Scott’s Run Nature Preserve

Scott’s Run Nature Preserve is a small park in Fairfax County at the intersection of Georgetown Pike and I-495 on the Potomac River.  The park is nice enough, and it has a lovely waterfall.  The waterfall is a short hike and it isn’t too crowded (for a Friday morning).  

Sadly, the people that frequent this park do not take care of it.  Reading the reviews on Reddit and Google Maps, the park has a reputation for teenagers going to drink and leave trash everywhere.  Case and point.  What you can’t see is the Potomac river to the immediate left.  Seriously?  That’s not the “oh woops I lost my water bottle” or “my candy wrapper fell out of my pocket.”  This is full on “let’s have a party out here, bring trash bags, and just leave it.”  I cannot even fathom why.  It’s Fairfax County.  There’s simply no excuse.

But now on to real pictures.  The first is the view as you approach the waterfall.  It is tucked into a small cove just off the Potomac.  The longer I looked at this photograph, the more I liked it.  It is nicely framed by the trees and rocks, and the water isn’t too covered with glare.

Next is a more head on telephoto shot, taken from water level to the left of the first shot.  I had plans of taking some nice long exposures here, but as soon as I set up some kids decided to play on the rock in the foreground. In keeping with the trashed theme of Scott’s Run, there’s some nice graffiti visible on the rocks. 

My final image is one taken from the rocky outcrop right in front of the waterfall.  I wanted to play with my neutral density filter here but 30 seconds was way too long for this waterfall.  It gave the water a glow and really exemplified the white glare on the water.