Marymere Falls
Port Angeles, WA
Marymere Falls is a 90-foot waterfall accessed via a 1.8-mile round-trip trail from the Storm King Ranger Station near Lake Crescent. The falls drop over a moss-covered cliff into a narrow gorge surrounded by old-growth Douglas fir and western hemlock. Water flow is highest in spring and after heavy rains.
Photography Guide
- Best Time
- morning
- Crowds
- Moderate
- Shot Types
- long-exposuredetailportraitlandscape
- Best Seasons
- springwinterfall
Author's Comments
The walk in is part of the photograph, even if you do not raise the camera once before you reach the falls. The trail leaves Lake Crescent and climbs gently through old growth that does most of its work in green - moss on every horizontal surface, ferns at knee height, the trunks of hemlock and Douglas fir going up further than seems reasonable. By the time you reach the steep final stairs, you have already been somewhere worth being. The falls themselves drop ninety feet into a narrow gorge, and the cliff behind them is so completely covered in moss that the rock barely registers as rock. April is when I prefer to come. The water is loud then, fed by snowmelt and the long Olympic winter, and the mist coming off the base keeps the lower viewpoint perpetually damp. Morning light is the only light worth chasing here. The gorge faces in such a way that direct sun never really finds the falls, but a soft overcast morning will give you even light across the entire scene and let a long exposure do its actual job. Bring the tripod. Bring the ND filter. The lower viewing platform is the obvious composition and it works, but the upper platform offers a tighter, more intimate frame where you can isolate the moss and the water and let the scale disappear. I have made photographs from both and I am not sure I prefer one over the other. They are different falls from different angles, which is part of what keeps the place interesting after the second or third visit.
Gallery
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Mount Storm King Trail
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