Sometimes opportunities present themselves. This was one such case. The long comes next. But the short of it, I am visiting Little River Falls in Alabama as part of a much larger trip. Although trip is hardly the appropriate word to describe the venture. Faceless brother in law will join me on the latter part of the adventure coming shortly. First task, i had to get myself to Texas. So what better way than to take in a State or two that I has not yet visited.
The Longer Version
I was chatting with Faceless brother in law when he suggested I meet up with him and his wife. MrsFaceless was keen but had work commitments and so would need to fly around that work schedule. I, on the other hand, had a little more free time available…so a plan was hatched.
The Plan
I am heading to Texas to meet up with MrsFaceless and her family. In true explorer fashion I decided to turn this into a monster road trip. So here we are, it’s February and I am arriving at Little River Falls in Alabama. I’d left friends in Pennsylvania earlier the previous day. My route took me down through Maryland, West Virginia and into the southern reaches of Virginia where I had parked up and slept. The next morning I’d scurried across Tennessee, clipped a little of Georgia and was finally into a State I had not visited before, Alabama.
What To Do
I have a couple of days planned for this area. See some waterfalls, some hikes. But we all know how plans tend to go so fingers crossed. Around mid afternoon I duly arrived in the Little River Falls area. The forecast is looking good for a partially cloudy sky, giving me ample time to look around and plan for what should be an epic sunset.
The first photo stop is a walk back to the bridge to get a good look up and down the stream. Sadly, I picked a day when the tourist info just across the road was closed..ho hum. I’ve got to say, it was a lovely drive and very scenic are, plus it’s very peaceful. Or at least it was until the traffic started pouring past. Wow, it got noisy quickly!
A Quick Overview
Little River falls is located within the Little River Canyon National Preserve, near Fort Payne in north eastern Alabama.
What makes Little River special is that the river is said to be the longest mountaintop river, flowing for almost its entire length along Lookout Mountain. The 15000 + sq acres offer a mix of activities like hiking and rafting, history and, if you get away from the traffic, peace and quiet.
I duly grabbed a brochure for MrsFaceless to read later before heading to the the falls themselves.
Water You Looking At
One thing that immediately jumped out to me is how blue the water is. It is really, really blue. So much so, that it pops against the sandstone rocks. With no one else around I had the freedom to pootle around and choose as many compositions as i wanted. But there are still only so many variations on a theme.
I was checking some photos I’d taken for sharpness and exposure when it became apparent there was a problem. The photos had no clouds in them. This should have been a clue as to the impending doom and gloom, in more ways than one. The sky was now solid grey, cloud, with just a thin blue streak on the horizon. If the sun could break through there then we have a chance…
Cut To The Chase
With that thin sliver of hope dangling like the Sword of Damocles, I set the composition ready for the sky to light up with fire and splendour.
A little tweak of the circular polarizer.
A quick test shot to make sure the water is silky.
And then the thin break in the cloud went, about 45 minutes to sunset. With it went my hopes for a glorious sunset….
Hang In There
So I headed down to get another composition which would not need any clouds. There was a small tree growing right on the precipice of the falls, clinging on for dear life, lest it end up smashed on the rocks below. Just like my chances of a sunset.
Zooming right in I don’t need any sky – in fact the grey clouds are providing really good even light right now….so that’s perfect!
Take the photo, quick check…adjust the shutter speed to get slightly different exposure on the water flow. I actually really like this photo…and it’s one I probably wouldn’t have taken if the sunset had happened….
Not To Be
So, another sunset bust – such is the way, unfortunately.
I took the opportunity to play with the Fuji, taking a few more shots of the water….time was not pressing as I would be sleeping in the car tonight and my park up spot was only a few miles away.
Pitter Patter
I was rather rudely woken around 4am ish by heavy rain with odd rumbles of thunder mixed in. I was reasonably certain that sunrise scheduled for less than 2 hours later would be a bust. Indeed it was. At around 6am it was still raining, albeit much lighter, so I took the executive decision to get more sleep.
My plan for the today, apart from sunrise, was to drive around the canyon loop and then head to another location further west in Alabama where i would hike to a couple of waterfalls.
With a flat grey sky at Little River Falls there was no point shooting it again as it would basically be the same shot as the previous, cloud filled evening. One last look and then the important stuff – I pulled out the Kenco and Jetboil and made a coffee before setting off on the Little River Canyon Rim parkway.
Look Over Here
I stopped at the first overlook, which was a distant view of Little River Falls. By now the clouds were darkening so with iso cranked up to 800 I managed a few hand held shots which were sharp enough at 1/30th second.
I’ve got to be honest and say there were some sketchy characters at the next couple of overlooks…..and with grey skies and drizzzle I felt I was not missing anything by not stopping.
I moved quickly on to Grace’s High Falls. With all the water flowing in the river, plus last night’s downpour I was confident and once again, that worked out well. There was absolutely no water flowing over the waterfall.
Next stop was Eberhardt Point. Let us ponder at what the view must be like from this house, perched right on top of the canyon rim.
Rain Check
Sadly, it was starting to get a little misty, as the drizzle stepped up a gear. Knowing I had a couple of hours drive to my next planned location, in the Bankhead National Forest, it was time to leave Little River Falls. I really liked this area and have discussed with MrsFaceless about coming back as there are still plenty of places to go and things to see.
First, I made a cup of coffee and this must have annoyed the weather Gods, as the heavens opened. A quick check on a few weather apps i use confirmed the worst…heavy rain and thunderstorms across Alabama and eastern Mississippi for the next 24 hours. My original plan was to hike to my next two photo ops, but with no way to dry out aferwards and sleeping in the car, I really didn’t want to get soaked, so an alternative was required. Somewhere with cover…
That place is the Clarkson Covered Bridge, but that will be next time…