Cucumber Falls 6
July 28, 2019
Last week I spent another glorious time at my friend’s farmstead in Pennsylvania. Repeating what we had done in previous years, we went on two outings to the Youghiogheny River—to Cucumber Falls one day and Ohiopyle Falls another. Looking at last year’s photos of Cucumber Falls, I see that the same views appealed to me this year. Rather than post nearly exact repetitions, I refer you to this and this and this and this and this post from 2018. Below are some photographs of and around Cucumber Falls that don’t repeat last year’s catch, at least not much.
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Romancing Reality 
This is the type of park I can easily spend all day in. There are photographic opportunities everywhere. I’m glad you’re able to take advantage of them.
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July 29, 2019 at 10:33 AM
Oh, me too, Ken. Just imagine how the light would have changed throughout the day. I am grateful for the opportunity to be there even for an hour or two, though.
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July 29, 2019 at 3:05 PM
Do you know why the waterfall is called Cucumber Falls?
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August 3, 2019 at 6:48 AM
Thanks for your question, Steve. Here’s what I found. The stream that runs over the ledge to make Cucumber Falls is called Cucumber Run. According to a 2007 article in TribLive “The name of the stream . . . isn’t because it is shaped like a cucumber, is the color of a cucumber, or has the smell of a cucumber. Actually the name has nothing to do with cucumbers at all. Cucumber Run is named for the abundance of one species of magnolia tree, the cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminate), that still is found in the watershed.” The whole article is worth reading for its description of the area and an explanation of erosion.
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August 3, 2019 at 8:22 AM
The unpronounceable name falls! 😉 (Please give us a phonetic!) You’ve conveyed the essence of it, I think – the dark, cool woods and the refreshing waterfall with its appeal to man and beast (on a leash, impressive!) alike. The light in #5 & #6 – especially #6 – is beautiful. My favorites are #9 & #11 – the close up of those wonderful big old rocks (the type that says midwest or eastern N. America to me) and the fallen blossoms. What are they, do you know? They seem superficially like dogwood, but it’s too late and dogwood flowers are flat. Is that the Cucumber magnolia? If so, cool! I love Magnolias but those don’t look like Magnolia flowers.
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August 3, 2019 at 3:10 PM
You probably mean the pronunciation of Youghiogheny. It’s here, with a link to more information if you want it: https://lindagrashoff.wordpress.com/2017/10/16/ohiopyle-falls-on-the-youghiogheny-river-for-context/. That dog was having fun, as was everyone down there. Ah, to be young and sure-footed enough to stand behind the falls. The light down there was really interesting. Took a bit of fiddling in Lightroom to get it right, though. I wanted to get even closer to the rocks in #9—or wanted a lens that would get closer. The lichens were spectacular. The blossoms on the ground were all that remained of the mountain-laurel flowers. This area is known as the laurel highlands. Or maybe the Laurel Highlands. Anyway, here’s the dope on the mountain laurel, complete with Latin name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalmia_latifolia. Thanks, Lynn, as always, for your thoughts.
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August 12, 2019 at 8:34 PM