Posts Tagged: Big Run
Big Run Falls
Straight on, straight up. Or maybe on the rocks. I haven’t been here for a couple of years. It hasn’t changed a bit. I am a little surprised there wasn’t a greater flow given all the rain we have been having. It was clear that there had been some flash floods here and on a few other streams I visited over the last few days. The forest road to this falls was washed out in one spot by a tributary. A FWD vehicle with a lot of clearance can make it through, but I didn’t want to try with my van… I would probably still be there if I had tried. Must have been a lot of water in that little stream just to get up on the road, not to mention tearing it up like it did.
Sigma DP3 Merrill, Sigma Photo Pro, Lr 5, Ps CS6.
Olsen Bog
This is the headwaters bog for a primary tributary to Big Run on Backbone Mountain. The trees in and immediately around the bog are spruce, Picea rubens, including these drowned snags. I think beavers are still active here. You can see a large lodge left of center here. The bog is also home to lots of carnivorous pitcher plants, (Sarracenia purpurea I believe). They have plenty to eat here!
I don’t know much about bogs, but I believe this bog is quite different from the Canaan Mountain bogs. Yes, I’m sticking my neck out here, but I believe this one was at one time a shallow lake or large beaver pond that has over time sedimented and formed a matt of vegetation. Unlike the Canaan Mountain bogs that are clearly on a slope, this bog appears to be flat. It also has more water under it and there are some areas of open water. It feels different.
80-200mm Zeiss Vario-Sonnar CY, Nikon 800e, Lr4, Ps CS6.
Big Run Falls
From this past weekend trip with photo buddy Bob Clark. All the rivers and creeks were seasonally low even though we were soaked by storms passing through that day.
This is perhaps a four or five foot drop and marks the beginning of the Glissade. The First Falls, maybe a fifteen foot drop, is partly visible in the upper right. The Glissade gradually ends as it becomes the Second Falls, a hefty twenty foot drop. And who knows what all is downriver from there. But I do know that the climb back up from downriver will be a bear. Ask Bob about his bushwhacking adventure trying to get out from below Second Falls. He did battle with the Rhodo-Ents.
I photographed in the headwaters bog (I have been calling it Olsen Bog) enjoying its unique flora several years ago, but I didn’t explore downstream. Fran and I found the falls a few weeks ago after revisiting the bog. We could hear them roaring below us but didn’t feel like bushwhacking down to explore that day.
I look forward to visiting this little gem in the spring when the groundwater and headwater Olsen Bog are fully charged.
I have a number of images to work up and post from this short trip of Big Run, Shays Run, and Canaan Bog, so if you like this one stay tuned!
From a single exposure: 28-90 Vario-Elmarit, Zeiss circular polarizer, Nikon 800e, Lr4, Ps CS6.