Canyon Morning

Just got back from a quick overnight trip to Fields Spring State Park, in Asotin County. It's a quiet park; even on a beautiful Friday night, there were only a handful of people in the campground or on the trails. I mostly had birds, white-tailed deer, and bees to keep me company - as well as a chorus of coyotes at 4:40 am. There are elk and bear in the park as well, although I didn't see any.

Occasionally, during times of state budget problems, this park has surfaced on the list of those that could potentially be closed. While it's true that it's out of the way and not used as often as some, I think it'd be a shame. It's a very unique park in terms of location in geography, has lots of flora and fauna for the nature lover, and is a good place for those who don't hunt to hike and camp during hunting season. (I'm also selfish and want to be able to keep visiting it. This is my third trip here and I always enjoy it).

For photography, I walked to a spot on one of the park roads that looks that direction, overlooking the Grande Ronde and Snake river canyons, as well as landforms beyond. I opted for this location rather than the top of Puffer Butte itself because, it being sunrise, I wanted more unobstructed views eastward than the trail up to the summit provides.

First, a shot of some grass with the walls of the Grande Ronde River canyon in the background. I used an aperture of f/29 to retain detail in that background. This made the shot tricky to take; in the soft morning light, I used a shutter speed of 1/25 second - which barely kept it sharp, but I was already underexposing and at ISO 500. Since the contrast isn't too high, the lighting won't be too hard to correct. The noise will be higher than I'd like, but not to a level that would prevent using the picture.

Next is a shot from a bit earlier, just after sunrise. The smoke layer that is visible in the sky kept the sun a nice golden color at that moment. While the haze would later prove a problem for view-shots, reducing detail, here it proved an asset. I like the layering of the distant hills and canyon walls, and how they're mostly just color here.

Finally, a more distant shot of the canyon view, with the slope of a smaller summit near Puffer Butte in the foreground. Being just after sunrise, the lighting was still quite warm, as you see. You can also tell how the haze was diffusing the view of the canyon walls a bit. It's not too bad here, but still not ideal.

There are some larch trees in the park, suggesting the possibility of a visit in October. Of course, I've got other autumn destinations in mind as well - and all that is contingent on my having the time to make any long trips in October, which is not guaranteed at this point. Hopefully, though!

Until next time!