My Own Private Wilderness

Just about. At 6:30 AM, I was the first to the trailhead parking lot. Although that isn't really surprising, I do indulge in a bit of pride when I am the first one on a trail or at a park. It makes me feel special, like the sunlight on the mountains, the lovely flowers, and the rushing creek are all there just for me. The solitude and the beauty of it all even prompted me to dance around a bit next to the creek.

The hike I took was the Gold Creek Trail (#1314 in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie Forest, enters the Alpine Lakes Wilderness). I'd seen the valley from I-90 on family drives, and it's very lovely-looking from the interstate. The last time we drove past it, I thought to myself, "There must be a trail there somewhere!" I took note of the nearest exit number (54) and with brilliant cartographic and Internet detective work, found the Gold Creek Trail. Although the parking lot is just a stone's throw from the I-90, you have to walk about a mile down a residential street to get to the trail proper, which probably explains why the trail wasn't very crowded. I didn't see anyone until noon, and even after that only a few groups.

The trail is fairly level, with some relatively forgiving ups and downs, passing through hemlock forests. Occasionally the trail opens up to hillside clearings and/or views of the Gold Creek valley and surrounding mountains. At one point, it drops down to the river shore. The trail isn't too difficult, although the creek crossings get trickier as you go on. I myself got probably about 3.5 or 4 miles in (not counting getting to the trail). I figured out a way to keep going, but I needed to be back for that evening. Next time, I'll keep my evening free and press on (the maintained trail is about 5.4 miles long, with another couple miles unmaintained after that).

First, the flowers. Although the fireweed - my favorite - still haven't quite bloomed yet at the trail's elevation (circa 3000 ft), a mosaic of other flowers are in bloom. First is Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora, I think, or another Castilleja species). I understand why they call it a paintbrush, but I don't really perceive what is "Indian" about it. Oh well, it's very pretty, and it was the first time I'd ever seen one, so I was very excited:

Next is tiger lily (lilium columbianum), another flower I saw for the first time. The first two pictures are "standard" closeups, and in the third I managed to put some trees and a hill/mountain in the background, giving some interesting perspective.

Finally is columbine; specifically, "red" or "western" columbine (aquilegia formosa). There were a lot of them at the beginning of the trail. In my characteristic fashion, I experimented with different focus points: one of the following images focuses on the petals, the second on the pollen behind them:

Now, the other stuff. First, the creek. As I mentioned, there's one spot where the trail drops right down to the creek (and supposedly a couple others beyond the extent of my travels). In the following two pictures I used a graduated ND filter (see earlier posts) to darken the sky and trees so I could bring out the shaded river. The third picture is of a small tributary creek's waterfall. In all three pictures, I used a long exposure to blur the water.

There were also some nice views from the trail. In this next picture, I used a graduated ND filter, because the valley was shaded but I wanted the vegetation to still show up against the sunny mountains. I'm not sure if I'm pleased with the end result. It looks almost artificial, like an HDR photograph - the shadows and highlights are almost too harmonized. Nevertheless, it's not bad, and it gives you an idea of the view from the trail:

The forests were almost exclusively western hemlock, with a few Douglas firs and other trees thrown in there. I'm not always the biggest fan of hemlock forests - they aren't the most photogenic tree species - but I might be changing my mind. The forests on the Gold Creek trail, especially the older ones as you get into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, were very lovely.

Finally, the place where I quit was a wide basin that had been hollowed out some time ago by an avalanche. Vegetation is already recovering, but it still made for some dramatic scenery:

Hopefully I'll get back to this trail in a couple weeks, when the fireweed are blooming (they were just budding on Saturday). Maybe then I'll have more time and will press farther down the trail. I like hiking/picturing in higher elevations, because it makes me feel like it's earlier in the summer. It's still June in the mountains!