Cascade Pass

Yesterday, I continued my ongoing adventures in physical recovery and getting back into the swing of photography by making the hike to Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park. For the level of mountain scenery that you can access, it's a relatively easy trek. Switchbacks are always a bit of a chore, but here they mostly go through pleasant forest at a manageable grade.

The first two images are from the trailhead parking lot. Even there, as you see, the views are impressive. At some point, I'd like to camp at one of the campgrounds in the area and do some photography along the Cascade River Road itself.

The next one is a view southeast-ish from the pass itself. In addition to the curvature of the basin, I was really struck by all the different colors on the ground.

Next are a couple views northwest-ish, looking back over the Cascade River drainage.

In this one, I wanted to contrast some of the shrubs near the trail with the cliffs and streams opposite. It ended clearing up a bit when I was at this spot, so the sunlit shrubs resulted in a higher contrast than I'd originally envisioned. Nevertheless, I think the cliffs etc. in the background are discernible enough to make this work.

This one features some pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) in the foreground with the Cascade River valley in the background. I don't know whether those flowers provide a sufficiently distinctive or compelling foreground, but perhaps adjustments to the lighting and contrast would help.

Lastly, an image in which I wanted to frame the forest against the colorful mountainsides beyond. I am unsure whether the cliffs are quite distinct enough - it was hard to expose for both the dark tree in the foreground and the lighter background. This one may take some tasteful experimentation with lighting and contrast in Lightroom.

Hints of Autumn

Soooo. My ongoing battle with my back/neck injury has prevented much in the way of photography over the past few weeks, which is a bummer since I missed a lot of summer in the Cascades high country. I've been doing some exercises at home, though, and am hopefully on the mend now.

Yesterday, I visited the Baker River trail to assess my current physical state. It was a good trail for this purpose because it's not too physically challenging, but it's scenic enough to be a satisfying destination in its own right (one I've visited many times before). It's one of the best old-growth forest hikes that I've experienced.

This was the first time I'd been here in the autumn. Forest landscapes are always a bit tricky, as I've described before, as it's difficult to isolate subject matter or find compelling color contrasts. Autumn, with the changing of color, can make this a bit easier - although the leaves in wet forests around here sometimes turn a mottled brown rather than attractive colors.

The upside of the day was perfect weather for photography - generally overcast, light winds, and plenty of moisture on the trees and plants (this seems to bring out the colors). I did find a few spots where the autumn colors were nice enough to make for an interesting composition; there weren't too many distracting mottled or rotten leaves.

These first two are my favorites; they're from the section of the trail inside North Cascades National Park near the end. F/22 in both cases.

I'm not quite as convinced by this third one, from the national forest section; I don't know whether the contrast between the mossy trunk in the foreground and the forested background is strong enough.  Nevertheless, I think it's worth posting, and does a good job of capturing the general character of the day. F/22.

Finally, here's one from the end of the trail at Sulphide Creek. I liked the lines that the deadwood had, and wanted to juxtapose that and the baby tree against the forest in the background. Despite the fact that the area is old-growth, there are many young sections of the forest, especially near the river and creeks, where flooding and washouts take out old trees and deposit islands or banks where young forests of alder, cottonwood, and willow grow. F/22.