Sometimes a sunrise slowly builds to a glorious finale and sometimes it’s a flash in the pan like when you turn a stereo on and forget the volume is at full. A couple of days ago, the sunrise was the latter.
The color just started as I was a few minutes away from my location and it was really going as I parked and ran with my gear. I literally only had two minutes of “show” and that was enough time to shoot four bracketed series. And then it was over.
Crazy!
This spot has been on my list for awhile now. The sunny weekend just seemed to be the perfect reason for finally making a visit. Well, that and the new delivery of my Pentax K-5 SLR! After trying to learn all the menus and settings, it was time to try it out. The pass is somewhat unique in that two trails provide two very different hiking experiences. Most people hike up the front side using the Squire Creek valley but a shorter (albeit more grueling) hike is using the Eight Mile trail which starts in the Clear Creek valley. A massive landslide in 2002 added an additional 3 miles roundtrip so the Eight Mile Trail seems like a more direct route in. It’s direct, all right….
On paper it’s only 2.2 miles and 2,200 feet to the pass. Everything starts out mellow as the trail follows an old logging road. The trail enters the Boulder River Wilderness at about 0.4 miles and enters a forest with MASSIVE Western Red Cedars. The diameter of trees is most impressive. This tree is one of the largest I’ve seen anywhere:
The trail steadily climbs up & over roots and rocks arriving at Three O’ Clock Rock at about 0.6 miles. The main attraction here is the large exfoliation dome that offers rock climbers several routes to attempt. This spot also offers up some of the first views of the area (including Whitechuck Mountain down the Clear Creek valley). There were still a few small signs of fall color left so we soaked in the views before moving along. From here, the trail really gets ugly. More roots, more rocks, and now add mud into the equation.
Plodding along, the mirage of more & more blue sky ahead keeps you going. At about 1.5 miles, you reach the edge of the subalpine meadows that stretches out for the remaining distance up to the pass. The area is littered with large exposed rock slabs, often with water running over them. Splendid for a summer outing but a bit more precarious when the temperatures are much lower. In the shade, the water turns into ice. After a series of small ups & downs, you reach Squire Creek Pass- an immense bench of solid rock.
To the west lies the east face of Three Fingers, the crown jewel of this hike. To the northwest, a rarely seen side of Whitehorse Mountain. Behind you to the east, a better view of Whitehorse Mountain as well as the upper portion of Glacier Peak. A forested knoll extends to the north and a series of parkland benches rises to the south, completing the view.
Fall color was hanging on primarily in the form of huckleberry leaves. Due to the sporadic nature, I found it hard to find a good composition which included the better looking spots of color. Most impressive is the lookout on top of one of the Three Fingers, a tiny speck of white compared to the massive east face.
After eating some lunch, we climbed southward although I wasn’t feeling that well. We came across a couple nice sized tarns which did offer a few reflection possibilities. Fall days are short so it was soon time to turn around and head back. We made it up to the pass in about 3 hours and only took 2 hours on the way down (despite the constant punishment your joints take).
Everyone should probably make it up there at least once to enjoy the views in silence and solitude. As for the new Pentax SLR, I need to go on a few more outings to give more of a review. Ergonomics are great but its operation is different, especially coming from their K10d. Photo quality seems pretty good, though!
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.
