We had a lot of rain on Halloween, which was also close to the peak of fall foliage season in the Ozarks of Arkansas. It is not often when you get a prolonged or heavy enough rain to create runoff at the same time that it coincides with peak fall color; so I decided to focus on some waterfall photography for a few days. For my first destination, I went to Twin Falls in the Richland Creek Wilderness. This waterfall usually has at least some water most days of the year and I intentionally went the day before the big rain because my thoughts were that the clear pool of water would soon have too much sediment stirred up to where you couldn't see the bottom.  While there wasn't a lot of water flowing, the clear pool was there with a nice leaf swirl.  This image of the right part of Twin Falls is a 30 second exposure that creates the circular movement in the water. 

Leaf Swirl

After it rained for much of Halloween, I decided to head out to look for waterfalls.  I picked a few locations based on radar estimates of rainfall amounts.  Some of those places that saw the most rain were some of the lesser known hollows off of Highway 7 north of Russellville.  Few people venture off into these hollows and most of the time there is not this much water.  However, this day it allowed for some unique images that most don't get to experience.  Here are some of my favorite images from that day.

Mose Freeman Hollow Cowan Hollow

This waterfall below is named after Dr. Neil Compton, who helped lead the way to saving the Buffalo River in the 60s and early 70s. Again, most days of the year it does not look like this. But when there is enough water, it is one of most photogenic waterfalls in Arkansas. 

Flash Flood Warnings were issued on Halloween for parts of the Ouachita Mountains of western Arkansas.  So earlier this week, I decided to head there where a lot of water was still flowing.  Blaylock Creek Falls and Katy Falls are among the bigger falls in this part of the state. 

Katy Falls

Although the fall color is beginning to fade, there is still some autumn color to enjoy.  Snow is also in the forecast in Northwest Arkansas for Monday. If we see enough accumulation on the grass, I may be able to post some pictures of the leftover fall foliage with snow on the ground.  Another rare opportunity!

The fall color has really come along the last few days in the Ozarks and we will be hitting peak color over the next few days. On Thursday and Friday, I took a couple of hikes into the Ponca Wilderness near Ponca, Arkansas. Thursday was a day of calm winds, low clouds, fog and drizzle.  As long as the drizzle didn't get too heavy, it was an ideal time to photograph the forest and it was fun to watch the ever-changing fog only a few hundred feet above the banks of the Buffalo River. 

Old River Trail near Steel Creek in October

When the fog wasn't too low and thick, looking down onto the Buffalo River Valley was also a treat. So many colors! 

I believe those are sweet gum trees that are turning brilliant shades of orange.  On Friday, the drizzle stopped and the ceiling lifted, but there was still ample cloud cover to photograph the flowing water and the forest.  

Grey Rock Shoals on the Buffalo    Grey Rock Leaf Swirl Vertical

As dusk approached, I photographed the leaves swirling in the eddy. These images were made with about a 5-10 second long exposure to get the circular movement of the leaves and bubbles in the water.  

Grey Rock Leaf Swirl on the Buffalo

On Friday night, the skies cleared and the forest was beginning to dry out. However, there was enough lingering moisture in the air to create some patchy light fog in the valleys of the Upper Buffalo Wilderness. These images below were taken just after sunrise on Saturday morning. 

Cloudland View October

So far, this has been a good year for fall colors in Arkansas, possibly the best in the last few years. I will have more fall color pictures for my next blog entry to come in November.

I recently drove out to Colorado and New Mexico to photograph some of the night skies and aspen and cottonwood trees that turn yellow in late September and early October.   

My first stop was to the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. Bisti is a fascinating place of whimsical rock formations and hoodoos.  After a short night of car camping in the remote parking lot, I decided to head out in the middle of the night to photograph some of these unusual rock formations in a clear, starry night.  I wanted to reach the location I had in mind in the moonlight before the moon would soon set.  The picture below on the left is in moonlight while the picture below on the right was as the night sky was beginning to get twilight before sunrise. 

I also did some night photography in Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. Photographing the Milky Way is best between April and October in the Northern Hemisphere, when the galactic center is visible above the horizon at night. The "star" that you see to the left of the Milky Way is Mars. With the help of a tent and light painting from Glenn Randall, I also was able to do some cool captures of the landscape under the Milky Way.  

Milky Way at Great Sand Dunes

I also did a hike in the La Plata Mountains near Durango, Colorado. The aspens were close to their peak when I was there.  

Before I left, snow began to fall in the higher elevations of the Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico.  A dusting of snow accumulated at the top of Santa Fe Ski Area.  The changing of seasons is showing up!

Frosted Forest

While in the Four Corners region, I also went to the Navajo and Hopi Indian Reservations in Arizona. I will have a blog post on that trip later this fall.