Blue Hen Falls

Place: Near Akron, Ohio

Location: Blue Hen Falls, Cuyahoga National Park

Cuyahoga is the closest national park to my home in Western Pennsylvania and the only national park in Ohio. It also happens to be the smallest and most urban of the national parks, but this does not diminish from its beauty. As a matter of fact, though not a very well known location, it was nonetheless named as one of the top 25 US photography destinations in a recent Outdoor Photographer magazine issue.

This particular photo journey was a weekend trip and, as luck would have it, the weather was terrible. However, on the last day of the trip, the rain stopped for a few hours and the sky remained overcast, creating perfect conditions for waterfall photography. In this situation, the cloud cover of the overcast sky reduces the contrast on the water and the rain saturates the fall colors. Blue Hen Falls, while not nearly the tallest falls in the park, is, in my opinion, the most beautiful.