Nairn Falls

Ralph had dropped in on Nairn Falls a number of years back and he wanted to go back and spend more time with his newer camera gear. He was also hoping for a few tips on getting better results from it as his photos seemed quite soft. I had never been to the falls so it was a worthy destination and I was quite looking forward to seeing the waterfall as they are of my favourite subjects. This would also give me a chance to test out the gas portion of my new electric car – a Chevy Volt. Virtually all of my driving is quite short and I had never used much gas in it so far, so this run of 400kms would give me a good feel of how it performs in mountain mode through the hills.

Ralph came by just before 8:30am as planned and we quickly set off for our first stop along the trip – the local Starbucks alongside our planned route! Ralph was already impressed with the quietness of the car and its beefy performance on the highway. With coffee in hand we continued on route to Pemberton, not stopping until we reached the parking lot in the park. There were quite a few people wandering around but still many spots to park and so we found a good location and got our gear loaded up for the 1.6km hike to the waterfall. The weather was dull with the odd misting but generally a pleasant temperature for walking outdoors.
We made good time along the dirt trail to the falls, and soon we were standing on the platform overlooking the waterfall, enjoying the roar of the heavy flow. It was an impressive sight with the high volume of freshet coming from the snow pack. We spent an hour at the site gathering photos from every angle we found interesting. It was quite popular with new groups coming and going continuously, all seemed suitably impressed with the power of the water.