Nooksack Gravel Bar
Here are a few photos I took today from a gravel bar along the North Fork Nooksack River….
Top Ten of 2010
My laptop is finally repaired so it’s time to look back at 2010 and pick out my ten favorite photos from the year. Ok, well, make that ten PLUS 2 because it’s always hard to limit it to just ten! I don’t know how many photos I’ve taken during the last 12 months but about 450 photos have found their way here onto my blog. From that, I chose about 100 photos to add to the galleries of my website. To me, that means it was a pretty good year!
Looking at the photos I’ve selected for this year in review, water seemed to be a popular subject of mine. The weather this summer wasn’t very good (as evidenced by the wildflower season at Mount Rainier National Park) so a number of my trips were confined to the streams and waterfalls in the forests. And so……the top ten in no particular order:
1.) “Nooksack Falls in Summer- North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
A definite favorite since I finally achieved a shot I had previously visualized. I had been looking for a different view of the falls and a higher, downward perspective seemed to fit the bill. The problem is that there isn’t a natural high viewpoint so I used a 6′ ladder to get this perspective.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
2.) “Wells Creek Falls – Wells Creek Valley”
I was very happy to get this shot given the conditions at the time. The falls are only a ¼ mile upstream of the road but it does require at least one ford of the creek to reach this unencumbered view of the falls. The combination of a steady rain and downspray from the falls added to the challenge of getting this shot.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
3.) “Winter’s Glow – Mount Shuksan”
After an afternoon on the slopes at the Mount Baker Ski Area, I snowshoed up to Artist Point in hopes of a nice sunset. Although I didn’t get a nice sunset for Mount Baker, I did get some great alpenglow off of Mount Shuksan. Definitely reminds me of the many photos of the rugged Alaskan mountains.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
4.) “Standouts – Mount Baker Ski Area”
Taken on another day up at the ski area, I remember looking across at Hemispheres and seeing this small grove of trees and how the sun was casting shadows off of the surrounding slopes. I used my zoom lens at 300mm to isolate the trees in the lower right corner and eliminate some other trees in the vicinity.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
5.) “Paradise River – Mount Rainier National Park”
Perhaps a stereotypical shot from the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park but I was happy to finally get a nice photo with Pink Monkeyflower blooms. This was taken towards the end of my visit to Mazama Ridge this summer during the peak of wildflower season. I like how I was able to include the stream and the cascades in the background into this composition.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
6.) “Right Place, Right Time – Mount Rainier National Park”
By far, my most memorable outing of the year. A friend joined me on a hike into Spray Park in the NW corner of Mount Rainier National Park. The entire day had active weather and upon our arrival in Spray Park, the clouds thickened and socked us in. I had just accepted the fact that there would be no sunset when I noticed a faint patch of blue sky above us. In no more than 5 minutes, conditions changed from whiteout to clear skies at the height of sunset’s colors. Having this amazing scene all to ourselves was the icing on the cake.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
7.) “Towards the Light – Zigzag River Valley”
Taken during my May visit to the Columbia River Gorge area, I stopped at the bridge over the Zigzag River along Highway 26 on the way to Mount Hood. It was a beautiful stretch of river and the late afternoon sun was shinning through the forest. I noticed one beam of light that was beginning to shine on one boulder out in the river. This is just another example of using a telephoto zoom to isolate a portion of the landscape. This photo reminds me of something drifting helplessly in a stormy sea.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
8.) “Through the Forest – North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
I spent several weekends exploring new parts of the North Fork Nooksack River valley. This photo of Bagley Creek probably wouldn’t have happened if not for the inability to reach my primary objective this particular day. After being denied upstream travel, I decided to walk downstream and eventually came across this view. The color contrast between the rock and the green of the forest stand out for me as well as the detail in the rock formations.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
9.) “Summertime on Bagley Creek – North Fork Nooksack River Valley”
Believe it or not, this scene is only about 1/4 mile downstream of photo #8. This was shot the week before photo #8 when I first tried to access a particular location. It’s a very peaceful scene to me and I love how the creek just seems to go on to infinity.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
10.) “Day’s End – Mount Baker Wilderness”
This shot was taken from a favorite location of mine- Cougar Divide on the north side of Mount Baker. I was hopeful for a nice fall sunset this day due to active clouds throughout the day. We reached my favorite spot on the ridge right about the transition from afternoon light to the golden hour. The clouds provided some dramatic interest and the late afternoon sun accentuated the textures of the snow. I was really happy with the processing and how this photo turned out.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
Ok, here are two bonus photos!
