Whitehorse Falls, 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 the surroundings were completely covered with lush greenery. It was among the prettiest little waterfalls I had ever seen. I returned in the spring of 2006 to find that trampling of the surrounding moss and vegetation made my 1995 vantage point ugly, scarred, and eroded. I did my best to show the falls as it ought to be by finding a vantage point that hid most of the damage. When this photograph was captured in the spring of 2013 the damage caused by people swarming around the waterfall was severe. This photograph shows the most pristine looking view I could find, but all of the brown areas, including most of the large foreground log, should be covered in green. I composed the best photograph I could in a light rain, knowing it was pointless to return in the future. Whitehorse Falls had become just another once beautiful place destroyed by the onslaught of humanity.