Eric and I have traveled all over the world gaping at waterfalls, having done waterfall hikes on four or five continents, depending on whether or not you count Zealandia. We have hiked for miles and miles to explore them, preferring ones where you can get up close and experience the immediacy of the spray. On one particularly rainy hike under a waterfall, Eric poured several ounces of water out of his boots afterward! Waterfalls are best enjoyed by getting wet. Swimming underneath them is a particularly great pleasure.

Waterfalls are a geologic phenomenon that is almost universally fascinating. There’s something about the thunderous sound of the rushing water and the sight of the plunging droplets that deeply attracts us. Waterfalls occur along dramatic precipices of rock, defining precarious edges. Here, you will get close looks at the might of moving water.