Washington State

Road 37

Mar 14

Truthfully, not much of an update. Winter decided to return this week so snow levels returned close to their normal levels. Exploring Forest Service Road 37 (the road to the Skyline Divide trailhead) has been on my list for a while and I finally got around to it yesterday. Honestly, I was surprised at the general lack of interesting spots along this road. Maybe it’s because it’s still the dead of winter and the vegetation hasn’t leafed out yet. The first few miles have a wonderful moss-covered forest floor and I was tempted a few times to stop and look for compositions since there was some sunlight filtering through the canopy.

I wanted to check out as much as I could so I pressed on. I ended up taking a few photos along the Nooksack in one particular location since I initially saw some fog/low clouds further up valley:

One thing I’m very excited about was finding a wonderful spot to photograph the valley from. Two years ago, I remember spotting a particular avalanche track that was ablaze in brilliant yellow from the big leaf maples located in the valley floor. I saw this from the Wells Creek Road but did not have a good vantage to take advantage of it. I wondered if Road 37 would offer a better vantage and it does!

It requires a very short hike but the entire valley drops away from you and Church Mountain stands prominently across the valley. I’m excited to shoot this location in the fall and other times during this coming summer since it will also offer opportunities to shoot above any valley fog. Except for a few iPhone photos and a GPS positional fix, I don’t have any photos to share just yet.

I began to run out of time but I continued up the road to see how far I could get before hitting snow. That turned out to be the crossing of Dead Horse Creek where the snow on the road turned continuous. Someone else’s tire tracks continued up the road but I thought better of following them any further. I did get out and briefly explore Dead Horse Creek upstream of the road but didn’t find any good opportunities on this stretch.

Sulphide sunset

Mar 08

Two weeks ago, I spied some photos from a backcountry trip report from Boulder Ridge on Mount Baker which had the most amazing runnels I had ever seen. Life forced me to change my plans last weekend so I tried my luck this weekend. This winter’s non-winter made this hike a late fall hike instead of a deeply committing winter expedition. Under sunny skies, I headed out along the trail and made steady progress through the forest. The trail was virtually snow-free until the very end (hard to take in since normally there would be SEVERAL feet of snow at this location).

The last visitor’s were most likely the party of backcountry skiers from 2 weeks ago. The trail finally disappeared under the snowpack towards the end and I became weary of continuing. The previous tracks in the snow were faded and hard to follow so. Without the confidence that I could navigate back safely in the dark, I decided to turn around while there was ample light. The decision was disheartening since I know I was only a couple hundred yards from open terrain but it was the right decision.

I still had enough time to make it back to the trailhead and the road which had a nice vantage of Mount Shuksan’s Sulphide Glacier face as well as views of Mount Bacon and Blum. Without further ado, here’s lemonaide from lemons..

Kuhlsan Ridge

Feb 22

Another high pressure system brought clear, sunny skies for the weekend. It’s been awhile since I’ve shot a sunset so I decided to set up on Kuhlsan Ridge near the Mount Baker Ski Area for the evening’s show. Time got away from me during the day so I was running a bit behind schedule when I donned my snowshoes for the hike up to Artist Point. I topped out at Artist Point during the “golden hour” so I didn’t have much time to find a location with an interesting foreground.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky so the light reflecting off of Mount Shuksan held most of my interest. not the best sunset I’ve shot but the solitude of witnessing it was very rewarding..

Ruth Creek Whirlpool

Feb 15

I shouldn’t be able to write this post but thanks to El Nino and this winter of “non-winter”, I am. Mid February finds the North Fork Nooksack valley without a hint of snowpack until you hit 2700 feet of elevation. No snow means that normally buried roads can be driven so after a nice morning of fresh snow at the Mount Baker Ski Area, I drove to the Nooksack Cirque Trailhead. This should be a 2.25 mile snowshoe but not this year.

After a few quick minutes, I parked at the former bridge across Ruth Creek and the new official trailhead for this hike. My interest in this hike was to make it to the approximate confluence of Price Creek and the Nooksack. The off-trail hike in to Price Lake is on my list of things to do but my research indicated that there is some difficulty in trying to find this crossing. I figured that winter might make the way trail more apparent and help me once I return when warmer weather prevails.

At the trailhead I noticed a path that headed upstream and alongside Ruth Creek. As it turned out, it drops you off at an inviting scene with deep blue pools of water and some fast, cascading rapids. I’m really glad I decided to check this out because these where the only photos I ended up taking! I found the Nooksack Cirque trail to be fairly un-interesting (at least before it drops you off alongside the Nooksack).

My efforts to find the Price Creek confluence also proved fruitless on this outing so that will have to wait until another day. In the meantime, enjoy this quick series!…

A river now flows through it

Feb 07

I only had a portion of Saturday morning to take photos so I stayed closer to home and visited Index-Galena Road outside the town of Index. This particular road has been closed since the fall of 2006 when a major storm event re-routed a portion of the North Fork Skykomish River to flow down a half mile of the existing road. I’ve seen plenty of photos of the damage but this would be my first visit.

