In a way, the peaceful nature of this long exposure of Great Falls belies the violence with which it was frothing two days after torrential downpours two weeks ago. A portion of its trails were closed due to flooding; in fact I had originally tried to hike in from Riverbend only to be met with a closed trail so I had to drive to Great Falls (honestly, I was trying to see the Conn Island eaglets that day and not the falls, but I couldn’t get within view of their nest from either park due to the floods and had to settle for the falls!).

Just a bit south is Mather Gorge. I don’t think I have ever seen Mather Gorge without kayakers in it and that day was no exception, although I thought they were cray-zeee. There are actually kayakers in this picture; you just can’t see them because they were twirling so quickly and it’s another long exposure. 🙂

In looking at my photo gallery I’ve just noticed that I apparently go to Riverbend and/or Great Falls every Friday after work! And I may have planned to go there today if we hadn’t had even MORE torrential rain last night. Many of our streets were closed this morning due to flooding, so I’m sure there’s no hope the trail between Riverbend and Great Falls is open. I’m sure the trails everywhere that ARE open are a muddy mess. Boo. Anyway, about those Conn Island eaglets. I couldn’t get to them two weeks ago and I’m sure I can’t get to them today, but I got to them last Friday and they were safe and sound…and turning black in color from their infant gray! (FACT: It will be four or five years until their head is “bald”, which is another word for white, at which time they will finally be considered adults.) Can you see the baby in this picture? He’s partially blocked by a branch but he’s just to the right of the eagle that is sitting in the nest, whose head you can just see.

I’m hitting the farmers market for the first time this year tomorrow morning so let’s hope I’m inspired to get a food post up here soon!! I have missed doing serious cooking!