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As I departed Capitol Reef early in the morning after a great relaxing night at a hotel in Torrey, by chance I spoke with a friendly breakfast cashier about places to see along the way to Bryce in the Grand Staircase-Escalante region. She mentioned Calf Creek as a great hike with wonderful scenery, and even marked my Southwest photography travel book where to find it. With that confirmation, I made Calf Creek a destination in transit. I arrived at Calf Creek around 9 AM, after many photo stops in the Dixie National Forest which incidentally would be a great fall foliage destination perhaps in late September or early October. The forest along Highway 12 did not have aspen stands as typically found in California Eastern Sierra. Instead, there were mountains of them, almost as far as the eyes can see. Unfortunately, by the time I got to Dixie, the trees were barren for the most part. I include a few pictures along Dixie National Forest in the Calf Creek photoset. The first thing that struck me about Calf Creek Recreation Area was how well the campground appeared, with a camp host, drinking water and flush toilet in the middle of nowhere. Camping here might be fun since reaching some campsites requires driving across a stream, and the scenery was spectacular when I was there in October. It also seemed that most people would come to this place for hiking and not for staying since I found many available campsites both before the hike and as I left the area. The next time, I plan on staying 2 days here so I can photograph the falls and sceneries along the trail at more optimal hours. The night would be cold in October, to the low 30's, so adequate camping preparation is necessary. The hike: This site is a fee area, managed by BLM. Parking without camping costed 2 dollars (1 for seniors) in 2013. Looking at what people wore for the hike- thick jackets and gloves, gave me the impression that the morning hike must be quite cold. I learnt that the hike was rather long for me as a destination-in-transit at a total of 6 miles round trip. There is good trail pamplets available at the trailhead that should be brought along. I left mine in the car and regretted it later on since I missed some petroglyth locations along the trail. The hike in the morning was wonderful, a bit on the cool side but not uncomfortable. The hike borders Calf Creek for the most part with fantastic fall colors against gigantic sandstone cliffs, thus making them much more beautiful. For the most part, there was little net elevation gain, although there were steep sections at places. More noteworthy might be the sandy trail which required more effort to make progress. With many photo stops along the trail, I finally reached Lower Calf Creek Falls after an hour and a half. This waterfall is 126 ft high against sandstone backdrop and complemented by fern hanging garden and mossy green algae. In full sun, the waterfall was very colorful. There were only a few people when I arrived, making it much easier to photograph with minimal human appearance in the vicinity. That changed by the time I left by late morning when more people arrived and I met more along the trail back to the parking area. Photographic considerations: I was able to photograph the waterfall with several different angles before the the falls fell in the shade. Strangely enough for this waterfall, it seems that photographing while exposed to the sun is preferable to total shade since it brought out more vibrant colors. I surmised that very early or very late in the day might work well too where the colors could be brought out under less contrast condition. In any event, it seems a moderately wide angle lens worked fine. Wide angle zoom lens work well here. Telephoto lens does not work since there did not seem to be vantage points to take pictures without foliage in the way. Careful usage of polarizers by not going full reduction brings out better colors and reduces glares. A model near the water edge would be good to provide a sense of dimension. However, it might be best to use yourself as the model since relying on casual visitors to be your model does not usually work when you use slow shutter speeds. As such, a remote release control works well.
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Getting There |
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Additional Considerations |
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Useful links |
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BLM article on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, featuring Calf Creek Falls as a destination utah.com article on Calf Creek Falls and trail, with useful description of the trail condition and interesting things to see |
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