11.) “Storm Clouds – Mount Baker Wilderness”
This photo was taken during the same session as photo #10. It can be easy to focus your attention in one direction but you should always look around! This photo wouldn’t exist without that thinking. As I looked around, I took note of the wall of clouds and how they were being reflected in the small tarn below me.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
12.) “Road No More – North Fork Skykomish River Valley”
Floods back in 2006 damaged a half-mile stretch of the Index-Galena Road in Central Cascades. Today,a new side channel of the North Fork Skykomish River flows along the old road’s alignment but portions of the road still lie within the new channel. I was intrigued by this small piece of asphalt lying in the moving water. Once again, I used my telephoto to isolate the piece of asphalt.
More photos from this trip can be found in my blog post here.
Wells Creek one last time
Halloween is the last day that Wells Creek Road is accessible beyond Nooksack Falls until the following July 1st. I had to head into Bellingham to purchase my Mount Baker season pass so I decided to head up Wells Creek one last time this season. Fall color has been making a bit of an appearance in the lowlands so I was a little hopeful that I might see some of that up in the mountains.
Most leaves have dropped so the remaining leaves that were in fall color didn’t quite have the same impact or appeal. I continued onward back to Wells Creek Falls. My last visit was on a very rainy day in July. Battling both the rain and downspray from the falls, the photography was tough going. Today, however, was dry and the creek was running just a tad lower making the crossing a little easier.
I hiked back to my original vantage point and then continued around the corner into the waterfall’s surrounding bowl. Getting closer did provide the best view of the falls but also brought me even closer to the downspray. These conditions require some patience and thinking in order to obtain a good photo. Here’s my procedure:
- • Before beginning, make sure you have some items handy: several microfiber cloths (for lens cleaning & drying), a hand towel, and perhaps a clear ziploc type bag. In addition, I find it helpful if the tripod ball head has 360 degree markings on it.
- • The first step is to determine exposure. To save myself some lens cleaning, I put the ziploc bag over my lens and then tried some test exposures. At this point, I just want to get into the ball park and I’m not worried about focus. Once I know what the exposure should be, I switch my camera mode to Manual and dial in the proper f-stop and shutter speed.
- • Now it’s time for focus. Basically, the lens will get wet with spray so be quick with determining your focus point and focusing. Once you have focus, either stay away from the focus button (I disable shutter button focus lock on my camera) or switch to manual focus.
- • Since the lens is getting spray on it, you might as well as determine your composition. Once I had my composition set, I noted where the tic mark on the ball head was located (one notch before 315, etc..).
- • Next, I swung the camera around so that the lens was not directly in the spray. I put the lens hood on and then drape my hand towel over the camera. This helps further shield the lens as I wipe it dry and let the rest of the moisture evaporate.
- • Now that the front of the lens is dry and clear, I cover the front with the hand towel (the lens hood keeps the towel from slapping against the front of the lens) and then rotate the camera back around. Since I noted which tick mark the camera was at when I composed the shot, I know exactly where to point it WITHOUT exposing the lens to the spray.
- • I set my camera to a 2 second timer so all that’s left is to click the shutter and then remove the towel a split second before the shutter opens. It takes a little time to get into the rhythm of things but it definitely helps you get the best photo with the least amount of annoying water droplets!
