By Sydney Zinner
Watershed stewardship is not all in the “big” wins and success stories. Stewardship can be practiced daily through appreciation and the simple act of noticing and sharing what is around you.
Celebrating Water is an effort to encourage us to share the wonders that water brings to us through photos, poems, art, writing, or however you like to share the waters you cherish. If you have a Celebrating Water moment to share, email us at awwprog@auburn.edu!
Enjoy this story about Town Creek at High Falls Park in Grove Oak, AL!
Celebrating Town Creek
By Sydney Zinner
This celebrating water is inspired by a little bit of a “throwback” from a waterfall photography workshop I participated in back in 2023. The workshop was held at Guntersville State Park and nearby High Falls Park in Grove Oak, Alabama. Town Creek cascades down High Falls and smaller tributaries towards Lake Guntersville, offering fantastic views and opportunities for practicing waterfall photography.
As a novice photography enthusiast, I jumped at the opportunity to learn from the pros through the workshop with the bonus of exploring a new part of a watershed I have enjoyed since I was a young girl. My grandparents lived on a farm nestled in a valley near the lake in the Town Creek watershed. Our summertime family reunions were held along the banks of the lake not far from the farm, under the dense tree cover (before the 2011 tornado that destroyed much of this area). My grandfather and I would fish off a nearby pier (where I would often catch only a tree limb or piece of stray litter).
It wasn’t until I worked with Alabama Water Watch that I discovered this beloved waterbody was a world-renowned hot spot for fishing, for those with the patience to sit in a boat or on a dock to catch those fish, that is (young Sydney was not this patient… but I would build on that skill over time). Those familiar with fishing on Lake Guntersville have likely interacted with Town Creek Fishing Center, but might not be aware that High Falls Park is just a little bit upstream from this area.
Little did I know, as a young kid playing along the shores of the lake at the Town Creek Fishing Center, that AWW Volunteer Monitors were diligently watching the water upstream. Volunteer Monitors with Marshall County RSVP (one of AWW’s longest-running groups) monitored a site at High Falls Park from 1995 until 2024, collecting nearly 30 years of water quality data.
The site they monitored was just upstream of where the 2023 waterfall photography workshop took place, and fun fact – the site was monitored just 5 days prior to me being knee-deep in the water taking photos of the falls!
Whomever the monitor(s) were that sampled at High Falls were extremely lucky – the location was an oasis of stunning green vegetation protecting the banks, which offered a lovely contrast with the dark rocks under the waterfalls, and a much-needed retreat from busy life. This made it the perfect location to practice new photography skills (and patience) in peace, quiet, and beauty.
Waterfall photography, as I learned at the workshop, takes a lot of patience, from finding the right angle and composition to figuring out the correct settings on your camera to finally capture the image you envision. Once you accept that you might be spending quite a bit of time to get a shot you love, you start to settle into the experience. Setting up the tripod while gazing up at the falls becomes a meditative practice. Looking through the viewfinder and focusing only on the subject makes it seem like nothing else exists in the world other than you and the scene you are capturing. Paying attention to each small detail in the falls and along the banks becomes a ritual – one that connects you to the water and invites moments of peace and reverence.
I have much to learn about waterfall photography, and I hope to someday return to Town Creek at High Falls to continue exploring the waterfalls and enjoy the beauty the park has to offer.
I am thankful for this beautiful place that flows to my beloved Lake Guntersville, and for the dedicated Volunteer Monitors who were stewards of these waters for nearly three decades. My hope is that their legacy of stewardship will be recognized and continued by future generations.