An Alpine Experience for a Lowland Price

On the aforementioned camping trip, I visited the Big Four Ice Caves trail the next morning. I've been there on weekends when the trail was incredibly crowded; today, I basically had the place to myself. It's a bit eerie that way, because there are signs up everywhere now warning that people have died exploring the ice caves themselves. I've always only observed those from a distance; of greater interest to me are the wildflower meadows and views of Big Four Mountain.

I've always thought of the Big Four Ice Caves trail as "an alpine experience for a lowland price." The trail is short - about a mile one-way - and has minimal elevation gain. This gets you right next to the mountain, though. Winter avalanches prevent a lot of forest growth in the immediate vicinity of the mountain; this and the cold winds all year create an environment that favors wildflower meadows usually more characteristic of higher elevations (I think the trail tops out at only around 2,000 feet).

Below is one such wildflower meadow, with the cliffs and waterfalls of Big Four in the background. I used f/25 to keep everything in focus.

Below is subalpine spiraea, which I've seen referred to as Spiraea densiflora and Spiraea splendens. The former is what I've found in books, the latter online. Either way, it's a pretty little shrub! I was having difficulty getting a good composition, so I decided to try one with the foreground out of focus, and a flower farther back in focus. I think this one works fairly well, although the far background is a bit splotchy for my tastes. F/4 to isolate the in-focus flower.

Below is a penstemon of some kind; probably Penstemon serrulatus as far as I can tell. In the background is Big Four Mountain. It's not quite as clear as I imagined it would be, but I think the image gets the point across. With some contrast adjustment, it'd be even better. I used f/10 to get some detail in the mountain.