Where to begin the story of the Waterfall Hike?
In September 2022, I took a flight to my home State of Utah. If you haven’t been, just know it is full of many amazing things like Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. A small fun fact, Zion National Park was the first National Park in the the State of Utah.
Both of these National Parks, or rather all National Parks, have unforgettable and sometimes lifechanging hikes.
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This is my lifechanging story.
This story doesn’t take place in either Bryce Canyon or Zion, rather it takes place in a small divide in the mountains next to Salt Lake City, known as Little Cottonwood Canyon. Within the monstrous walls of this canyon lay one of many trails into the wooden and stone frontier.
Gloria Falls.
The picture above is a shot of the stream that comes off the mountain, that eventually leads to the falls.
(For you photography nerds out there: 17mm, f/8, 0.5sec, ISO 100)
I captured this image with my trusty Sony a6000 mirrorless camera which I love for every reason, from affordability to the functions it provides.
Nature Photography isn’t my forté, yet it is one of the few categories in the vast expanse of photography I dabble in, simply because I enjoy having total control of what I want in a photo. I don’t need to tell the trees to move over so I can see. If you know, you know.
Originally I didn’t want to go on this hike, because prior to this I wasn’t an avid hiker because of my allergies with nature as a whole, especially cotton. However, it was my Uncle’s Birthday and he invited my Mother and I to go with him and his date. Starting at the parking lot of the trailhead, I could immediately tell this wouldn’t be like any other hike I’ve ever been on. My nose, wasn’t running already. After taking a deep breath of this… clear clean air, I had a sensation of relief that I wasn’t going to die of suffocation. Nature wasn’t ready to kill me, yet.
As we embarked on the trail, the air seemed strangely easier to breathe. The air gets thinner the higher up you go, as I’m sure you the reader are aware, but something about it felt enriching. This is when I thought “Is this what a hike should feel like? I am enjoying it!”
Anyway, enough about the air. This short hike was only about 2.2 miles, and it would have to be one of the best experiences of my life, ability to breathe aside. The trail as a whole had so many things to look at and take pictures of that I actually managed to max out my SD card with photos of the place. For this expedition I shot in RAW, because why not? I could go on all day about RAW, but I will save that for a later post.
On the windiness of this trail I took some time also to reflect on what I want to do with my life in the future. Such as when to get married, what house I want, and those kinds of things. I got so entranced in my thoughts that I actually tripped on a tree root falling forward, while holding my camera…. with the lens cap off. Nature has made its first strike against me. I managed to do what I can only call a Spider-Man mid air 180 to fall on my hiking pack to save it. I’ll be real with you here, I didn’t know I had it in me to do anything like that. My beloved camera and lens were saved.
After about 1.4 miles, we cross our first stream, which is pictured above. I decided to use a slow-shutter method for getting smooth waterfall photos. I’m glad I stopped for a while because the first few I tried were extremely overexposed, and kind of blurry as I tried balancing my camera on a rock for this, looking back I wished I used my tripod for this… which I had. But after a few shots I finally nailed it down to what you see above.
The idea I had to compose this picture was to include the sky as best I could for this, but because of the slope of the mountain I was not able to do so, yet came out with a satisfying photograph.
A little further up the stream, I continued taking photos and thinking to myself. This time I thought, “What do I want to do with my photography business?” and began brainstorming ideas for growth. I then tripped AGAIN on a tree root onto what was left of the gravel trail in this spot and scraped up my elbow a little. Nature strikes again!
(20mm, f/11, 8/5sec, ISO 100)
Finally, we made it to the Falls! And my, what a sight to behold! I would estimate that from top to bottom would be about 40 feet tall, but the waterfall itself beats down on several stair-like rock formations creating the visual beauty you see here.
It’s here that I finally sat down and went into total photo mode. I probably took about 100 pictures of just this. Which was then quelled about 20 minutes later by my desire to climb up the right side of the falls. Well that lasted long didn’t it?
I began climbing, and got almost to the top where the face gets steeper, and also more slippery, when nature decided to try and kill me again. The rock under my left foot decided to give way and fall, almost taking me with it. Toward the top, the rock becomes more like rock plates stacked on each other, kind of like layers of a thick cardstock.
As I clawed away with my hands looking for a viable hand hold, I could feel my other foot about to give way in a similar fashion. “Holy crap. I am going to fall and seriously injure myself.” The drop would have taken me down about 18 feet, enough to break several limbs and ribs and possibly been a deadly fall. Then, Hallelujah! I got a good hold with my hand and climbed up!
(171mm, f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 3200)
That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the face I made after Nature tried to kill me.
I would not be able to tell you the myriad of thoughts that came through my head as I was sure I was going to fall, and I am glad I didn’t. I have successfully conquered death! Or rather it felt that way. I ain’t dead yet, so I’m going to roll with it.
If that is what Triumph feels like, I’m glad it’s a life-changing experience. I realized we don’t have time to take moments, no matter how serious, for granted. This is the time we write our stories. These stories are the ones we will share with our families and friends to inspire.
I have a saying: Risk disappointment to achieve success. This story is no exception. I went on this hike expecting to be miserable and disappointed, but found a life experience that I think made me better as a whole. I look at life differently… again (that’s another story that I will not be sharing).
That’s my story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it.