There was the constant battle of keeping the camera and lens dry and the wind and mist was constantly blowing right at me. Eventually I saw a better shot that ment it was time to wade into the water for a series of shots. I do not know how cold the water actually was. But I was wading in there for over 15 minutes and it was so cold it became painful. Like a million needles sticking in me. I had to get out of the water for just a bit to warm back up. But at this point, I could see the sunlight hitting the tips of the trees. Back into the water I went to get the last few shots I could before I know I would be dealing with hot spots and even more bracketing for each shot.

As the sun eventually beat me, I decided to work with it and keep shooting. Some of these images would take up to 8 shots to combine later in photoshop. There is just no way to take one shot and get the full dynamic range even on a cloudy day. I think over all these last shots with some of the sun coming  through turned out pretty good.

As I left McArthur-Burney Falls, the park was still closed. There was no envelope to pay my entrance fee. But I did see one of the rangers in the visitor’s center getting things ready. So I knocked on the door to let her know there were no envelopes and I needed to pay. She was happy I made sure I paid and we started talking a lot. Since I told her to keep the change and donate it to the park, she ended up telling me of even more waterfalls in the area I could go explore that I had not even heard of. She gave me a map with easy directions and off I went to the waterfalls around McCloud. Going to have to say the lady who is the park ranger at McArthur-Burney Falls state park is one of the best I have ever talked to. Especially if some of you have read my blog about the old crap who is the ranger at White Sands in New mexico...I still hate that person.

These are the coordinates to the turn off from hwy 89 to see Lower, Middle and Upper McCloud Falls. Just follow the road and you will see signs telling you where lower falls is located. Then back track and go see Middle and Upper Falls.

I first headed on to lower falls. I knew the sun would give me a lot of problems but that just ment a lot more post processing when I got home. Seemed like I ended up taking 8 different exposures for ever one picture I took. All of these waterfalls have easy access to them and you can pull right up to the over looks. But there is a trail you can take that will lead you to each waterfall.

The whole area is known as the McCloud River Loop in the Shasta National Forest. If you are coming from McArthur-Burney Falls, set your odometer to 0 and at the 35 mile mark is the sign into this area. It’s a pretty big sign so you can’t miss it. B on the lookout for Ash Creek Station and you know you are getting close. Lots of places to pull over and camp in this area. I saw mostly fishermen while I was here and only two other photographers. As a side note, this area is on private lands and is very well maintained so make sure you stay on the trail so you do not trespass onto their lands.

As mentioned all over the internet, you just follow the trail tracks for a mile until you come to the old rail road bridge. You will see the trail easily off to your right just before this bridge. During my time I was there, on a Saturday, 4 different trains passed by. So be listening and get off the tracks when they come through. In some spots there is not much room for you to stand as it passes by. The bridge itself actually has a catwalk so if you are on the bridge, you have a safe place to stand.

Mossbrae Falls is only about 50 ft. high, but about 150 ft. wide. The water cascades from springs down the moss-covered canyon wall, and down into the Sacramento River, creating the effect of many waterfall streams falling into the river.

I had planned to go see Mossbrae Falls in the morning. But since I found out about the waterfalls near McCloud, I ended up here during the late evening and sunset. I took a few shots while the sun was still hitting the falls, but just 30 minutes later, the sun went behind the hill and I had nice even light for photography.

It was fairly crowded while I was there, as to be expected over the 4th of July weekend. But I was still able to get plenty of shots I wanted since people were coming and going. At one point I had the place to myself for about 20 minutes.