No.38 Buy Now Tsusiat Falls
The Other Day

Imagine tramping through forest, bogs and loose sandy beaches for a day, packs feeling heavy, the legs are weary and suddenly Tsusiat Falls is in front of your eyes.  The sheer energy and force of this powerful waterfall was enough to energize the legs and motivate the mind. Well, sort of.  I think it was more the ice-cold “waterfall shower” that woke me up.  It was still a sight to behold.

We were promised we would be soaked on the West Coast trail.  The forecast appeared quite positive, but you never quite know on the coast.  We were two days in and the weather was nothing short of glorious.

Tsusiat Falls sat at the 25 km mark of our trek.  It was a place to rest and prepare for an epic 18 km hike the next day.  I was excited, it was picturesque, the weather was good and I was carting 15 lbs of camera gear for 75 kms.  It was game time.

I got busy, playing with settings, framing Tsusiat Falls, watching the sunset. Naturally, things didn’t go to plan.  I snapped a couple of shots, as you can see below, then disaster struck.  A disaster of my own making there is no doubt about that.  I suppose I could blame the moon but it won’t do much good.  I forgot about the rising tide and the fact that they actually continue to do just that, rise.

No.39 Tsusiat_Falls_RiverNo.39 Buy Now Tsusiat Falls runs into the Pacific Ocean

Pay Attention

So, there I was shooting away.  The sun had only moments left with us on this day.  Suddenly, I noticed some movement out the corner of my eye.  I realized that it was a widespread sheet of water coming straight for me, my camera and my “not fully zipped” camera bag.  Grabbing the tripod in one hand, with the other I snatched my bag.  I slipped, fell knees into the water, holding my camera high.  The bag slipped from my grasped and the water immersed it.  Only for a second, I clasped the bag, yanked it out of the water and crossed my fingers.  There may have been some cursing.

I raced back to camp, hesitantly opened the bag for a look and sighed with relief.  Items were wet, but the new, expensive lens only had a droplet or two.  Ryan saved the day.  He had brought extra paper towel and after some extensive drying everything seemed relatively unharmed.  That ended the shooting for the night.  I wanted to let things dry properly before getting back into it.

It was a magical evening as well.  The full moon was beaming down and scattered clouds made for a surreal, (not photographed) experience.

No.40 Sitka Trees SunsetNo.40 Buy Now The sun sets behind these enchanting trees

Oh well, we’ll try again tomorrow.

Until then,

Jimmy