6.7

Yesterday morning I heard on a local television station that 6.7 inches (17 cm) of rain had fallen overnight on a part of the Bull Creek watershed just a few miles from where I live in northwest Austin. That’s a lot of water, so I headed out to take pictures in several places, the last of which was a waterfall on a tributary of Bull Creek. Old Spicewood Springs Rd. passes within about 50 ft. (15 m) of it, but because of the dense vegetation and the declivity of the terrain the waterfall isn’t easily visible from the road, and I suspect many or maybe even most of the people who pass by have no idea it exists. (That was true of two City of Austin workers who were taking pictures from the road and whom I told about the falls.) Not only is the waterfall hard to see, but it’s hard to get to when the creek is flowing full and fast. Nevertheless, your intrepid correspondent pushed down the slope through the brush and then cautiously worked his way upstream alongside and just as often in the creek to photograph this great sight. And oh yeah, you’re finally getting some cottony water, thanks to a shutter speed of 1/4 sec.

© 2014 Steven Schwartzman