My first vantage point was so close that I knew I needed a short shutter speed. I normally like to shoot at ISO 100 but that would have been far too long of a shutter speed (creating too many water droplets). For this shot, I increased my ISO to 400 which brought my shutter speed down to 0.3 seconds:
After a taking a few variations to make sure I got the shot, I moved back to my original vantage point from back in July to take some more shots. Despite being further downstream, I still collected water drops on the lens so I repeated the process I described. I experimented with both landscape and portrait versions:
The afternoon was getting long so I packed up and headed back to my truck. I wanted to get a better look at the slopes of Barometer Ridge since they were flocked with fresh snow. A mile or so beyond the bridge over Sholes Creek is an open roadside with a nice view of Barometer Ridge. The sun was out and clouds were drifting upwards from the valley floor…
The summit of Mount Baker was almost- but not quite visible. I enjoyed the stillness and the surroundings but soon it was time to head home. I tried stopping by a waterfall on the way out but found it unsafe all by myself. Not a ton of photos but a good outing with my new Pentax K-5.
Which reminds me…..I’ll be out of town for the next week. I’m headed to attend the Banff Mountain Festival where one of my photos will be on display! I’ll be spending a couple of days in the Banff area so I’m hoping for some good photos!
Mountain Loop Highway
I’ve made several trips to the Darrington area during the last month so I felt like looking for fall color along the Mountain Loop Highway between Barlow Pass and the Whitechuck River. Fall colors continue to be AWOL. Most maples are losing their leaves before they get to change their color. Along the rivers, the vine maples have dropped most of their leaves.
The fall color that I’ve heard about has been in the higher elevations and primarily huckleberry and mountain ash. My deepest foray into the mountains brought me up to the 4,000′ level in the Dan Creek watershed and, to my surprise, I didn’t find any fall color there as well! It’s truly been a fall to forget for fall color.
Some friends had told me about a small little waterfall in the Verlot vicinity so I made a quick stop to check it out:
After that, I continued east and then headed up towards the Headlee Pass trailhead since there’s a nice valley view just before reaching the trailhead. In the past, the mountain ash has provided fall color but not this year (I’m beginning to sound like a broken record!). What WAS cool were some low clouds drifting through the valley and the forested slopes. I spent a little bit of time watching and trying various compositions:
Afterwards, I went over Barlow Pass and stopped at spot that finally had some fall color. In my previous drives through this area, I’ve noticed the unusual red rocks & boulders here in the South Fork Sauk River so it was nice to finally stop and check it out.
Just before reaching the confluence with the Whitechuck River, I made a quick sidetrip to check out the North Fork Sauk River Falls:
Closer to the Whitechuck River, some small vine maples in the forest caught my eye:
I was really hoping to get up high to get some fall color but even up high in the Dan Creek drainage yielded nothing. Low clouds even denied me of some fine views of Whitechuck Mountain. It was getting late so I turned around and headed home. On the way out, I stopped (inadvertently!) at the same spot along the South Fork Sauk River and shot a few more photos of the red rock & fall color.
It’s been difficult deciding on where to go these past few weekends. I’m hoping to have better luck this weekend.
Deep at Bagley Creek
Labor Day marks the traditional end of summer but our weather must be “gifted” since signs of fall have been noticeable for as week or two. Weekend forecasts had been called for gray and showery conditions so a return trip to Bagley Creek with a friend was penciled in. My first visit was a quick one a couple weeks ago but the scenery was stunning and seemed to have potential for even more. During that first visit, it looked like there were some drops and waterfalls just out of sight so some more thorough exploration was in order.
On the way to Bagley Creek, I decided to visit a location I discovered in an old out-of-print book. The location is a rock outcrop which contains fossilized imprints of plant leafs. I’ve never heard of something like this in the Cascades and the ease of access makes it pretty incredible. Through the years, I suspect that most of the quality examples (such as what was in the book’s photo) have been taken home by careless individuals. In order to preserve what remains, I’m electing NOT to reveal its location and simply share some photos.
