A short hike on the International Falls trail
After our excellent afternoon hike on Thursday, my friend asked if I’d like to join her and her daughter for a short hike on the way to Skagway. I’d already planned to take my motorcycle to Skagway, but said that I’d meet them in the White Pass. Once there just after noon, we decided to hike a little way up the International Falls trail.
Once down the very steep but rope-assisted drop off the highway, and then across the creek, the large flower-filled meadow can keep photographers happy for quite a while.
There were at least a dozen species of flowers in bloom in the meadow and among the adjacent granite outcrops.
We took a little-used side trail that took us to the bottom of the first waterfall. Few hikers come to this spot for some reason.
It’s amazing where some plants can grow.
I always really enjoy the first waterfall, and scrambled over boulders right to the base of it to do some shooting. First at slow shutter speeds – the next photo was shot at 1/30th of a second…
…and then some high speeds – the next photo of the lip of the waterfall was shot at 1/1,000th of a second.
A family joined us, and some of them went for a dip in the pool. While the water is much warmer than it was when I hiked the trail 10 days ago – the upper lakes were still frozen – it was still not conducive to long soaks 🙂
We decided to hike up one more level to an area with a large expanse of almost-level granite.
This was an excellent place to just enjoy the incredible day. The temperature was probably about 25°C/77°F.
This was our view looking back toward the highway. Ahhhh…. 🙂
At about 1:45 we started the short hike back to the car and bike. Total time on the trail was a bit under 2 hours.
I continued on to Skagway, picked up all the accessories for the new ensuite bathroom (towel bars, etc), then headed home. With 5 hours on the bike and 2 hours among the waterfalls, it was a great day.
Back at home, I started experimenting with my new Lensball. It’s not the sort of thing I’ll use very often, but it is fun.
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