COSights

By Astrid · 6 places

Let It Rain: 6 Places That Improve in a Storm

Waterfalls, dark stone, and weather worth standing in

Most people put the camera away when the clouds come in. I do the opposite. Flat gray light is a gift to waterfalls and dark canyon walls, and a little mist turns familiar stone into something stranger. These are the places I save for storm days.

  1. A tall waterfall pours in a bright, silky sheet down a rocky cliff, framed by dense leafy branches in the foreground. Mist gathers at the base as the water crashes into a shallow pool, with steep canyon walls rising behind it.
    1

    Ouray

    Box Canyon Falls

    The falls thunder through a quartzite slot barely 20 feet wide, and the steel bridge puts you inside the spray. It is already dim and wet in there, so a rainy day changes nothing except the crowds.

  2. A winter scene of Bridal Veil Falls pouring over a cliff in a thick white plume, with the rock face and foreground boulders coated in snow and long icicles. Mist rises around the frozen waterfall, softening the gray sky and the towering canyon wall.
    2

    Telluride

    Bridal Veil Falls

    Colorado's tallest free-falling waterfall drops 365 feet from the head of the box canyon, and low cloud wrapping the power plant at its brink makes the scene. Shoot from the base area when the weather sits down on the valley.

  3. Sheer dark canyon walls fill the frame, with the Painted Wall’s pink and white pegmatite streaks running across the cliff face above the narrow Gunnison River below. Soft morning light reveals the depth of the gorge and the rugged, layered rock textures.
    3

    Montrose

    Black Canyon of the Gunnison - Painted Wall

    The pink pegmatite veins across 2,250 feet of dark gneiss read best without harsh sun flattening them. Overcast light lets the wall be what it is, which is somber and immense.

  4. North Clear Creek Falls drops in a white ribbon over a sheer tan rhyolite cliff into a deep rocky gorge, with the water catching bright morning light. Open grassland and low dark hills stretch across the background under a clear blue sky.
    4

    Creede

    North Clear Creek Falls

    A 100-foot plunge over a rhyolite cliff, five minutes from the car on the Silver Thread. Soft storm light evens out the gorge's hard shadows, and long exposures turn the falls to silk against the dark rock.

  5. A calm mountain lake reflects snow-streaked peaks and dark evergreen forest, with a tree trunk framing the left side and a fallen branch crossing the water in the foreground. The scene has bright morning light and a quiet alpine feel.
    5

    Grand Lake

    Adams Falls

    Rain deepens the greens on the mossy granite ledges where East Inlet Creek cascades through its narrow chute. The short trail means you can wait out a squall in the car and be shooting again in ten minutes.

  6. White water churns through a narrow granite gorge at Boulder Falls, with a smooth pale boulder dominating the foreground and steep rock walls lining the creek. The long exposure softens the rushing water into a silky flow, emphasizing the tight canyon setting.
    6

    Boulder

    Boulder Falls

    This 70-foot cascade in Boulder Canyon is at its best when the sky is doing something, spray and drizzle blurring together in a long exposure. Wet weather also thins out the roadside crowd, which is half the battle here.

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