The lungs of the rainforest

This is one of my favourite spots. Mist often hangs in the air from the falls and the place feels like the lungs of the rainforest. The character of this spot changes dramatically with water levels. When the salmon are running and the water levels are much higher than in this photo, I love to just sit and watch the fish leaping up the falls.

For the pink salmon which are the most common fish in this creek, it appears to be a futile exercise. As the smallest of the five species of Pacific salmon, the falls are simply too high. And yet they try. Again and again, they hurl themselves at the falls only to get washed back down by the racing water. Occasionally, a big coho salmon explodes out of the frothing water at the base of the falls, soaring upwards like a finned torpedo. Some appear to make it into the upper reaches of the river, where I like to imagine them swimming in the clear water under the boughs of towering old cedars draped in mosses and lichens.

Occasionally, while we wait, a bear comes by looking for salmon. Sometimes they will stand at the edge of the falls, hoping to catch a salmon in mid-flight. And occasionally the bears are successful. Some mornings when we show up the rocks are littered with salmon carcasses from feasting bears. Of course, the dream is to photograph a white bear in this beautiful scene, but so far, that remains a dream. In the meantime, this photo of a black bear walking toward the falls is a favourite.