Catskillmountaineer.com Forum

On Saturday we got a late start. It was cloudy with a chance of showers. But, we didn't see any rain, which was very good.

Today we photographed Bridal Veil Falls, Hell's Hole Falls, Plattekill Falls, Bastion Falls, and Kaaterskill Falls. And, we got a little scenery along the way.


Kaaterskill Falls


Bridal Veil Falls


Beginning of Hell's Hole Falls


Middle part of Hell's Hole Falls from above


Plattekill Falls


Upper part of Bastion Falls


Bastion Falls from the Bridge


Red Mill Falls


Fall Scenery along the way

Nice shots! The waterfalls always photograph best on a cloudy day.

And you really got lucky with the weather, it poured down here in the valley.

I love the view at the base of Plattekill Falls, but I've never been down to Bridal Veil and Japanese. I've been scared off by the descriptions (and the fact that it seems that it's every year that I hear about someone falling to their death there). Is it as nasty as it sounds?

wow those are really great shots. Nice time exposures, great color. Makes all my waterfall shots look bad =(
you should get some 20x30s printed of some of those

Cloudy days usually make better photograph days. The only exception is Kaaterskill Falls. KF seems to photograph better with sun. But that is the exception.

Yeah, we were really lucky with the weather. No rain all day. I was surprised.

Platte Clove Valley and Hell's Hole is quite dangerous. BUT, it can be done if you take the right routes. It is best to access it from the valley floor or from the southern edge. The key is to know exactly where to start. Taking the access by the bridge is very dangerous without ropes. You can tumble out of control very easily. Also taking the long path from Bridal Veil lookout to the valley is dangerous. The key is to take your time, and find the proper routes. I am always paranoid, and refuse to take risk. For example, people at the bottom of Plattekill Falls try to climb from the side banks, which is dangerous. the easy way is to hike from the King Post Bridge. It is just a matter of knowing where to go.

Jon, we just got a new DSLR camera, so we had an edge on the photos. I really like the one of Plattekill falls. I really like how the green in the water blend into the red bottom. I will probably print that one out. I have a larger photo printer to print it out.

Glad everyone liked the photos. Maybe we'll get more next week.

Hmm, I think I'm just going to have to wait until I can go with someone to show me the way: I don't really trust myself to find it. (Ideally someone who can tolerate my hiking pace, which is usually 'snail' although if I really pour on the coal I can kick it up to 'tortoise'!)

You're right about KF somehow showing better in bright sunlight. I'm not sure why that is - maybe because you always have deep shade framing them. I was always proud of


Kaaterskill Falls by ke9tv, on Flickr

I took that one years ago with a film camera. One of these times I'll actually find the negative and get it digitized at decent resolution so that I can print it big. I first thought that I didn't want to, because of the amount that the one guy on the middle tier is showing. Then I noticed that the savage in Thomas Cole's painting is standing in the same spot, and about as well dressed - so I'll call it an homage to Cole!

You are more then welcome to join us sometime. We don't move particularly fast. There are periods where we stop and take photos (tri-pod and all). When the terrain gets tough, we take our movements very slowly to ensure that we are safe. The region around Kaaterskill Mtn Range there are probably around 70 waterfalls. Some are rarely visited or seen. Some are quite beautiful that most people don't know about.

In regards to photographing KF. Rich Kugel and I have determined that visiting it in the late afternoon is best. This is when the sun shines up the valley and there are very few dark spots. On a cloudy day, the water blends in with the cloudy sky. It reduced the grandeur of the waterfalls in my opinion. This mainly because you are looking up vertically. Here is a link to some of our photos of KF: http://www.catskillmountaineer.com/WF-LC-KF.html

Those are some mighty fine pictures. Love the one of Plattekill Falls.

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!