Idaho Landscapes Photo Gallery
The drive was a long one from Dallas Texas. I left after work and drove to Tulsa to pick up my dad. From there we drove straight to the Eastern side of Idaho. Our first stop was a waterfall called Fall Creek Falls in Swan Valley near the Palisades Lake Reservoir. Show sunset here, then drove north to Ashton so I could be in position to shoot Upper and Lower Mesa Falls at sunrise.
We had mostly bland ugly blue skies. So my only time to get some good even lighting on the waterfalls would be either sunset or sunrise when the falls would be in the shadows. After shooting Mesa Falls we headed to Twin Falls Idaho where there is a nice collection of even more waterfalls.
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 Map will show photo locations. Click for larger view. |
First up here was Perrine Coulee Falls. It sites in the shadows on the south side of the canyon the Snake River runs through. Just off of hwy 93, you take Canyon Springs Rd towards Centennial Waterfront Park. After the first switchback, pull over and it will be on your left.
Next we scoped out Twin Falls and Shoshone Falls. Both of the beautiful spots have hydro dams built around them. Twin Falls is not even a twin Falls anymore since they dammed one of them up. Shooting Shoshone falls, I was having to crop out the ugly man-made structures. I don’t get it…did the planners say, “Hey, here is a beautiful series of waterfalls. Lets destroy it and make a dam.” They could have easily done this lower down-stream to get the hydro electric power they wanted…idiots… Anyway, I skipped shooting Twin Falls and focused on Shoshone falls during sunset.
The next morning the plan was to shoot Thousand Springs and Niagra Springs Falls. I had to make a choice since I could not reach both of them in time. So I opted for Niagra Springs Falls. It sits on the north side of the canyon south of Jerome Idaho, so I had to get there way before sunrise to get the even lighting I needed to pull the shot off. I left to look for it around 4:30am and made it in time.
After shooting all these waterfalls we headed for Stanley for the mountain scenes. We had lots of plans originally to hike around Alice Lake and do the loop to Toxaway Lake, but the rangers said there was still a lot of snow on the trails and the rivers were flowing very fast. We would need to cross them three different times on the trail. So we opted to hike up to Hell Roaring Lake instead.
My first morning shot was in the marsh area north of Stanley Lake. I got up early to get ready for the shot. My plan was to wade out into the water to get a better angle. I put on waders for this since the water was so cold. They helped for a while, but after standing still for 30 minutes waiting on the sun, the cold water became pretty painful. But I got a great shot and it was work it.
Next day we geared up for the 5 mile hike to Hell Roaring Lake. 3 of us went in with camping, fishing and camera gear. It was a beautiful spot. Took lots of shots here from sunset, night time and sunrise. We started at the Hell Roaring lower trailhead and were greeted by switchbacks right off the bat. But soon, the trail leveled off following beside Hell Roaring creek and then meandered through marsh areas. I think overall the main issue with this hike was the constant attack of mosquitoes. They were really bad this year with all the rain and this area in particular is bad anyway since there are so many natural marsh areas below the lake. I bathed in repellent numerous times during the stay here. The hike in took us just under 6 hours. Upon our arrival we immediately set up camp since it looked like it could rain. Then fixed dinner with Mountain House meals and I went off doing the photography for the evening. We had about a 1/3rd moon out at night. So I set the alarm for 12am to check on the position. At 12 the moon was still to low so I knew 4am would be the best time to start shooting nightscapes. Got up at 4 and dragged myself out of the tent only to have to reset the alarm for 5:45 to make it to the morning spot I had in mind. Wish we had more time to stick around this area, it was beautiful. The hike back was much easier going at a nice easy slope back down hill until we reached the switchbacks. A big dinner was in order when we got back to Stanley.
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