We have had some *gorgeous* fall weather here lately- 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! :) We decided to take advantage of it this weekend and drove up to Ft. Payne, Alabama to do some hiking in the Little River Canyon / Desoto State Park area.
This is honestly one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been- I absolutely love it here! :) It’s only about 1.5 hours from our house, so we try to come here often. :)
The falls were really powerful this weekend- this is probably the most I’ve ever seen them running!
I love this place because it’s so interactive- you can walk right out on top of the falls, climb on the rocks, wade in the creek…
There’s even a nice trail to the bottom of the canyon, and when it’s warmer you can jump right in for a swim- right underneath the falls! :)
It was such a beautiful day to be out there- the mist in this picture is coming right up off the falls. :)
Best of all, it’s a great place to bring the whole family. ;)
This picture cracks me up! Miley and Howie are always so excited to go hiking. :)
After lunch, we went over to Desoto State Park and hiked the Azalea Cascade trail. We ran into a couple of cute little falls on this trail. :)
We stopped for a break by the creek and Howie couldn’t resist finding something to play with!
There were these huge, awesome rock formations along the trail! We had to climb them, of course! :D Miley and Howie loved it. :)
Couldn’t resist stopping to get a few family pics too. ;)
Thanks so much for looking! :)
<3 your pictures! What an adorable family!
Those are stunning photos!! :)
Those waterfalls are beyond gorgeous!
I love your camera; the quality is insane! :D
I especially LOVE the pic of the dogs running from the behind. How adorable! These dogs are like your children! Keep the pictures coming. You are amazing!
Your photography skills are great! Love the waterfall shots.
Hi Amanda!
Love the pics!
Left you a comment on FBook page!
What kind of camera did you use to takea these photos?
So clear!
Love your blog!
XXOOXX
Wow gorgeous photos!!! TFS!
LOVE those pics! What kinds of camera are you using?
What great pictures I felt like I was there through your lens. What a great little family you are :)
Great pictures! How lucky to have such a beautiful place nearby.
LOVE the photos!! Did you have someone with you taking the family shots or do you have some trick up your sleeve?
I love that you have earrings to match your school colors! Love it! What fantastic photos. There aren’t too many falls in MN. Next time in in AL to visit family I might check those out, what fun :)
Looked fun and relaxing, what I would not to be there right now…lol All your photos look wonderful but the 5th photo from your last is just breath taken. You are so talented. Wish we had some place near us like that, would have to go visit even if only for a hour. I have to pack a our house and find a new home all before Jan 1st…lol So stress is pretty high right now after packing all day today while waiting for realtors to call.
The quality of your photos is just SUPERB! They are a joy to look at…………..especially LOVE the pic of Miley and Howie racing up the steps; it cracks me up too!!
Oh, I love the pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The scenery is breathtaking and your family is so handsome :) Your babies are almost as beautiful as my two Boston Terrier babies ;)
hugs,
Shayna
I LOVE THE FALL COLORS AND THE BEAUTIFUL WATER SCENES.
I am so glad I came across your website. You have such fun stuff and the fonts are great. I love the waterfalls, they look amazing.
These pictures are fantastic! What kind of camera do you have? Thanks for sharing!
Amanda,
Great Photos! BTW: I’ve been following you blog for the past few years, and I have to say you look great! How have you lost your weight. Keep up the hard work!
Amanda and Kevin, looked like a wonderful fall day..beautiful scenery and you have a beautiful family! hugs!
Barb
Your pictures are absolutely fantastic. I live in AZ and we don’t have anything here that compares to this! I am so impressed by your camera that I want to go out and purchase one now!
So cute! I really like the one of all four of you guys sitting in front of the misty water. ;0)
rach
I LOVE your pics and enjoy seeing them when you post! Wonderful waterfall and fall colors images. Which lens/settings did you use? The pics with your dogs are so fun to see. How did you get them to pose so nicely for your family pics? We awoke to 6″ of snow on the ground, our first snow of the season. It’s that time of year here in AK!
Your photos are gorgeous – I have been following your site for a couple of years but have only just subscribed – so glad I did – sometimes life gets a bit busy and I forget to check our your site, but now I get reminders so it’s great – what a wonderful area you live near :)
Wow, great pics! Your doggies are such posers! hee hee How cool is that!
Such a beautiful landscape! I love waterfalls and I’m lucky because here in the north of Spain, where I live, there are a lots of roads for hiking and you can see a lot of waterfalls too. I think I have some pics from the last year autumn, so probably if I decide to post them I will leave a comment here. You are having a good weather there in Alabama. Where I live we haven’t stopped to see the rain since two weekends. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures.
