Boulder

Racehorse Falls

Dec 13

I can’t believe that it’s almost been a month since my last outing! Weather has thwarted some of my plans the last few weekends so this time I settled on something conducive to gray, overcast skies- waterfalls. I also wanted to see if there were any bald eagles yet along the North Fork Nooksack River so I headed for Mosquito Lake Rd area. At the bridge over the North Fork, I only found one eagle in the immediate vicinity but you could hear the calls in the area. The river itself was running a bit swift, but clear, and also with a lot of salmon. Peering down from the bridge into the water, I could see dozens of 24″ salmon (winter steelhead?) resting in one of the slower eddys of the river.

There were also a ton of fisherman bombarding them with lures so I decided to move on. Just across the river is the Nork Fork Rd which parallels the North Fork as it heads upstream. After about 3 miles or so, the county road ends and it appears to enter State DNR lands. Racehorse Creek is crossed using a primitive one lane wooden bridge and, in about a half mile, an unsigned path leads away from the road and towards a series of waterfalls. The itself is about a quarter mile and pretty quiet if not for the constant sounds of gunfire as people blow things up elsewhere in the forest.

Soon enough, the roaring sounds of water get louder and louder. While the double wide trail veers away from the sound of water, another path heads towards the sound. Blue flagging marks the path to take if you’re interested in reached the base of the waterfalls. I think I counted about 4 waterfall drops, all with varying heights. The creek bisects a narrow, steep chasm so photographic opportunities of the upper tiers are limited unless you’re able to rappel down into this section of creek.

I took some shots from the edge of the cliff and then followed the flagging all the way down to the base where I backtracked towards the lowest (and most impressive) waterfall. While I did not have rain to contend with, I had some subtle spray from the waterfall that I needed to be mindful of. Sometimes I was, sometimes I forgot so there may still be some water drops that I missed during my photo editing. I worked the falls up one side, across, and back down the opposite side before heading back to my truck.

I wanted to check out some of the sections of the North Fork and look for any Bald Eagles. As I drove by one shallow, rapid stretch of the river, I spied an eagle eating a fish. I pulled over quickly where it was practical and tried to double back on foot to get some photos. As my luck would have it, as soon as I got there, the eagle lost interest or didn’t like the sight of me and flew off. Such is the life of a bumbling wildlife photographer!

My last stop was further down the road at pullout along a side channel of the river. High above the channel sat three bald eagles and down in the channel were a number of salmon splashing and swimming back and forth. Once again my mere presence sent two of the eagles flying so I opted to photograph the salmon instead. Although I could fill the frame better with my Sigma 50-500mm, I don’t have a polarizing filter for it (86mm filter size. That some serious money!) so I ended up using my 55-300 zoom.

I moved around and settled in along the rip rap and spent the next half hour watching and trying to get the occasional photo. The winter run and eagle season are just getting started so I’m looking forward to returning soon for BETTER results.

The End of Fall 2011

Nov 02

Based on last week, I knew peak color was probably past but I decided to head up the Highway 2 corridor to look for any lagging examples of color. The Miller River drainage was the destination this time since I’ve never visited it before. Below the West Fork / East Fork convergence, the valley is pretty much devoid of any color. Most leaves have fallen already. The West Fork Miller looks fabulous but is no longer drivable so I’ll have to hike it some other time.

The Miller River Road does continue up the East Fork valley pretty much all the way to the Lake Dorothy trailhead. Unlike the Money Creek valley, the road strays a little too far away from the river at times so scouting for scenes to photo take some work. The first bridge over the East Fork is a pretty neat area so we spent some time exploring both the upstream and downstream reaches.

Above this bridge, there isn’t much to see for a mile or too until the Great Falls Creek area where there was a great display of fall color across the valley from the road. There are two waterfalls visible from this point of the road- Great Falls and a lesser, unnamed one a little further to the south. By this time of the day, the sunbreaks were becoming a bit more common. At the same time, clouds were still hugging the upper slopes of Cascade Mountain which created some great drama in the vicinity of that second waterfall.

