Winter Foss
I spent one of the days from this holiday weekend heading up the Foss River Road trying out a new pair of cross country skis. Here are some photos of the Foss River on our way back to my truck:
More Light
Here are a few photos that I took from sunrise on this past Friday morning..
The Week of Light
This past week brought us a newscaster’s dream- Snowmageddon! Before that, however, was a week in which the Puget Sound was treated to a number of days with brilliant sunrises and sunsets. From here in Everett, the potential for great vantages of the Cascade mountains with the Snohomish River valley in the foreground exist but come with challenges. These views from publicly accessible locations are very limited; those spots that remain usually have some sort of constraints in the form of powerlines or street light poles.
The best vantage I could come up with was just above I-5 along Broadway Avenue in the vicinity of Evergreen Cemetery. Here, the problem are the light poles along I-5. Here are a collection of shots, almost all from this location. Some of the wider shots do have the poles in them. Not much you can do about that!
I had hoped for some of the typical morning valley fog that usually occurs in the Snohomish River valley to add to the interest. The fog did show up on the second morning but was waaaaay thicker than I would have wanted. It almost obscured the mountains!
I was just about home on Friday evening when it looked like sunset might get interesting. I decided to just go home instead of heading to a nearby park in anticipation of sunset. Boy- that was the WRONG move! The sunset was so mind blowing that it was a trending topic on Twitter that evening. I quickly realized the error of my decision so I tried to snap a couple shots from my back..
Welcome 2012
It’s the new year and I have just a few photos to share from last weekend. I made a quick trip up into the North Fork Nooksack River valley for the first time this winter. As I suspected lower elevation snow doesn’t really exist. Conditions are completely devoid of snow up until about 1,900 feet where snow patches begin. I visited two spots along the river before heading back down valley to the Mosquito Lake Road vicinity.
A lot more bald eagles were in the area versus the middle of December. One tree near the Mosquito Lake Road bridge had about 5 eagles on various branches and several others were visible throughout the general area. I headed up the North Fork Road where I passed a few people who had stopped to watch an eagle eating a salmon. I had a few brief moments to photograph the eagle before it decided to fly away. Luckily for me, a Great Blue Heron took over the meal and I tried my best to get some photos.
This experience convinced me that my current tripod set up doesn’t work very well with my Sigma 50-500mm lens. My Manfrotto 488 ball head just can’t fully support the weight of the lens so too much vibration and sagging occurs. The end result are some less than stellar photos of the heron. I won’t be making a switch to being a full time wildlife photographer so I need to find a solution that will work but not cost an arm and a leg. I think I have it: I’ve purchased a Manfrotto 393 Gimbal Head along with a second center column for my tripod. Hopefully I’ll be able to quickly just swap center columns when I want to use my Bigma lens.
I should be getting these items in the next couple weeks so I’ll have to write up a little review at that time..
Top Ten Photos of 2011
2011 is quickly coming to an end and it’s time to reflect. Last year was a very productive year, and I made many outings throughout the year. There was only problem- this pace was simply not sustainable. As 2011 moved along, I sought a greater balance between my photographic pursuits and the other things in my life. It’s been a weird transition but it has helped removed some of the stressful feelings I have felt while pushing myself to keep the momentum going.
Now, our fickle Pacific Northwest weather kind of helped me out because summer really didn’t arrive until late July! One of the photos below is a typical view during late July / beginning of August instead of the middle of September when it was actually taken. Earlier in the year, I made a small investment in myself and signed up for a weekend class in image processing led be Sean Bagshaw. You can read more about that class in my review of his classes found here but I’ll just say this was a significant event in my development and advancement as a photographer. His teachings finally helped me tackle a sunset photo of Mount Rainier (also below) that frustrated me ever since I took the photo back in February. I finally have a version I like!
I have also really enjoyed getting more familiar and competent with my Pentax K5 dSLR. Its capabilities have really amazed me and I really think it will serve me well for several years to come. Pretty much all my photos this year with the exception of a few weeks in September were taken with my K5. On to the photos! In no particular order…
1.) “Shuksan Swirl – North Cascades National Park”
The 2010-2011 winter provided me with several wonderful candidates for conversion to black & white and this was one of them. Taken from the White Salmon Lodge parking lot at the Mount Baker Ski Area, the gusty winds kept changing the fabulous view of Mount Shuksan.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
2.) “Tahoma Glow – Mount Rainier National Park”
Probably the most wonderful sunset of the year but the hardest photos to process. Taken from the Ricksecker Viewpoint within the park, the mountain finally revealed itself as the peak of sunset colors spread across its flanks. This was a great moment to experience, and the second such sunset that a certain friend joined me on. I’m starting to think he’s a good luck charm!
