Umptanum light...

The hike to Umptanum Falls brings you right to the top of the waterfall. There's a shallow pool at the top, and the water foams and spills right over the edge of a basalt cliff.




If you want to see the waterfall straight on, you scramble up a steep rock slope (with the help of a rope) across the top of a slot canyon, and down the other side. It's worth every rocky step.

We arrived at the wrong time of day for good photographs, but that's how it happens some times. But as we hiked back toward the trailhead, I got my reward: perfect light out of the west to shine through a grove of aspen trees.