North Fork Nooksack River

Snow Day

Mar 25

Spring is officially here- but I managed to make it through the entire winter without enjoying a single day on the ski slopes. I had to go at least once so I made it happen on Friday. Not a whole lot to say about this; a beautiful day up at Mount Baker with partly sunny skies and about 4″ of new snow to start the day. After my break for lunch, I spent some time photographing Mount Shuksan before the clouds swallowed it whole. The afternoon brought the snowy weather back and eventually the expansive views completely disappeared. The ski area shut down at about 4pm and before I headed home, I stopped off at Hannigan Pass Road. I hoped to check out a particular spot overlooking the North Fork Nooksack River where Mount Shuksan is visible. The mountain wasn’t visible but I did experience a crazy snow squall that passed through my location despite the presence of sunshine. Very cool experience! A great day and just what I needed..

I also put together a little snowboarding video from my day on the slopes which you can view here:

River study

Apr 09

Two weeks ago, I stopped off at the Horseshoe Bend trail along the banks of the North Fork Nooksack River after a day on the slopes at the Mount Baker Ski Area. I ended up trying a number of variations of this particular boulder in the river along with the two gnarled trees along the opposite bank..

Bagley Creek Wandering

Mar 15

Winter continues to churn through the Pacific Northwest. The calls for potentially low snow levels sent me finally back up the North Fork Nooksack River in search of winter scenes of Nooksack Falls and Bagley Creek. The snow continues to pile up at Mount Baker where the base depth has passed the 250″ mark. It’s impressive- but that snowfall hasn’t accumulated to the same degree at lower elevation. I was a bit disappointed to discover that there was a minimal snowpack at the Wells Creek Road turnoff for Nooksack Falls. Definitely not enough for the photo of Nooksack Falls I have been envisioning!

Instead, I drove on to the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park, where my goal was to cross country ski up to Bagley Creek. For me, it’s a bit of a hidden gem, well within earshot of the busy Mount Baker Highway. It’s beautiful in summer, but not as familiar to me during winter. Although I’ve spent over a decade driving up to the Mount Baker Ski area for turns, I only started cross country skiing last winter. As a snowboarder, the independent suspension nature of skis has me wavering like a drunk but I’ve been getting the hang of it. Slowly.

One of the great things about the Salmon Ridge Sno-Park (and cross country skiing for that matter) is that you don’t have to endure hordes of people. It’s definitely an activity that allows you to slow down and connect with nature. There were only two other cars in the large parking lot when I arrived that afternoon. Maybe it was the weather- at 2,000 feet, the incoming storm was offering up alternating cycles of light rain & then snow. From the parking lot, the trail to Bagley Creek utilizes a Forest Service road which parallels the river.

It only gains a few hundred feet over 2ish miles so it’s not a bad option for beginners. Bagley Creek passed underneath the road via a fair sized bridge. It’s confluence with the North Fork Nooksack it’s only a few hundred yards downstream of the bridge. Upstream of this bridge, but below the Mount Baker Highway, lies a fascinating stretch of creek with waterfalls of varying heights and several stretches with unique character.

Since my last visit well over a year ago, some changes have occurred. Just a short distance upstream of the bridge, a large log has beached itself on a rock formation and another log has fallen across the creek some 30 feet up in the air. After taking some photos at the bridge, I wallowed off trail in the deep, unconsolidated snow alongside the creek trying to make my way to a cliff located about 50 yards off the road. On my summertime visit, I waded upstream while my friend found this high perch along the edge of a circular amphitheater.

It was tough going but I reached the edge of the cliff. From this spot, I could see the narrow slot canyon which prevented me from traveling further upstream back in the summer. As I took various photos, the weather was in flux from light sprinkles, to sun breaks (with sprinkles, of course). I packed up and headed back to my skis located back on the road. I wanted to leave myself with a little bit of time to photograph a stretch of the river back closer to the trailhead. I can ski flat land and uphill without too much difficulty but going downhill still terrifies me!

I was proud of myself as I managed to make it down all the hilly stretches with a healthy dose of pizza and french fry. At the base of the last hill back near the trailhead, I wandered off towards the river to check things out. By now, it was almost 3pm and the incoming storm was settling into the mountains. After a few minutes, it began to snow a few large flakes. After setting up my camera, conditions change for the worse. The winds really picked up and the snow was falling sideways and I felt like I was inside a snow globe.

My black backpack quickly turned white and I knew it was time to make haste back to my truck. I made my way back as quickly as I could to my truck and dumped my gear inside. The snowfall rate maintained a furious pace as I joined the parade of cars coming down the mountain from the ski area. The road had not been plowed for a while and it was definitely accumulating on the road. At this time of day, all the traffic heading back to Glacier keeps a couple snowfree ruts on the highway but the eastbound lane was a pristine white color. Thankfully, level heads were present and speeds were down to 35-40mph.