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here. These photos won’t reflect my re-work though!
3.) “Peek-a-Boo – Washington Park, Anacortes, Washington”
Taken in the municipal park located just beyond the San Juan ferry terminal in Anacortes, this macro-esque shot made the best of an otherwise flat display of shooting stars along the rocky shoreline. I was immediately drawn to the repeating patterns of the plant leaves against the solitary bloom rising up.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
4.) “The End Around – Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area”
I’ve begun an annual trip to the Columbia River Gorge in the spring and this photo comes from a deeper exploration of Ruckel Creek. This photo was also a little precarious to take- I was standing on a wet log with my tripod fully extended but the legs near collapsed together. I really wanted to capture the motion of the creek as it moved around the logjam.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
5.) “Ipsut Creek – Mount Rainier National Park”
This photo was an early product from easily the most grueling outing of the year. I managed to convince my friend to join me on the 10 mile bike ride and 14 mile roundtrip hike & bike up to Moraine Park in the northwest sector of Mount Rainier National Park. This creek provides the water for use at the Ipsut Creek Campground at the end of the now closed Carbon River Road within the park.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
6.) “The Wall – Mount Rainier National Park”
Fast forward several hours from the time of the previous photo, this was the reward for all the long hours of travel. Although we were racing to stay ahead of a storm system rolling in, the mountain did stay clear long enough to enjoy the fruits of our labor!
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
7.) “Fall Upon Church – North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
I found this viewpoint about 2 years ago but hadn’t been able to time a visit with the peak of fall color. This year I got pretty close!
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
8.) “Mossy Feet – Mount Rainier National Park”
I almost did not take this photograph. I was hiking out from a somewhat disappointing early winter visit to Green Lake in Mount Rainier National Park and light in the old growth forest was beginning to diminish. I was pretty wet from the rain/sleet mix I had been out in for hours but I was just struck by the “glow” of the moss on this particular Western Red Cedar tree.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
9.) “Rock Garden – Mount Baker National Recreation Area”
Taken during my first ever trip up to Park Butte on Mount Baker, I was faced with a quandary at sunset. I wanted to make it out to a specific tarn that Lee Mann has made famous with one of his photographs but I knew that I would not be able to make it in time to take advantage of any of the sunlight light. I decided to look around where I was and found this nice view.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
10.) “Van Trump Park – Mount Rainier National Park”
A classic view..but in September?? Such is the case with this photo. This was another “first visit” for me to this parkland west of Paradise on the mountain’s southern flanks. The only thing missing from the photo is any evidence of the voracious mosquitoes who were frantically trying to extract as much blood as possible from my body.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
And here’s one more..
11.) “Surrounded – South Fork Stillaguamish River Valley”
On the hike up to Pinnacle Lake in the North Central Cascades, I was struck by how the fern leaves radiated outward from this sea of False Lily of the Valley.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
Racehorse Falls
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.
Intro to Winter
The first “big” snow storm of winter came rolling through Washington State this past weekend. Based on the forecasts, I decided a trip back to Green Lake in Mount Rainier National Park might be in order. Besides, it’s been two years since my last visit. This time, I opted to bring my mountain bike instead of hiking the 3 mile road to the trailhead.
I actually wanted to do some photography down in the old growth forest along the road but I didn’t find the time to do it. I think I’ve finally accepted that I need to devote an entire day just for that; the shorter amount of daylight really limits how much time you really have in a dark place such as the Carbon River valley forests. The day started mostly dry with some occasional drops during my bike ride in. After my first photographic stop a short way in, the rest of my hike (and day) would be under steady rain.
I made the requisite stop at Ranger Falls (roughly the halfway point up to Green Lake) and was happy to come away with a couple nice shots. The first was the “standard” view of the falls but the rainy, overcast conditions provided great light. In addition, the waterfall seemed to have more flow than I could recall seeing during my previous visits. I also made a second shot with which I attempted to incorporate a cedar trunk into the right side of the scene. Not exactly sure why the right side of the falls is clipped by the trunk (I think there was a reason I couldn’t move to the left to recompose).
