A Temperate Rain Forest

This is the forest at McDowell Creek Falls County Park.

(Click here to view the interactive picture in a new tab.)

This VR was taken at McDowell Creek Falls County Park, just above the top of Majestic Falls. The park is a lesser-known jewel on the east side of the Willamette Valley, just outside of Lebanon, Oregon. Although known mostly for a set of four waterfalls, the paths that connect them wander through a beautiful forest that is worth seeing in its own right. It is beautifully lush all year round, with dashes of color in the fall.

The thing that makes this area unique is the amount of moisture in the air due to the waterfalls, and probably the canyon terrain. As a sign says at the upper Majestic Falls viewing platform:

Can you feel the moisture in the air? Notice the many shades of green in the forest around you. You are standing in the middle of a temperate rainforest, where the trees are draped with moss and the rocks are smothered in lichens. This rainforest is dominated by large conifer trees covering a damp understory. The ground is spongy beneath your feet with forest debris consisting of leaves, tree needles, and moss. Take a minute to look up into the trees and cliffs. You will notice plants growing in places you might not expect. The high level of humidity allows ferns to grow on tree branches. If you look hard, you will even notice small plants attached to rocks. These natural oddities are characteristic of this beautiful rainforest environment.

Although the location of this VR may not show off all the features described in the paragraph, it still gives a little sense of the green-ness of the place.

This picture was taken to be part of a series on forests for the Worldwide Panorama Project. It is formed from 9 bracketed exposures, necessary to deal with the extreme dynamic range from shadowy undergrowth to daylight-illuminated foliage. There was a little wind while taking the exposures, so if you look closely, you can see a little blur in spots. This final location was actually the second attempt; the first one was in a different location that became illuminated as the sun moved from behind a tree. This created shadow problems.

I think the greens are a little too punchy in the final result; still experimenting with different ways of handling large dynamic range without either blowing out the whites, or parts being swallowed in shadow.

My wife was with me on this trip, because the focus was more than just VR. It was taken on a Friday after July 4, when I took a day off from work. Aside from the WWP projects, I hope to capture more and more of the park over time, maybe eventually making a virtual tour.

This VR was also posted here on the World Wide Panorama project, as an entry for the Forest theme.