All photos by Jonathan Schechter
Thanksgiving Day 2011
(no images have been altered)

These images are meant as a photo supplement to my hiking column that appears in the
December 4th edition of The Oakland Press (www.theoaklandpress.com); a hiking adventure to
a secluded creek in western New York State that has a hidden waterfall with a grotto housing a
 fire breathing dragon.  This natural phenomena of gas seepage is the result of decomposition of organic matter from the Devonian Period, a time when great warm seas covered the land. The
 gas now  seeps between layers of shale and burns behind the current of water. The site is in the
 southwest corner of Chestnut Ridge Park in Erie County, New York and is accessible by a
slippery hike through a mature hemlock-maple forest and then up Shale Creek.
Sitting by the water and flame is a pure primordial moment!

Shale Creek downstream from the waterfalls