Whitehorse Falls and Tree, Umpqua National Forest, Oregon

(Click image to enlarge)

Whitehorse Falls is a small 15 foot (4.6 m) waterfall on the Clearwater River. I first visited Whitehorse Falls in the spring of 1995 when it was surrounded by bunchberry blossoms, moss, and other greenery. It was one of the prettiest little waterfalls I had ever seen. I returned in the spring of 2006 when this photograph was captured. By then trampling of the surrounding moss and vegetation made my 1995 vantage point ugly, eroded, and scarred. I chose the vantage point for this photograph to hide most of the damage that people swarming around the falls had caused. I visited again in spring of 2013 and found that the damage was far worse. I photographed the falls from the only reasonable vantage point. Whitehorse Falls had become just another once beautiful place destroyed by the onslaught of humanity.