Truthfully, not much of an update. Winter decided to return this week so snow levels returned close to their normal levels. Exploring Forest Service Road 37 (the road to the Skyline Divide trailhead) has been on my list for a while and I finally got around to it yesterday. Honestly, I was surprised at the general lack of interesting spots along this road. Maybe it’s because it’s still the dead of winter and the vegetation hasn’t leafed out yet. The first few miles have a wonderful moss-covered forest floor and I was tempted a few times to stop and look for compositions since there was some sunlight filtering through the canopy.
I wanted to check out as much as I could so I pressed on. I ended up taking a few photos along the Nooksack in one particular location since I initially saw some fog/low clouds further up valley:
One thing I’m very excited about was finding a wonderful spot to photograph the valley from. Two years ago, I remember spotting a particular avalanche track that was ablaze in brilliant yellow from the big leaf maples located in the valley floor. I saw this from the Wells Creek Road but did not have a good vantage to take advantage of it. I wondered if Road 37 would offer a better vantage and it does!
It requires a very short hike but the entire valley drops away from you and Church Mountain stands prominently across the valley. I’m excited to shoot this location in the fall and other times during this coming summer since it will also offer opportunities to shoot above any valley fog. Except for a few iPhone photos and a GPS positional fix, I don’t have any photos to share just yet.
I began to run out of time but I continued up the road to see how far I could get before hitting snow. That turned out to be the crossing of Dead Horse Creek where the snow on the road turned continuous. Someone else’s tire tracks continued up the road but I thought better of following them any further. I did get out and briefly explore Dead Horse Creek upstream of the road but didn’t find any good opportunities on this stretch.