It was very cool to see and touch some of the history of the Cascades. We cut our time short and made our way to Bagley Creek. I wanted to check out two things- the stretch of creek immediately upstream of a forest service road & then a second stretch of the creek further upstream which had a nice sized waterfall. Before wading upstream, we checked out the scene just below the bridge:
Looking upstream from the bridge, one can make out a nice 6′ drop so it was time to wade upstream to investigate it further. As it turns out, a nice amphitheater contains the drop. Just below the drop, however, a plunge pool at least 6′ deep prevented any further travels. After a few more photos, I headed back to the bridge to move on to the second location.
The second location is basically just around the corner. Accessed off of a decommissioned logging road, the forest is dense and makes travel difficult. The waterfall proved elusive yet again due to steep sidewalls and deep waters. We were there and had more time so we followed the old road which paralleled the creek downstream.
We would walk down 50 feet, then pop over to the water’s edge to survey the scene. Our first location provided some really interesting rock formations:
The next location downstream had one of the deepest plunge pools I’ve seen. I believe this location is roughly where Razor Hone Creek joins Bagley Creek. I managed to get some nice photos despite the sun’s off and on appearances.
We reached one of the bridges used as part of the winter cross country ski trails and then turned around. We now know that this area is accessible during the winter so it might be on the list of places to visit this coming winter!
I’ll be taking a break for the next two weeks to attend to some other commitments so look for a new post later this month!
It is August, isn’t it?
It’s the end of the first week of August and we’re still waiting for the wildflower blooms at Mount Rainier. The forecast of clouds and rain negated any hopes of grand views or sunsets so it was back into the deep forests of the North Cascades. I originally thought about revisiting some locations in the Highway 2 corridor but I remembered that there were a number of “firsts” for me to still visit up in the North Fork Nooksack River valley.
I came across another website that’s devoted to Pacific Northwest waterfalls and it clued me in on a few waterfalls along Twin Lakes Rd as well as an intriguing waterfall along Wells Creek Rd. Back around July 4th, I had made a visit to the Wells Creek area and attempted to photograph Wells Creek Falls. I was thwarted by thick huckleberry brush and limited views from above but I was determined to make it upstream this time thanks to a pair of waders.
The first stop was the new waterfall located a couple miles upstream of the Wells Creek / North Fork Nooksack River confluence. It is roadside accessible but the actual location is a bit dangerous due to the steep drops into the creek. The biggest appeal to this waterfall was a monolithic rock which rises 10-12 feet above the creek immediately below the falls. On this day, the water levels were pretty high so the rock was submerged for the most part. The weather definitely provided a feeling of fall with the low clouds, steady rain, and the distressed colors of the huckleberries in front of me.
These photos of the waterfall are unfortunately soft due to an accident in which the Manual Focus / Auto Focus switch had changed to manual focus while the camera was in my backpack and I didn’t catch the mistake. No matter- I plan on returning later in the fall when levels are lower. From here, it’s just another couple miles up the road to Wells Creek Falls. I slipped on my waders and proceeded up left (or north) bank. About halfway up, my friend & I decided to cross the creek at a short pool stretch of the creek. At its deepest point, the creek was about knee deep but still had a fair amount of force behind it.
It turned out that this was the only fording of the creek required to reach the falls. We arrived at the entrance to the waterfall’s amphitheater and were greeted with a driving rain AND wind driven spray from the waterfall itself. This was going to be a challenge to photograph. I found a spot next to the creek and set up. Any time the lens was exposed, it would immediately accumulate water drops. I lucked out and got the exposure combination correct on the first try (0.5s @ F16) but I had to reset everything a couple times in order to set my circular polarizer correctly and make sure the camera was level.
Each time, I had to swing the camera around 180 degrees, wipe off the lens, cover the camera and wait for the residue moisture on the lens evaporate. When ready, I kept the camera covered and swung it around to set up for the shot. I would press the shutter to activate the 2 second timer and wait for the absolute last second in order to remove the cover. This worked well enough to minimize the effect of water droplets in my finished photos.
We ended up spending a fair amount of time at the falls and were well on our way to becoming waterlogged. This day really felt more like October than August! Our next stop was a lovely two part waterfall along Twin Lakes Rd which is unofficially named Gold Run Falls. At the very top is a 100 foot drop over a series of angled ledges (it reminded me of a pachinko machine so I dubbed it Pachinko Falls). Below this, the creek travels steeply down some angled rock formations.
