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Hanging Rock State Park
Photo Copyright © 2006 G. Kiser
Photo Trek 02-23-2006, Hanging Rock State Park, Danbury, NC
I've been itching to spend a good day out taking pictures for a while now. I finally got a free day so I could head out to Hanging Rock State Park. I know I've been there twice already, but this park has the advantage of being about an hour away so I don't have to spend all day in the car. Plus, the weather was an interesting factor. Rain and fog in the morning, with mostly cloudy skies later on, followed up with mostly sunny skies. I figured this was my chance to shoot some of the waterfalls again, and then take a few hikes and explore the park.
I started the day out snapping a few pictures of an old homestead near the entrance of the park, followed with the customary visits to Hidden Falls and Window Falls. While at Window Falls, I located another small waterfall behind a rock formation. Off to the Upper Cascades for a reshoot. This time around, there had been lots of rain, so there was a good amount of water rushing down the cliff.
At this point, the clouds had started to disperse causing me to abandon any more waterfall photos. Off to the trails!! I decided to hit Moore's Wall Loop Trail first. This is a 4.2 mile trek around Indian Face Mountain. Of course I stopped to see this at a clearing along the trail. I also spent some time at the observation tower at the North end of the loop.
Next, I went on the Hanging Rock Trail, a 2.4 mile round trip up to the rock formation that is the namesake for this park. My legs, already tired from the earlier hike were screaming at me as I climbed what seemed to be a 45 degree angle to the summit. Once there, I was disturbed to learn that the only good place to take a picture of the formation was a sister formation about 75 feet North. I shimmied into place feeling like I was going to roll off the cliff. It is very disconcerting not to have railing or a fence of some sort when you are looking at a 200 foot drop.
As of the time of this writing, there are a dozen new photos posted to the gallery out of the 65 that I took.
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My goodness! You take your adventurous spirit to extremes, much the same as I tend to do. Good thing you don't suffer from vertigo at all, when perched precariously in persuit of the perfect shot. I don't know why it is, but it seems the very best photos I've ever taken were the ones I had to really go out of my way or push myself to great lengths to obtain them. While I wouldn't recommend risking life and limb for the sake of being able to get just the right angle, it will probably result in a photo taken from a vantage point few other photographers have been crazy enough to attempt. Is it really worth it? If it wasn't, people like you and I wouldn't go to such extreme measures to capture a unique perspective of what would otherwise be considered an image that is ordinary and already "overexposed" (pun intended) and, therefore, just another picture of the same rock or the same creek. It takes on a whole new appeal when you imagine it from the perspective of a hawk or a cougar, and put yourself physically in their place and sharing that view through the lens of a camera.
2/25/06 2:38 AM
You also make a good point about safety. There are times you just have to let a shot go. There was even a time on this particular trip where I had to let good sense win over a possible picture. I found myself not too far from Window Falls on a wet, and slick rock face. I wanted to get down into a ravine, but the footing was terrible. After losing my footing a few times, I decided to head back to dryer land. I figured at best, I would end up damaging some of my equipment, and worst case, I would be wishing for a signal on my cell phone to call for help. Mental note...bring climbing rope next time.