4-24 Pam's Grotto

This was a Dad-Daniel hunt, our first with just the two of us. We decided to head to Pam's Grotto, which is very near where we finished hunting last week. The trailhead is about a mile from the Haw Creek campground. The parking area is right next to Haw Creek, so we ventured down there to see what we could see.

I don't know if you would call this a waterfall or a Class III rapids. (1/12 sec, f-18.2, ISO800)

Everything is centered on the middle, which is a violation of "The Rules". I kind of agree with "The Rules" on this one. (1/25 sec, f-18, ISO800)

Once again I got Daniel to pose.  He is such a trooper, since he has to sit perfectly still for the few seconds it takes to make the shot. Do you understand how hard it is for a 6 year old to sit perfectly still for even half a second? You try it. (1/5 sec, f-18.2, ISO800)

The clouds were coming and going, but the light was still really strong. (1/5 sec, f-18, ISO100)

I really like this shot because the colors turned out good and the slab of rock that I was sitting on leads your eye right up to the waterfall. I also like the glow of the green trees reflected on the rock. (1/2 sec, f-18, ISO100)

This is looking downstream. Just another beautiful Ozark stream. (1/50 sec, f-5, ISO100)

This is from the top of the waterfall looking upstream. I wanted to capture the essence of the rock garden that this stream is, but I think it shows up too small. (1/30 sec, f-5.6, ISO100)

After we left the creek, we crossed the road and went up the trail.  This area is a well known rock climbing area. As we were walking along the bluff line, we came upon this rock formation. I was fascinated by the "selective erosion" that was going on. (My brother the geologist could probably give you a fancier term for that if you want.) I converted this one to black and white to emphasize the shapes and lines. (1/25 sec, f-3.5, ISO640)

As we came over the top of the trail along the bluff, an amazing sight opens up in front of us. (1/30 sec, f-3.5, ISO200)

A little further down the trail and we can see the waterfall being guarded by these house size boulders. (1/15 sec, f-4, ISO800)

I like the way the stream cuts an awkward slot out of the bluff. (8 sec, f-20, ISO100)

I did a little cropping here to take out some distracting elements. (8 sec, f-20, ISO100)

Daniel was in awe. He really did stay still, staring at the waterfall, this time. (1/6 sec, f-9, ISO800)

Another bit of judicious cropping.  I think this version is stronger because it emphasizes the vertical lines of the waterfall and Daniel and the slanted lines of the rocks. (1/6 sec, f-9, ISO800)

As we were taking the last few pictures, a light rain was falling, but by the time we got back to the back of the grotto, the sun was back out in full force. Boo. However, not one to waste a chance to take another picture (thanks, Dad), I set up and took this one. I really like the glow from the trees that I got here. (0.6 sec, f-14, ISO100)

We moved on around to the side.  I had to photoshop my camera bag out  of the picture.  Another lesson learned: don't leave stuff in the open when you are moving around. (6 sec, f-18, ISO100)

This gives you an idea of how big those boulders are.  Remember Daniel standing by the small one? (4 sec, f-18, ISO100)

Another view but with more of the bluff and overhang that these boulders fell from. (1.6 sec, f-18, ISO100)

As I was looking around, I saw an opportunity to shoot the baby waterfall coming out of the pool. (2.5 sec, f-14, ISO200)

We climbed around behind the house sized boulder to get this shot. (25 sec, f-18, ISO100)

I really dig the composition of this one, I just wish the little tree was in better focus. (1.3 sec, f-20, ISO800)


At this point, I had only been waterfall hunting for a month, so I hadn't seen very much, but it is going to be very hard to top this waterfall. This is an absolutely gorgeous and amazing place.  We were here for a couple of hours, and would have stayed all day, but we had other places to go. Good thing, too, because we saw about 20 people coming up the trail on our way back to the truck.