Steady rain made things miserable. We had good success photographing the lower portion but the main drop proved to be problematic due to the near vertical angle required to compose the shot. I managed to take one water drop plagued shot before beating a quick retreat back to the truck.
It was later afternoon and we were pretty much water logged. I decided to make one more stop in the valley and visited the lower stretch of Bagley Creek where it meets the valley floor. There are supposed to be some nice waterfalls in this area so we headed that way. We initially missed a turnoff and stopped at a spot along Bagley Creek just upstream of it’s confluence with the NF Nooksack River. This spot is downstream of the waterfalls but it proved to be a beautiful stretch of creek with what looked to be its own waterfall drop in the distance.
It was late in the day so we didn’t have time to explore the upstream section of this stretch. We did, however, retrace our route and followed the correct turnoff to reach the location of the waterfalls. The dense forest and steep slopes prevented us from pursuing things fully but there was indeed a very nice stretch of drops and waterfalls. We’ll need to return a later date!
Summer in the Nooksack Valley
I spent the day before July 4th traveling around the North Fork Nooksack River valley. I was primarily interested in several waterfalls but I also revisited a small creek that I haven’t been to in a while. The weather was perfect for photography (cloudy and dry) and was a mixture of success and setbacks. I had hoped to find a possible vantage point across from Nooksack Falls but that did not pan out on this trip. I also had hoped to photograph Wells Creek Falls from creek level but that also did not happen due to high water and too many water crossings to gain entrance into the falls’ amphitheater. The last setback was getting cliffed out while bushwhacking up Deadhorse Creek to Deadhorse Falls. If the falls are your goal, follow the LEFT (or east) bank upstream. The right side is easier travel initially but becomes a very steep cliff face as the falls come into view.
On to the successes..
I made a quick stop at Nooksack Falls to shoot a summer version of a photo I took a few winters ago. I’m very happy with the end result:
I’ve shot a particular creek that flows into the Nooksack immediate above Nooksack Falls a number of times throughout the winter but have rarely visited the stretch of creek located upstream of the Mount Baker Highway. The higher flows right now made conditions more conducive for a visit:
And now…..Wells Creek Falls. It’s somewhat visible from Wells Creek Road and located just 1,000 feet upstream of the road. How hard can it be? Well……….VERY. Photographing the falls from creek level can be done but is best suited for fall when the water levels are lower. On this day, the water was running deep enough to discourage fording since the hike would require several fords across the creek to gain entrance into the waterfall’s amphitheater.
From about the halfway point between the falls and the road, my friend and I looked up and weighed my options. Both sides were steep walled ridges but we decided to go with the right hand side. We huffed it back out to the road and then crashed into the forest. I’ve crashed through some huckleberry dominant understories before but this was unreal. The huckleberry was thick and 6 feet tall. Negotiating this was a huge drain on energy. On the flip side, the floor of the forest was quite prolific with bunchberry in bloom (no photos, though!).
After a lot of scratches and brush crashing, we arrived at the location of the falls. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear vantage point due to the thick forest. Here’s what I was able to capture:
If I didn’t believe it before, I do now- the Wells Creek drainage bites back!
Tye Waterfalls
I wasn’t going to head out this weekend but decided I needed to get out after a very lengthy day of yard work. Forecasts were stream and waterfall friendly so I decided to head up Highway 2 to check out a couple waterfalls in the Tye River valley. First, I decided to revisit a location from a couple weeks ago to re-shoot it under better conditions:
Next up, Alpine Falls which is just east of the Old Cascade Highway’s west end. The volume of water is pretty high so it’s hard to get a balanced exposure and detail in the waterfall:
My last stop was was a waterfall I had no idea existed which is appropriately named Scenic Falls. It’s located just off of the road to the Surprise Creek trailhead and pretty impressive. Once again, with water volumes running on the high side, photos were difficult because a hefty amount of spray downwind of the falls. I found a “dry zone” which was partially shielded by a slope to take the photos you see here:
I will return to Scenic Falls at some point to re-shoot it. It was late in the day but I saw another vantage point up higher and outside of the spray zone so I’m anxious to try it.
