How To Recognize A Waterfall
- Date: 2007-02-23 - Word Count: 306
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For many hikers a waterfall is often the highlight of a morning spent on the trail. Often, a waterfall is the objective of the outing in the first place. With that in mind, here is a quick primer to identify the hydrospectaculars you will encounter charging down a mountainside:
Horsetail Falls: This is a nearly vertical drop, often a slender ribbon of water that maintains contact with the ground beneath.
Curtain Falls: This is probably the most recognizable of the powerful waterfalls - think Niagara Falls - that runs the width of the stream. To qualify as a full-blown curtain-type falls the drop must be taller than it is wide.
Segmented Falls: Here the stream breaks into two or more separate streams before tumbling over the edge, resulting in side-by-side falls.
Tiered Falls: The falls here break up into multiple distinct drops in close proximity to one another; often as the rivulets of water bounce off rocks and craggy cliffs.
Cascade Falls: Similar to the tiered falls but the drops are much smaller and often the water travels along more of a horizontal flow than a vertical drop.
Fan Falls: These falls are recoGnized as a cascade that branches out as it descends so that the base of the falls is much wider at the bottom that the stream at the top.
Plunge Falls: These falls are the opposite of a cascade as the water flows over a ledge straight down, dramatically losing all contact with the rock underneath. Also called a cataract, many times you can walk on a trail behind a plunge falls.
Punchbowl Falls: These impressive falls are created when the water pouring over a ledge is pinched through a narrow pathway, resulting in the water being forcefully expelled downward. The result is often a memorable splashdown in a pool below. Also called a chute.
Horsetail Falls: This is a nearly vertical drop, often a slender ribbon of water that maintains contact with the ground beneath.
Curtain Falls: This is probably the most recognizable of the powerful waterfalls - think Niagara Falls - that runs the width of the stream. To qualify as a full-blown curtain-type falls the drop must be taller than it is wide.
Segmented Falls: Here the stream breaks into two or more separate streams before tumbling over the edge, resulting in side-by-side falls.
Tiered Falls: The falls here break up into multiple distinct drops in close proximity to one another; often as the rivulets of water bounce off rocks and craggy cliffs.
Cascade Falls: Similar to the tiered falls but the drops are much smaller and often the water travels along more of a horizontal flow than a vertical drop.
Fan Falls: These falls are recoGnized as a cascade that branches out as it descends so that the base of the falls is much wider at the bottom that the stream at the top.
Plunge Falls: These falls are the opposite of a cascade as the water flows over a ledge straight down, dramatically losing all contact with the rock underneath. Also called a cataract, many times you can walk on a trail behind a plunge falls.
Punchbowl Falls: These impressive falls are created when the water pouring over a ledge is pinched through a narrow pathway, resulting in the water being forcefully expelled downward. The result is often a memorable splashdown in a pool below. Also called a chute.
Related Tags: cataract, waterfall, chute, plunge, plunge pool, falls. punchbowl, cascade, horsetail, cliff, hiker
Doug Gelbert is the author of over 20 books, including The Canine Hiker's Bible. To subscribe to his FREE Newsletter on hiking with your dog, receive a copy of Rules for Dogs in 100 of the Most Popular National Park Service Lands, or listen to his podcast DOGGIN' AMERICA visit http://www.hikewithyourdog.com In the warmer months he leads canine hikes for hikewithyourdog.com tours, guiding packs of dogs and humans on hiking adventures. Tours, ranging from one-day trips to multi-day explorations, visit parks, historical sites and beaches.
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