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The theme of “Fall” was timed perfectly for this years colors. Being a drought stricken year Utah’s leaves were a bit more subdued than usual and earlier to change and as a result they fell off earlier as well especially in the mountains so with that in mind I decided against driving all the way up the canyon to view empty trees and instead took a hike to a waterfall located in the foothills of the Wasatch mountains just off a major road and behind an upper class neighborhood.

My daughter happened to be off of school for Autumn break and I took her and her best friend along for the short hike. I’ve been to Rocky Mouth Canyon waterfall before, but it was two years ago and in May during the peak of spring runoff so the look and the feel of the falls was quite different. You can see those earlier pictures here (those were all taken with my point and shoot)

Fall at the Falls! Rocky Mouth Canyon Waterfall runs low, but has colorful company. 9 shot HDR @1EV

The trail head off Wasatch Boulevard, this is right off of the small parking lot. 3 shot HDR

The stairs continue past the trees to the residential street high above.

a short 1/4 mile walk past some multi-million dollar homes makes this seem more like a neighborhood walk then a hike.

Ah now it’s a hike again! This path/stair way is squeezed between two homes and gets some quick elevation into the hike. 3 shot HDR

After the stairs is a more traditional mountain hiking trail. 3 shot HDR

The benefit of hiking this close to the mountains is the delayed sunrise time! 3 shot HDR

There was a crazy amount of leaves covering the trail. 3 shot HDR

Our first view of the falls. 3 shot HDR – On my first visit all this area was covered in water!

With the lower flow I was able to walk right up to the lower area to shoot without worrying about water spraying onto my camera and lens. 8 shot HDR @1EV

Closer! 7 shot HDR @1 EV

7 shot HDR @1EV

Even closer! 3 shot HDR @2EV

And Closest! The water flow was so light that these leaves were stuck to the rock underneath and never moved, I couldn’t have set this up better if I had tried! 7 shot HDR @1EV

The view from the falls looking back towards the drop off from where we got our first view of the falls. 3 shot HDR @2EV (I shouldn’t be able to stand here!)

A close up of the moss covered rock that is usually covered by the falls. 3 shot HDR @ 2EV

As we headed back down I couldn’t resist a look back to capture this series of the falls.

Wide angle view from the drop off. 3 shot HDR @2EV

 

3 shot HDR @2EV

As we walked back down the trail a view of the Salt Lake valley was opened to us this is looking west towards the Oquirrah Mountains and Kennecott’s world famous Bingham Copper mine.

3 shot HDR Handheld

A quick pivot to the north shows us downtown Salt Lake City far off in the distance.

3 shot HDR @2EV handheld (it was pretty hazy that day!)

A better view was of all the acorns that had fallen off the trees, and the girls collected quite a number of them (a few of which I used in week 43’s photo challenge-stay tuned).

3 shot HDR handheld @2EV

One last view of the mountainside as we end our hike having had a great time seeing nature, getting in a little excercise, and completing another weeks photo challenge.

The colors this year are muted and pale but still enjoyable. 3 shot HDR handheld

Thanks as always for coming along on our journey, I hope you enjoyed the view.

Happy Shooting!

Howard