Steve Cole Photography

Pacific Northwest Landscape / Nature Photography

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Top Ten of 2010

Dec 12

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.

Deep at Bagley Creek

Sep 07

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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?

Aug 08

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!

The Foss

Jun 15

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!

North Fork Rapid River

May 12

Making lemonade again…

Car troubles foiled my original plans (you should NOT have to replace a factory alternator at 48k miles but I digress) so I settled on exploring the North Fork Rapid River, upstream of the Rapid River Road bridge. Brilliant sunshine ensured horrible conditions for photography but trips like this are still valuable since they answer the question about the worthiness of pursuit in better conditions.

In this case, the answer is most definitely yes! I really like what I found and plan to return once the understory leafs out a bit more and the skies are greyer and overcast (it sounds a bit wrong to be wishing that but those are the optimal conditions!)..

This weekend finds me down along the Columbia River Gorge for a whirlwind of hikes and photography so I hope to return will many great photos!..

Creekin’

Apr 20

Hot off my photography seminar, I revisited Ruth Creek for some afternoon exploring. The brilliant afternoon sunshine didn’t make photography that great but I wanted to try out some of what I learned as well as look for suitable locations to return to under more optimal conditions.

Once again, I found a fascinating stretch of creek upstream from the Goat Mountain trailhead. The vegetation hasn’t leafed out yet so I’ll have to return when it does!

On my way home, I stopped off at one of my favorite places near Nooksack Falls to check out conditions. I noticed the runoff levels had increased which made things nicer to photograph. I took these shots earlier this winter but those photos had some distracting elements which I remembered to eliminate this time:

Nooksack Wetland

Nov 30

Thanksgiving meal bloat left me feeling a tad lazy so I just managed to explore another minor forest service road in the upper North Fork Nooksack River valley. I picked this location because of a couple of streams which bisected the road but those didn’t quite pan out. Instead, I was drawn to a huge wetland complex that feeds the Nooksack..

Frog Mountain and the Upper Beckler Watershed

Oct 26

Having studied the weather forecasts, Saturday was projected to be a dry day as a lull between storm systems. The snow level would also drop so I figured some early snowfall shots might be in order. During my visit last week, I noticed a mountain just east of Jacks Pass which had red tinted meadow slopes near the summit. The mountain is named Frog Mountain and, from looking at maps, it could be scaled halfway on a series of abandoned logging roads.

On my way to Jacks Pass, I could see that portions of the very top did have fresh snow and the weather seemed to be clearing out more. I was hoping that some visual navigation would be possible once the old roadway faded away. The first challenge was finding the entry point of the road. From Jacks Pass, the old road begins clearly but that leads to a huge open area littered with way too much target practice debris- shell casings, clay pigeons.

This made me very nervous because I didn’t want to be heading back only to be BEHIND some people firing guns. Anyways, I found the entry point which had grown over, making it less obvious. Once on the old road, however, it was still fairly well defined. Young alders are filling in the road surface but the going isn’t too bad. Without signage, some decisions had to be made at a few of the road spurs but I made good time along the road section.

I reached what I decided was the end of the road in short order but was not encouraged by what I saw. Above me, the more mature forest above the regenerating clearcut I was in was pretty thick, and there was no direct line of sight to the upper slopes. Being alone and without my GPS, I thought better of continuing. After that decision, I did spy a road spur that continued further upslope. I determined that one spur dead ends in a clearcut but the second spur is promising. I will have to check it out some other time.

I made it back down fairly quickly and still had most of the afternoon so I explored some of the other Forest Service roads in the area. Always good to know what’s out there for future pursuits!

The next storm system starting making its appearance in the late afternoon and on my way home, I across two rainbows at two different locations. Pretty cool!..

Rapid River

Oct 25

I wanted to do some additional exploration of the Beckler River area so I headed towards the Rapid River road. Surprisingly, the wonderful fall colors of last weekend were largely gone. In a week’s time, lots of leaves fell and those that remained had morphed into more faded colors.

Buck Creek

Sep 21

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Weather once again forced a Plan B selection. During my recent trips along the Mountain Loop Highway, Buck Creek caught my eye so I made it my destination this weekend. Buck Creek is located just east of the Mount Dickerman trailhead and drains the east slopes of the mountain. It would be easy to miss if it was not for the one lane controlled bridge crossing. The creek has been eroding the downstream bridge abutments prompting Snohomish County to put in the protective measures. There is no trail here so this outing was a good old Cascade Bushwhack.

AFter gearing up, I headed upslope. After 50 yards, the creek actually has two paths to follow- the main channel which is on the left and a flood overflow channel on the right-hand side. I opted to follow the main channel. Water flow by this time of the year is substantially less than during the peak snowmelt months of early summer. What is striking is the width of water flow during significant rain events. Flood related debris carried downslope seems to cover an area 20 yards wide. This is DEFINITELY a place you do not want to be during flooding!

The creek is a steady series of cascading levels and pools along with several large logjams of flood debris. Progress upstream isn’t bad for roughly 1/3 of a mile but gets more challenging due to a large area of flood damage and slope failure. Given the time of day, I decided this would be the end of my exploration on this occasion so I headed back down. Interesting area and one that I’ll return to in the future..

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