Dean M. Chriss
Photography
Whitehorse Falls, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
(Click image to enlarge)
Whitehorse Falls is a small 15 foot (4.6 m) waterfall on the
Clearwater River.
I first visited Whitehorse Falls in the spring of 1995
when the surroundings were completely covered with lush greenery. It was among
the prettiest little waterfalls I had ever seen. I returned in the spring of
2006 to find that trampling of the
surrounding moss and vegetation made my 1995 vantage point ugly, scarred, and
eroded. I
did my best to show the falls as it ought to be
by finding a vantage point that
hid most of the damage. When this photograph was captured in the spring of 2013
the damage caused by people swarming around the waterfall was severe. This
photograph shows the most pristine looking view I could find, but all of the
brown areas, including most of the large foreground log, should be covered in
green. I composed the best photograph I could in a light
rain, knowing it was pointless to return in the future. Whitehorse Falls had
become just another once beautiful place destroyed by the
onslaught of humanity.