. It houses three separate waterfalls. These images are of the upper and middle falls. Needless to say, after several attempts to brave the completely frozen steps leading down to the third, or lower falls, I had to give up. Or slide all the way down and that would have been painful.

UPPER FALLS, OLD MAN'S CAVE

Several years ago I spent four weeks beginning in early January closely keeping watch on the weather in Ohio. I watched and I waited. Finally, the opportunity came. On a Friday I drove to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio and spent the night at Cedar Falls Inn. Gorgeous inn that you simply have to stay in at least once. It's an experience in and of itself. I digress.

The next morning I stopped at Walmart on my way to Old Man's Cave, realizing my gloves I had brought along wouldn't cut it if I was seriously going to get the photos I wanted. I bought some heavier gloves, had on my boots, two pair of knee hi socks, my trusty North Face jacket and a pair of ear muffs. I was ready for "the hills" and whatever it threw at me.

FROZEN, MIDDLE FALLS, OLD MAN'S CAVE

I have to tell you, I had the time of my life. I kid you not. I shot photos for two hours in 25 degree temps. As it happens, there had been a snow fall and then the temperature had dropped. So there was snow on the ground, but there was ice on all of the paths to the falls. Slick as snot ice. What you see here are the best of the images I shot that day. I hope you like them. It was hell shooting them. But I'd do it again if the notion ever struck me, and the conditions were just right.

These are the first of many images from my slide file archive that I finally took the time to have scanned so I could share them with you. ENJOY!

Upper Falls, Old Mans Cave, Hocking Hills, Ohio

While I was out earlier today, I went to get into my car, looked up and saw the temperature reading which was at 98 degrees and said . . . hot! Tonight while going through some old thumbnails I have on my desktop I discovered this image of frozen Old Man's Cave, Upper Falls, in Hocking Hills, Ohio. I remember when I took this image. I remember it well. I had to go to Walmart and buy a thicker pair of gloves. I had to slide around on slick icy paths to get to this falls. And yes, I fell a time or two. Ouch!! But I got this along with the icicles hanging nearby which is in an earlier post. Now here is why I'm telling you all of this. You see, I tried and I tried, and I tried again, to get down the steps at the "Lower Falls" of Old Man's Cave which were covered in a thick sheet of ice. And nature just wasn't going to have it. And I didn't get that image. But I did get this one. Perhaps it will cool you off too. Enjoy!

Postscript: This is a low res image from my slide taken with my Pentax.