Sunlight pierces through a canopy of leaves and casts incredible sidelight upon the soothing cascades of Ramona Falls.

Tucked away in the Mount Hood wilderness rumbles Ramona Falls, the jewel at the end of a 3.5 mile through dense forest and river beds.  Years ago a permanent bridge across the Sandy River was destroyed by a raging flood, and temporary bridges held their namesake during subsequent storm seasons.  In 2014 a hiker was swept away and drowned while using a temporary bridge, leading to a National Forest Service decision not to replace them.  As a result, I was nervous about a natural river crossing especially carrying all my camera gear, but seeing images of Ramona Falls rapidly washed away my apprehensions.  I was in luck, as low springtime water levels and several downfallen logs facilitated a careful by easy river crossing.

This was a tricky scene to capture and I considered several wide compositions before ultimately deciding the multitude of branches and logs strewn across the waterfall were too distracting to my eye.  I spent nearly two hours here just enjoying the moment until I noticed streams of sunlight piercing through the canopy above to cast distinct bands of light upon the cascade and moss.  I waited until the light bands passed through a pristine portion of the waterfall, marveled at the perfect blend of light and shadow before me, and took my shot.