Eagle Falls (Skykomish)

Author's Comments

Eagle Falls does not announce itself the way the bigger names along Highway 2 do. You pull off at a wide gravel shoulder, walk a few yards through trees, and there it is - the South Fork Skykomish folding itself through a channel of dark rock with more force than the modest drop would suggest. Twenty-five feet is not much on paper. In person, with the volume the river carries in late spring, it is loud enough to take over your hearing entirely. I come here for the details more than the wide view. The boulders on either bank are wrapped in moss so green it reads almost artificial in photographs, and the contrast between that softness and the hard white chaos of the water is the picture worth making. A long exposure flattens the river into something dreamlike, but I have come to prefer faster shutter speeds here, freezing the texture of the cascade where it hits the rock. Late June is when I find the falls at their best. The runoff is still generous, the forest is fully leafed, and the light filters down through the canopy in patches that move across the water through the afternoon. Overcast days are honestly better than sun. The rock channel sits in shadow most of the day regardless, and even light keeps the highlights manageable. A word about the rocks. They are slick in a way that does not look slick. People have been swept from this river. Stay back from the edge, work with a longer lens if you want to get close to the water, and let the falls do the work.

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