The rain falling at Ranger Falls felt heavy and it turned to sleet as I started hiking away from the falls. Snow was beginning to stick on the ground in the random openings of the forest’s canopy. I encountered a bit more snow on the ground in the vicinity of the log bridge over Ranger Creek but this was still a far cry from the several inch amount I had hoped to encounter.
I arrived at a mostly bare Green Lake. The skies were definitely brooding with alternating periods of rain and snow showers. Gusty winds were also sweeping across the lake so I found a little dry shelter to sit down and snack a bit. It should come as no surprise that while I was snacking, the low clouds parted a bit and offered a few long range glimpses up the valley towards the Tolmie Peak lookout.
I tried to quickly gather my gear but by the time I was in position to shoot, the conditions had changed back to less than ideal. The weather was really starting to wear on me so it was time to head home. On the hike out, I still was observant of my surroundings and was tempted to stop several times. There were only 2 more hours of daylight left and I knew that any exposure would require 30 seconds.
This forced me to forgo a few shots but I had to stop for one more photo. Along the trail, this mossy cedar trunk just spoke to me. I loved the gently curving lines of the trunk along with the complete carpet of moss. What little daylight that was penetrating the forest canopy seemed to make the moss on the ridges of the trunk glow.
I still had about another mile left on the hike out so I just marveled at all of the new windfall since my last visit. It’s not just any windfall- it’s OLD GROWTH windfall. The size and dynamics of these big trees falling is unbelievable. Having reached the road, I stowed my gear and hopped on my bike for the speedy ride back to the park’s entrance. It looks like I should have gone on this trip this coming weekend based on the current forecasts. Oh well- for so few photos, I’m happy to come away with two nice shots!
The End of Fall 2011
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!
Nooksack Fall Color 2011
Although somewhat late, fall color has definitely returned to the North Fork Nooksack River valley. This past weekend I headed up the valley to check out conditions at two locations- Mount Baker Highway near Church Mountain and the upper Wells Creek valley. My first priority was a neat spot I found which gives a commanding view of Church Mountain across the valley. A few years ago I noticed a drainage / slide path which was predominately deciduous. I knew if I timed it right, I would be treated with a great splash of color. This year was the year!
The fall color starts mildly while heading north along State Route 9 past Acme and Van Zandt and started to get better as I headed east on the Mount Baker Highway towards Kendall and Maple Falls. Beyond Maple Falls, the color (primarily the Big Leaf Maples) really start to pop. The color isn’t “perfect” color so you’ll find plenty of blackening leaves along with the yellows and oranges. As I got close to my Church Mountain viewpoint, I finally see through the trees that the color in the slide path was brilliant yellow. I made the short hike to my vantage point and began shooting.
The sun was out and was casting some distracting shadows on the lower forested slopes. I spent awhile shooting different compositions before deciding to pack up and head someplace else. Rejoining the Mount Baker Highway, I made my way to the Wells Creek Road turnoff. Between Glacier and the Wells Creek Road, the Big Leaf Maples along the highway are in near prime color. Based on this, I drove up into the upper Wells Creek valley.
A few miles in, the road turns a corner and you’re treated to a rocky cliff face with a variety of color splashes from Big Leaf Maples and Vine Maples. Although I’ve taken the roadside shot before, I elected to scramble up through the talus to access the upper rock field. While shooting this local scene, I could see further up the valley that the sun was really making the fall color glow. Before reaching the Wells Creek Falls vicinity, I was amazed at the sight of some devastation caused by a massive avalanche off of Barometer Mountain this past winter.
The slide path was a couple hundred yards in width and the slide itself looks to have reached all the way to Wells Creek itself. Impressive sight! The road continues past Wells Creek and then crosses Sholes Creek, marking the end of the “maintained for public travel” portion of the road. Shortly after the bridge is a nice clearing in the forest which provides huge views of the valley and Barometer Mountain. The day was getting long and I had to head home. On my way back, I stopped at the bridge over Sholes Creek to experiment with some compositions.
Hopefully the color will last through the weekend. Seems like there were still plenty of trees with pale greens which could develop over the next few days. Forecasts are pointing to potential frost overnight as well!
More Money (Creek)
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…