It snowed all the way back to Glacier where it finally changed permanently over to rain. Ironically, had this weather greeted me on my trip up to the mountains, I would have stopped off at Nooksack Falls for my photo! Hopefully there will be another opportunity this winter..

Welcome 2012

Jan 12

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..

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.

Nooksack Fall Color 2011

Oct 25

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!

Winter won’t leave

Apr 22

Ever since the calender made it official and told us that it’s springtime, the weather has actually reverted back into winter. It’s the 21st of April and snow levels are STILL dipping down below 1000 feet and we haven’t had a single high temperature of 60 degrees. Thankfully I love winter! Coming into the weekend, I had some interest in shooting some scenes of skunk cabbage, one of the sure signs of spring.

As it turned out, the spots in the upper North Fork Nooksack River valley I was thinking of were still solid snow and not accessible. It’s sure been a jeckyl and hyde winter! Up at the Mount Baker Ski Area, crowds have dwindled down to mostly the diehards despite a substantial snowpack. For yet another weekend, the weather proved to be dramatic and offered periods of cloud, sun, and even light snow.

Maybe I never really paid attention before but this has been one heck of a winter for scenes of clouds lapping over and around the impressive summit of Mount Shuksan. The sun’s path through the sky also changes which now lights up the snowy slopes of the Shuksan Arm enough to add dramatic shadows. The spring sunshine really brings out all of the subtleties of these slopes. As you can see from some of these shots, they are reminiscent of the jagged mountains of Alaska, Karakoram, or Himalayas.

I kept seeking and taking shots while the light allowed for it. Of course, these photos were color but the interplay of clouds and mountain just beg for a black & white treatment. I recently received my copy of Nik’s Silver Efex 2 so I went for it. After finishing up at the ski area, I revisited Razor Hone Creek. Incredibly enough, the creek still lies buried underneath the multiple feet of snow that covered it last month. This spot usually has a nice 10 foot waterfall but not on this day:

Back down in the valley, I stopped along the river at a location I never realized existed (partly because it’s typically buried under more snow). It’s nothing more than an unofficial “party” spot along the river and is a pullout inside a grove of large old growth cedar trees. The river here is fairly calm with a few gravel bars. Lucky for me, the upstream valley slopes were still flocked with fresh snow:

I wanted to go scout some of the Middle Fork Nooksack but that ended up having to wait until another time…

Snow Returns to the Valley

Mar 06

Things in the North Fork Nooksack River valley were looking more normal after what probably will be the last significant lowland snow event. My day up on the slopes at the Mount Baker Ski Area were unfortunately cut way short due to an equipment issue. I packed up and then headed back down into the valley to scout around. Razor Hone Creek has thwarted my efforts to reveal its treasures several times but I spied a relatively easy access point to try out. I feared a laborious wallowing effort and it proved to be true. In the absence of snowshoes, every step sunk down to the crotch. I had to fill my post hole with snow and then tamp it down with my foot to come up with a stable base. Drawing closer to the creek, I didn’t hear it. I feared that the creek had become buried by the 5+ feet of snow during the previous week. Retreating back to the road, I walked back to the bridge over the creek and confirmed that the creek was, indeed, buried. On to the next location!

Back down in the valley, I stopped at a location I have visited before (but not this winter). It’s the western end of short stretch of rapids along with a modest slot canyon. An unnamed creek originating high on Excelsior Ridge also flows into the river at this spot. The fresh snow was nicely piled up on the boulders in the river:

I didn’t find much new or very compelling so I moved on. Close to spot where I took one of my favorite panoramas of the river, I explored a short stretch of river located between that location and a second location I looked at earlier this winter. Right away, I noticed this small cave which had a dense number of icicles inside of it. The rain was trying to turn to snow but wasn’t being very successful.

From here, I decided to head upstream and that required negotiating around a large logjam. On the other side was the tail end of a stretch of rapids. In the middle of the river was a piece of wood, partially frozen and covered with snow which reminded me of a gun from a World War II warship.

By now, my jacket, gloves, and shell pants were getting close to saturation which signaled to me that it was time to go home. It wasn’t the greatest of days but it’s another check mark in my attempt to really know the 5+ mile stretch of the river between Nooksack Falls and Hannigan Pass Road. It’s been a great experience getting to know this area more in depth. I’m usually surprised at what I discover and it’s often no more than 30 yards from the busy highway.

A Winter’s Day

Feb 01

Not much of a story for this entry. Here’s a variety of photos from another bluebird day up at the Mount Baker Ski Area and the North Fork Nooksack River valley. The river photos are from another new section of the river for me. A nice spot with some twists and turns in the river and the added bonus of a view of Mount Sefrit in the distance.