On my way to where the road closure is located, I passed by Bitter Creek which had a real nice series of cascades just above the bridge that spans it.

The damage to the road begins just beyond the closure signs and barricade. This is where the new channel angles back to the river and has created a 4 foot high waterfall.

Beyond this point, varying portions of the road still exist and are surrounded by two smaller channels on either side of the road’s center. I was hoping to reach the upstream starting point of all this damage but deeper water (I was only wearing 16″ boots) and time restrictions forced me to turn around. It’s always amazing to see how nature responds to what we do..

Random Nooksack Valley

Feb 01

A variety of photos from throughout the North Fork Nooksack River valley. First stop was the bridge over the North Fork on Mosquito Lake Road. There was only one bald eagle that I could see but it was a lot closer than I’m used to seeing. These photos are approximately 50% crops of the full photo:

Last is yet another location along the upper North Fork, just east of my previous explorations. I struggled a bit looking for compositions but I was drawn to the interesting colors of a particular rock embedded in the sand along the river’s edge…

Foss River

Jan 21

The end of the MLK holiday weekend brought another uncharacteristic sunny winter day. I decided to take advantage of the clear weather and mild temperatures but stay little closer to home. My destination was the Foss River, which is just east and south of the town of Skykomish. I intended to hike the beginning stretch of the Necklace Valley trail but, as I drove along the Foss River Road (FS Road 68), I kept looking down off the road at the Foss River and could tell that there were some interesting stretches of the river.

Photography conditions were a bit challenging because the sun’s position was almost directly up valley of the river. Any photo compositions that included the sky would get blown out real quickly. Anyways, I’m really glad I explored this section of river because I’m anticipating better photos this coming summer and fall!

Boulder River

Jan 10

An El Nino forecast of rain and a 5,000 foot+ snow level was forecasted for the weekend so I opted to revisit the forest alongside the Boulder River. I ended up having a springlike day with no rain and even some blue skies. The Boulder River and Boulder River Wilderness drain the slopes of Three Fingers and ultimately spill out into the North Fork Stillaguamish River east of Arlington. The river is mostly constrained in a tight canyon and has some pretty good volume.

The hike alongside the river reward the hike with views of a few waterfalls which flow directly into the river. My only visit to this area was about 2 years ago but I didn’t spend much time exploring sections of the river. This time, I explored three locations along the river. The first location was located on the “front side” of the hike in and was a hunch due to a louder than normal sound of the river. Once I reached the water’s edge, I was not disappointed…

After I was done here, I regained the trail and continued along it until I reached the first waterfall (a minor one). From above, I noticed a nice series of boulders in the river downstream of the falls so I made my way down to take some photos…

My last stop for this day was only just a bit further and was the main bridal veil type waterfall. I initially set up downstream of the falls but the breeze that’s generated by the river blew in a lot of spray onto my lens. I repositioned upstream of the falls but, by this point, it was pretty late in the day and the fading light was making it difficult to take any more photos. A very enjoyable day..

More from the Nooksack

Jan 04

I returned to the North Fork Nooksack River to explore one of the many locations I’ve identified for potential photo opportunities. I actually took some photos in the forest located in this area last winter but did not have the chance to explore this section of river. As I’m discovering, one’s exploration of the river is limited without the use of waders or even rubber boots!

Here are a couple of shots of Galena Creek, up near the Mount Baker Ski Area:

Now onto the river. This stretch of river is located near milepost 43…

Eagles and Winter

Dec 31

Now back in more familiar territory, I headed out to explore a certain stretch of the North Fork Nooksack River that I attempted previously. Before that, however, I decided to swing by a part of the river which was recommended as a bald eagle viewing area by users of a hiking forum. The location is the Mosquito Lake Road bridge over the North Fork Nooksack River bridge:

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On this rainy morning, I counted about 8 eagles including 2 juveniles. Almost all of the eagles were perched high up in the adjacent trees so my 300mm lens comes up just a bit shy. Some of these photos are cropped versions of the originals so that the eagle fills the frame a bit more.

It was now time to move on so I drove up the Mount Baker Highway to the turnoff for the Wells Creek Road and Nooksack Falls. This winter I became intrigued with a stretch of the Nooksack upstream of the famous falls where the river flows through a deep gorge. Accessing this stretch of river is not without hazard because the only entry points are at either end of the gorge or down the steep side slope. During a previous attempt, I worked my way through the forest to the downstream end of the gorge but eventually cliffed out.

On this outing, I followed a small drainage gully down to the river’s edge and then followed it upstream. Despite being at the water’s edge, I met a similar fate. Entrance to the gorge was prevented by a cliff wall and swift currents of the river. If I am to enter this gorge, it will have to be from the sideslope or the upstream edge of the gorge. During my stay, the snow began to fall really hard. Given the longer exposure times I was using, this added some banding artifacts to my photos..

Steve Cole Photography

Pacific Northwest Landscape / Nature Photography