A Post-Literate Park

Today, for the first time, I visited Washington Park in Anacortes. Its hiking trails are more extensive - and more rugged - than I had expected. I jumped the gun on the specific varieties of meadow flowers that I wanted to photograph, so I didn't come away with any show-stopping pictures. I am more excited for the possibilities that this park might hold. If pictures are to be believed, the rocky meadows on the southern slopes have quite the array of wildflowers later in the spring. I certainly hope so, because it's a cooler setting than the Ebey's Landing, or even the rocky meadows in Deception Pass...and both of those places are farther away!

I will post one photograph from the afternoon. This is a red-flowering currant bush. Even after I had waited about 20 minutes for the right lighting, this picture was still almost impossible to pull off - there was a slight breeze, there wasn't a ton of light in the shade, and I needed a wide depth of field (f/10 was the aperture on which I ultimately settled). I had to crank the ISO all the way to 800 and still couldn't go any faster than f/50 of a second - and it was still a bit underexposed. So it's dark and, worse, there's a lot of noise. Still, I kind of like the composition.

Also, if you ever visit this park, there are two things to note. First, I wouldn't really recommend driving the loop road through the park - it's narrow, it has some sharp turns, and you'll be dodging pedestrians and bicyclists. (Similarly, if you walk the loop road, you'll have to dodge cars, but this is not as stressful). The park is much more fun to enjoy on foot, so set the time aside and walk!

A second thing to note: Beware of the trail signs. At almost every other park that I have ever been to, trail signs feature the names of the trails and/or the names of landmarks accessed by a particular trail, along with arrows and numerical distances in labeled units. Hardly any of the trail signs in Washington Park are so equipped. Rather, they use colored symbols to guide the hiker. At first, I was bewildered and navigated using my map and my position relative to Burrows Channel and the development to the east of the park. Eventually, I noticed that some of the symbols recurred (although sometimes backward or rotated), so there is a logic to this system. I don't understand why they couldn't have used a more conventional marking system, though. So if you visit, I would highly recommend using a map - and your wits, given the presence of some unmarked side trails.