Boulder River!

On Monday, after my visit to Discovery and running a couple errands, I drove out to the Boulder River Trail, near Darrington. I didn't decide for sure that I was going to do it until the last minute - there was a vague threat of rain, and indeed, even as I was driving a few raindrops ran into my windshield. But the skies actually started to clear up as I approached Darrington (go figure!). It clouded back over (which was actually great for my purposes), with no rain the entire hike and not much in the way of a breeze, either (both of which were also great for my purposes.

The trail itself was in decent shape, albeit a bit damp. There are a few places where the trail runs along a hillside and crosses under huge dead trees lying diagonally across the trail...and I had the unpleasant experience of being dripped on by these. The trail didn't get too muddy until near the end, a few miles in. I misjudged one mud puddle and, getting a bit cocky, stomped straight through it rather than trying to find a way around. My big mud boots sank rapidly and were completely submerged; the mud almost sucked them off of my feet when I tried to extricate myself! Thankfully, my socks didn't get wet at all--my boots held up under pressure, at least!

Now down to business. First, of course, you will want to see pictures of the waterfalls. They are pretty epic right now, particularly the twin waterfall about a mile into the trail. Some of them will need lighting work, particularly to take the highlights down a bit and bring out the shadows. Waterfalls are hard, even on a cloudy day.

This first one was with my wide-angle lens (it's really starting to come in handy!) I think the leaves in the foreground reinforce the idea of the lush forest.

This next one I took from a viewpoint a bit earlier, but with a similar concept in mind:

And two other good ones, the first also with my wide-angle lens:

The waterfalls weren't the only thing I took pictures of on Saturday. Another subject was the bunchberry flowers blooming along the trail. They are pretty low to the ground, but...I have a new tripod! It's only a couple of inches high, so it'll be great for really low flowers. I found out that you can't adjust its height, but I think that'll be okay. If I move in the legs to get the camera higher (up to, say, five or six inches), I have to hold the tripod - so it kind of functions as a monopod. Not perfect, but much, much more reliable than handheld at this level of magnification:

And then there's this one. I liked how the flowers were growing right on the tree...and it gives a cool contrast between the bright flowers and the mossy, old-growth trunk. I took a couple others with a similar concept, but this ended up having the most elegant composition:

Lastly, a few forest shots. There are a few second-growthy areas near the beginning, but the trail quickly gets down to business and has some big ol' trees by the time the first waterfall comes around.