Hanging Rock State Park – September 2026

When I retired about a year and a half ago, I told several of my coworkers that one of the things I planned to do with my new free time was to travel and take pictures of waterfalls.

Apparently I was not in much of a hurry.

I have taken several trips that included waterfalls, including Niagara Falls in July 2025. However, those were family vacations or destination trips where a waterfall happened to be part of the experience. Hanging Rock State Park was the first trip I made specifically to spend the day photographing waterfalls since retiring.

Part of the reason for making this trip was to create more content for the Sweebrew website and spend more time experimenting with focus stacking. I had recently learned how to use the feature on the camera and wanted to try it in the field, especially on scenes where I wanted both the foreground rocks and the waterfall to remain sharp.

Most of the waterfall photographs were taken with the Nikon Z8 using either the 24-70mm or 14-30mm lens. Apertures were generally around f/8, with shutter speeds of approximately two seconds. The images were focus stacked and blended in Photoshop, with the remaining processing completed in DxO PhotoLab.

Other than leaving home a couple of hours later than planned and misjudging how long it would take to survey each location, set up, and take pictures, the first part of the day went about as planned. I worked my way through Window Falls and Hidden Falls, taking time to look for compositions, make the proper camera adjustments and settings, wipe off the sweat, and expend the energy needed to hike to each waterfall location.

I thought I could photograph Window Falls, Hidden Falls, and Lower Cascades Falls in about three hours. After spending about three hours just photographing Window Falls and Hidden Falls, I saw the trail for Hanging Rock. The temperature was in the 90s and it was a 1.8-mile trek each way, but I thought that while I was there, I didn't want to miss taking pictures of the iconic vista. I knew it would add a couple of hours to the day, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity.

At that point, the sensible decision probably would have been to move on to Lower Cascades Falls. I was already several hours behind my predetermined schedule, so I could have photographed Lower Cascades Falls, called it a successful photography day, and headed home. Instead, I decided to make 1.8-mile trek.

On a normal hike, I average about 19-minute miles, so I knew this detour was going to add a considerable amount of time and effort to the day — and that was before taking the terrain into account.

The endeavor turned into more than two hours on the trail. Between the terrain, the heat, and stopping along the way, my normal walking pace did not mean very much on this hike. By the time I reached the overlook I was well aware that I had added considerably more to the day than just another scenic stop.

Reaching Hanging Rock gave me a completely different view of the park. After spending most of the day down around the waterfalls and beneath the tree canopy, the open rock and distant landscape were a nice change of scenery. In retrospect, though, I probably would have been better off saving the hike for another day.

It also produced the moment from the day that I will probably remember longer than any particular photograph or photography trip.

After taking quite a few pictures, I thought it would be a good idea to grab a couple with my phone to send to family before heading home. With one camera hanging from a strap around my neck, another in my camera bag along with the GoPro, I tried to position myself for a good shot. Not thinking about the camera bag, I leaned just enough to get the image I wanted and watched my camera go tumbling toward the edge of the cliff. Through my own carelessness, I had managed to do something every photographer dreads — watch an expensive camera and lens appear to be heading bye-bye for good, in addition to the roughly four hours of photographs on the camera.

For a few seconds, it seemed to happen in slow motion. Fortunately, the camera stopped about two feet from the edge.

That immediately created a second problem: deciding whether I could retrieve it safely. Losing the camera would have been painful, but not nearly as painful as turning a bad photography moment into something much worse.

The good news was that I was able to retrieve the camera and lens, and both still worked. The Z8's rear screen was cracked, but the camera remains usable. The 14-30mm lens also sustained damage and needed repair. I will deal with the camera screen sometime down the road, while Nikon is currently handling about a $600 repair on the lens.

Hurt feeling and the camera safely back in my hands, I still had one more waterfall on my original list. After hiking back from Hanging Rock, I headed to Lower Cascades Falls.

Lower Cascades was the location I had been most interested in photographing before making the trip. By then I was tired, hot, and considerably later than I had planned, but this was still supposed to be a waterfall photography day. I wasn't going to leave without photographing the waterfall I had most wanted to see.

It was 6:45 and the gates closed at 7:30, so there was no time to waste considering I still had a short hike to the falls. Prior to the trip, I had learned to use the camera's focus-stacking capabilities, and I had already used them with fairly good results at the first two waterfalls. At Lower Cascades, I quickly set up at three different vantage points, took the pictures and headed back. I made it to the car by 7:30. By the time I finished at Lower Cascades, the three-hour photography outing I had imagined had taken most of a day and well into the evening.

Additional photographs from the waterfalls at Hanging Rock are included in the Waterfall Gallery .

In the end, the camera came home with me, along with photographs from Window Falls, Hidden Falls, Lower Cascades Falls, and Hanging Rock.

My first dedicated waterfall photography trip took a year and a half to finally happen. I left home later than planned, spent much longer photographing each location than expected, added a 3.6-mile round-trip hike in 90-degree heat, and came within about two feet of turning the day into a very expensive disaster.

Not exactly the relaxed day of waterfall photography I had imagined when I retired — but definitely a trip I will remember.

For more photos of the park, visit the Hanging Rock State Park travel page .