The Foss
I finally found myself bsck on more familiar ground this week after my trip to Honduras. I lost track of time recently so I spent the best day of this weekend framing my entry for next week’s Edmonds Art Show (I’ll save my original destination for next weekend). I still felt the need to get out so I headed out to the Foss River valley to explore some more.
First up is a small creek that runs underneath Highway 2 a little bit west of Skykomish. I’ve thought about stopping at this location for a while now but never have. It turns out that it did have some photo worthy opportunities:
From here, I pressed onward and headed up the Foss River Road. Once again, there’s one particular creek that I’ve crossed but never explored. The full sunshine was havoc but once again I found some interesting scenes:
Next up was a second visit to a particular spot along the Foss River that I found earlier this winter. By now, the weather was SLOWLY turning with scattered clouds beginning to drift through. Still- bright sunshine was still dominating:
From here, I headed up the valley to see if I could get up to the Evans Lake trailhead. It looked hopeful but about 1 mile shy of the trailhead the road became snow covered and undriveable. At one point, I happened to look up and watched some whispy clouds stream across the ridgeline above me. The clouds were backlit due to the sun and a halo kept appearing:
From here, I doubled back down the valley and wanted to quickly check out the conditions near Jack’s Pass on the Beckler River Rd. I was bummed to find a MASSIVE windfall blocking one of the side roads off of the pass about 0.5 miles in. A four foot diameter trunk sheered off about 30 feet off of the ground. I’m not so sure this will get cleared this year. That will put a damper on a few of my plans!
2 Days of Gorging – Part 2
The flipside of spending so long at Multnomah Creek was that it threw my schedule right out the window. I ended up having to pare back my very ambitious list of places to visit and made my way to one of the shorter trips on my list…
Little Zigzag Falls
Full descripton of the area is here on the Portland Hikers website. The trailhead is interesting since it’s located at part of the original road up to Government Camp. There’s an interesting sign which shows an old photo taken from this location. The vegetation wasn’t as leafed out as along the Gorge so things were a bit barren..
Zigzag River
Right around Milepost 46, the Zigzag River crosses underneath US Highway 26. The stretch of river downstream of the bridge seemed interesting so I stopped to explore compositions. Unfortunately for me, there was a cabin located alongside one of the banks so I had to exclude it from my compositions. I really enjoyed working with the bright streaks of sunlight on the surface of the churning river..
Mount Hood sunset from White River – Take 2
With the day nearing its end, I returned once again to the White River Snowpark hoping for a nice sunset. Through the day, a nice array of clouds seemed to linger around the summit of Mount Hood but, as sunset drew close, they vaporized. The sunset turned out to be a carbon-copy of the previous night’s. Bummer…
Siouxon Creek
The following morning, I began my drive back to the Seattle area but included a sidetrip to Siouxon Creek, which I discovered through my reading of the Portland Hikers Trip Report forum. It’s located in the South Central portion of the Washington Cascades and has the distinction of having a paved road all the way to its remote trailhead. It turns out to be a relic of the former glory days of logging and one forest superintendent’s idea to promote more logging. The trail travels through maturing second growth forest alongside the creek and passes near a few waterfalls.
This was my first visit and so it was all new to me. The creek turned out to be much wider and more open that I had envisioned so photography in bright sunny conditions wasn’t going to be good. I ended up focusing my efforts on the forest itself since it was so magical. The understory is dominated by Oregon Oxalis (which was almost ready to bloom) and full of surprises. If you go, be prepared to encounter a variety of groups because the trail is open to hikers, mountain bikers, and horses..
Sometimes the results don’t meet the expectations placed beforehand, and this trip fell into that category. How one responds to these challenges can make or break the entire outing. I come away with more valuable experience shooting in extreme light conditions and I hope this will only help me out during my future outings. I know I’ll be back next year (if not sooner!)..
