Hidden Adventures

This mornings shoot was unlike no other shoot I’ve been on recently. It started at 4:15am with a drive to New Brighton / Beaver Falls area. I can’t remember the last time I was in this area, and certainly can’t remember a time when I wasn’t just driving through. The purpose though: finding a hidden waterfall. I met up with a friend whom grew up in this area. She told me when she was a teenager, her and her friends would hang out here. She told me all kind of wild stories about the area, including a girl who stood on the train track and was hit by an oncoming train. Scary! We found the trail that lead down to the train tracks. By only light of our flashlights, we walked up that tracks I would guesstimate for at least a mile. We past old abandoned mills on the other side of the river. We were looking for a clearing, and it seemed to take forever to get there. We did find it, and proceeded to climb up the steep path. It was wet, slippery and dark. We couldn’t see anything in front of us. Half way up, we decided it may be best to wait for some light. Back down we headed. By this time some morning light was starting to appear. We got down to the tracks to see an oncoming light, It was a train! How cool! Sure I grew up around train tracks and I’ve been on my fair share. But none that were active. We watched the oncoming train roll by. It was cool because it was still dark that you knew obviously that there was a train passing, but couldn’t see it. You just felt the wind rushing around you as it past. Cool experience indeed. At this point to pass the 30 minutes or so until sunrise we shot on the river. We were on the banks of the Beaver River. It overlooked mostly abandoned and post industrial Beaver Falls. A dense fog was rolling in from the north and south. It was strange, with basketballs floating downstream to seeing trains pass-by on the other side. It was a valley surrounded by tracks. Once day broke we decided to make way to the waterfall. We hiked back into the dense woods. Climbed the cliffs and switched back across the stream. About half a mile in, we came to an open gorge and there it was, it all it’s glory. The hidden waterfall. Untouched by humans, rugged. I never imagined an area like this being accessible so close to a city. A hidden adventure only a local could find.