Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls - March 2023 Edition
The week of March 19th, 2023 brought with it a series of torrential rains and storms to the Midwest, and as usual that caused me to plan a trip to Hocking Hills on Saturday March 25th to take advantage of it. Spring in Ohio can be a mixed bag of snow, rain, and other bad weather but the silver lining to that cloud is the fact that the waterfalls in the Hocking Hills area are in peak flow. I invited Doug Brand and Eric Wright along for the ride, one for the company and two just in case I did something stupid and hurt myself. Solo trips in times of bad weather can often be dangerous and in my old(ish) age I’ve learned a thing or two.
I packed light for this trip, bringing with my my Hasselblad 500cm, 3 lenses, and 2 backs. I brought with me some Kodak Ektar color film and also some Shanghai GP3 B&W in 220.
We arrived at Ash Cave before dawn, and were treated to an empty parking lot. Not super surprising given the forecast for more rain and high winds that day, but still - I can’t recall a time that we’ve had the parking lot all to ourselves.
We could hear the falls roaring before we even were near them, and the mist was dense and hanging everywhere. I knew this was going to be a great day for waterfall photography. When we made it to the falls we were treated to the largest flow I’ve ever seen there. Getting set up for the shots meant trying to avoid the spray from coating the camera lens. Micro-fiber towels are a must on days like this. Here’s my first shot, taken just before dawn.
After that I worked on different compositions, shooting on both Ektar color film and GP3 B&W film. Here are a few more images from Ash Cave after the sun came up and there was a little more light.
After putting in about 2 hours of shooting at Ash Cave and having the place entirely to ourselves, we headed for Conkles Hollow. It took us a little longer to make it there from Ash Cave due to some closed roads, which I think were either blocked from falling trees, were flooded, or both. When we finally made it there we were only 1 of 2 cars in the parking lot, which was again a very strange sensation. Usually by our 9:30 arrival time on a Saturday morning its nearly impossible to find a parking space.
We made a beeline toward the back of the park, hoping to see both waterfalls at the end in full flow. Once again, we were not disappointed. I’ve never been there when both the falls on the left and the end falls were flowing, and it was amazing. Here’s a few images shot on Ektar color film.
As we made our way out of Conkles after a fantastic session of shooting, the crowds finally arrived. We made it out of there just in time. I don’t like big crowds, and Conkles can feel claustrophobic real quick!
The next and last stop was a waterfall that I’ve never been to before. Not for lack of trying - twice in the past I’ve looked for it and not found it. Part of that is because there are several addresses and GPS coordinates listed for it, and part of that is that its spelled several different ways as is the road that it is on. Rockstall Falls is one of the prettiest waterfalls in the park when it is flowing, and its also not as popular as the other hotspots. The perfect spot for a late morning arrival after a heavy rain.
When we arrived we made a scramble down the muddy trail to the falls. I fell once, landing on my right hip and making a giant bruise that I paid for later - but don’t worry, I saved the Hasselblad in the fall and it was OK. All of us were wearing our high wader boots that day, and this was a trail that needed them. We had to cross several small, swollen streams to get back to the falls. Once there we were not disappointed - they were flowing well and there were only a few people there on the trail. Unfortunately, the sun decided to make an appearance and in order to get good shots that weren’t full of hotspots from the sun, we had to time our exposures for when the sun was occasionally behind the clouds.
There was a second set of falls there to the right of the main falls, but the scramble there was slippery and Doug fell, injuring his ankle. We’d have to save those for another day. We made our way up and out of there on a muddy trail, getting back to the car around 1:00pm. All in all a great day of photography and waterfalls. And falls.
The most exciting, if you want to call it that, part of the trip was the drive home. The wind was out of control with 75 mph gusts. It was all I could do to keep the Pathfinder on the road and in a lane. We also witnessed an overturned semi-trailer rig on 35, something that I’ve never seen before. Thankfully we made it home safely, with some great images and stories to tell.
If you are interested in a trip to Hocking Hills to some great photography spots, I’m considering doing a small workshop in the Fall. Stay tuned for more on that later.
Thanks for reading,
Jeremy