Just a couple hundred yards before the Lake Dorothy trailhead, the river winds its way through a tight, slot type canyon. The entrance to this stretch of the river is a large talus / scree type slope with large mossy boulders. A few of them also had colorful lichen as well..

After a couple quick shots of these two snags located near the trailhead, he loaded back up and made a beeline back down to Highway 2 and then over to the Beckler River drainage. Again, conditions were largely spent out with a few solitary stretches of fading color. He headed north up to Jack Pass to investigate one of the side roads at the pass. Last year, a tremendous windfall blocked the road. The road was clear this time so we were able to keep going. This particular road doesn’t go anywhere in particular but it does afford you a great view down into the North Fork Skykomish River valley.

This week, the snow level is going to finally dip down to below 3,000 feet so winter is only a few weeks away. That sure was a quick fall!

More Money (Creek)

Oct 04

Life has been decidedly non-photographic as I have been debating the merits of various roofing contractors but I did sneak away to explore more of the Money Creek valley in the North-Central Cascades. Fall color is just beginning here (and in general along the Highway 2 corridor) with just a hint of yellows in the Big Leaf Maples. The Vine Maples are showing more color with some nice reds and oranges…

Pinnacle Lake

Sep 08

Over Labor Day, I decided I wanted to attempt to visit the Bathtub Lakes located on the Pilchuck Mountain ridge east of the lookout. Also known as a “poorman’s Enchantments,” the Bathtub Lakes are a series of small tarns located in a subalpine parkland setting. There is no official trail to the lakes but the normal route to access them is via the Pinnacle Lake Trail. At the far end of Pinnacle Lake lies Iodine Gulch which provides the way up to the Bathtub Lakes.

Pinnacle Lake and the trail to it probably would remain a low-key destination if not for a rather tragic crime that occurred in 2006. Sadly, a mother and daughter were found murdered along the trail that year. To this day, the crime remains unsolved with no suspects. This was certainly on my mind as I made my first visit. It was Labor Day and despite being several miles above and off of the Mountain Loop Highway, there were still about a dozen cars at the trailhead.

The trailhead also provides access to Bear Lake which is only approximately 0.3 miles in. Before the lake, the trail forks with the left fork leading up the ridge and towards Pinnacle Lake. The trail has a reputation for being root and rock infested and…it is. I also found the trail to be fairly quiet. It doesn’t cross or parallel any streams or creeks so the only sounds are the wind and an occasional bird. Even with the full sunshine, this left a odd, tense feeling while hiking. There is a memorial plaque to the fallen along the trail and I somehow missed it. This only added to an uneasy feeling.

The trail gains steady elevation but Pinnacle Lake is only about 2 miles beyond Bear Lake. Just before Pinnacle Lake, a large seasonal pond provides a beautiful setting with sedge lined shoreline surrounded by parkland. Pinnacle Lake itself is a long but narrow lake nestled against a cliff with a large boulder / talus field along half of its shoreline. It’s still located below timberline so the view is largely territorial (as real estate agents love to say). Iodine Gulch is located almost at the far end of the lake and a faint way trail leads you to it along the lake’s southern shoreline.

I snacked and took some shots in the talus field before picking my way towards Iodine Gulch. From the lake’s edge, I needed a minute or two to find the boot path that begins the ascent into the gulch. It’s about 900 feet of elevation gain to reach the top of the ridge and the beginning of the Bathtub Lakes. It was 2pm and I made the tough decision to turn around. There was probably plenty of daylight but I would be pushing my “be home by” time pretty hard and that was something I’ve done a little TOO much lately.

I investigated a pond below the outlet of Pinnacle Lake and the larger pond I mentioned previously before beginning my hike out. I seemed to linger long enough to be the last dayhiker to leave the area. The hike out was quiet and even a bit somber for me. I hiked along, looking for the memorial plaque, but never saw it. At some point, I passed the location where two people who loved the outdoors met their end at the hands of another person. It was a heavy feeling that was difficult to shake. Upon my return to the trailhead, only one car remained.

I still long to visit the Bathtub Lakes and the area is certainly aesthetic enough to warrant further visits. I think that when I do return, I won’t be alone. It’s almost impossible to not think about what happened here.