Fabulous Photos, beautiful scenery and two very cute couples:0)
You look amazing. I am another who wants to know what camera you were using please?
Thanks for sharing.
I love your website.
Sheilagh
Fabulous pics! Love your dog pics and I love waterfalls- they are my favorite thing to photograph. You have lost weight, haven’t you? You are looking soooooo skinny!
Beautiful nature! Glad to see you enjoying it! Be blessed.
Beautiful pictures. I especially love your T-shirts. Go Tigers, War Eagale Baby. The dogs look like they are having a blast there. Thanks for the pictures.
Oh wow, your photos are amazing. Love how you’ve captured the waterfall in slowmo. You must have used a very low shutterspeed. The surroundings on this hike is absolutely breathtaking. TFS.
Hugs
Desire
Beautiful photos….I love waterfalls!
What a beautiful area! :) Great pictures – the family ones are the best! It looks like you all had fun.
These photos are gorgeous! I want to hike there. :)
I love that you took photos of yourselves too, that’s awesome (and you 4 are totally adorable!)
I LoOoVe these pictures! In Texas we don’t have near the Fall colors that you do, so I am envious! Also, the pics with the mist remind me of “Pocahontas” – tee hee. Thank you for sharing! :)
These pictures are Really Pretty!!! Love em!
Like the way u & Kevin look so happy 2! Too many times it isn’t that way! :)
Great pictures, what a beautiful place to go for a day outing!! Love Howie and Miley, my daughter has a Boston named Logan!
WOW! I love, love, love the photos your camera takes! They are SO vivid it appears that I could reach out and touch the beautiful colors of the landscape! Want to give us a little hint as to what cam that is??! *Ü*
Kevin, Amanda ~ you have a gorgeous family ~ and what *beautiful* photos you got!! Would that by chance be an Auburn University T you have on? As in Alabama? I lived in B’ham several years quite a while back! I’m now in the gorgeous mountains of VA and most color is gone up here ~ well, up here on the mountain tops! Down in the cities there’s still some gorgeous colors.
I could not believe what vivid colors WE got this year! I believe it was the rain we got right before the colors began to change.
Anyway, I *HAD* to let you know that your photos are absolutely stunning and I KNOW you MUST be totally proud of “Your Family Photos”, Autumn 2009!
Hugs!
Joni
*Ü*
Amazing pictures, they are so clear and beautiful! What camera are you using? Please let us know, especially w/ Christmas coming up:) I need to find a spot here in Dallas somewhere for our family photos!
Beautiful beautiful pictures! I love the motion of the falls in the first few pictures!
Looks like a beautiful place.
Beautiful location, great family photos…thanks for sharing with us that can’t be there in person.
Hi Kevin & Amanda!
Just gorgeous….absolutely just gorgeous!
I had to chuckle tho, I am from Michigan. In our Upper Pennisula area we have the Tahquamenon Falls, and the lower falls are very much like you described. You also were wearing a Tigers shirt….had you not mentioned you were in Alabama…you could have passed for being in Michigan!!! hehe
Go Detroit Tigers! (sorry had to root for our home team!)
I love the pictures! Fall is my favorite season. That is, until Spring arrives. Ha! What settings did you use on your camera to get the soft effect of the falls? Those should be blown up and framed on a wall. Gorgeous!
OMG Amanda!! I love all of these pictures!!! Amazingly beautiful and serene! :) I’m jealous hahaha. Did you do any HDR on some of the pictures with just waterfalls? Wish we had a place like this close by our home in California.
Those pictures are insane! They look unreal I love your camera, i think i need to go get me one!
I love the pics! I want to take the kids up there. We went north of Cullman saturday and it was a beautiful drive out in the country! I am going to show the hubby these pics! Love the Auburn shirts, War Eagle!
Hey girls! Thanks so much for all your sweet comments! :) I have the Canon XTi and I used the 24-70 2.8 L lens for these pics- Here’s a list of the rest of my camera and equipment info if anyone’s interested! :)
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/contact.html#camera
To get the soft look for the waterfalls, I just set the shutter speed to 1/4 – works every time! :) You pretty much need to use a tripod, but if you can steady the camera on a rock, tree, fence, etc, and have a pretty steady hand, you can probably get by without the tripod. I was hand-holding the camera in this pic:
Loved all your pictures! How do you get such great pictures of all of you and how do you get the dogs to look at the camera??? Did you use a tripod and timer?? I can never get the dogs to look!! Those pics would make great Christmas card material!!
Your pictures are beautiful…thanks for sharing :)