It's Still Wildflower Season

A week ago today, I visited one of my favorite photography destinations, the Gold Creek trail near Snoqualmie Pass. This time, the trail was in relatively good condition due to recent maintenance work, and water levels were quite low at creek crossings. I therefore hiked all the way to the end of the maintained trail (the Alaska/Joe lakes junction), which is farther than I usually venture, in search of late-season wildflowers like aster and fireweed.

First, a stand of fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) at the edge of the large avalanche clearing inside the wilderness boundary. As suggested by the image, fireweed is often an early species to colonize an area cleared by disturbances like avalanches and fires. F/18.

Next, the fruits of what I believe to be California black currant or stink currant (Ribes bracteosum), with an out-of-focus dry creek bed in the background. F/8.

Finally, two aster-filled clearings, the first from the end of the maintained trail and the second near the large avalanche clearing. I don't think these images are as striking as the two above, as the aster flowers ended up rather small in the compositions. F/18 and F/16, respectively.

Palisades Lakes

On Saturday, I hiked the Palisades Lakes Trail in Mount Rainier National Park - as always, chasing those late-season wildflowers! For a trail in the national park on a weekend day, surprisingly few fellow hiking parties were on the trail. This may have to do with the fact that the trail offers no views of Rainier itself, or with the fact that there is quite a bit of uphill hiking on the way back to the trailhead. I thoroughly enjoyed the hike, though - the setting alternates between pleasant open forest, wildflower meadows, and lakes, with plenty of flowers still blooming.

First, a wildflower meadow near the end of the trail, with lupine (purple) and bistort (white) the most prominent flowers. The image quality here is only fair, but the composition is compelling enough to make this a usable image. F/16.

Next, a image with a similar concept and the same array of flowers, this time with Upper Palisades Lake in the distance. F/16.

Below is Sunrise Lake, nearer the trailhead. I tried a number of compositions of the lake; the lighting isn't fantastic in this one, but this was the lake's calmest moment, resulting in the most clearly discernible reflections. F/14.

The trailhead itself, at Sunrise Point, offers nice views of its own. Here is one such view, looking roughly southeast over the White River drainage. F/14.

I also managed a couple wildflower closeups. Below is what I believe to be sickletop lousewort or leafy lousewort (Pedicularis racemosa). F/6.3.

Finally, here's a paintbrush with lupine in the background. Due to the color, I believe the paintbrush is magenta paintbrush (Castilleja parviflora, or Castilleja parviflora var. oreopola). F/5.

Waning Wildflowers at Cascade Pass

Last week, I hiked to Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park, hoping to catch the last hurrah of the high-elevation wildflowers. I didn't continue all the way up toward Sahale Arm, as many hikers and backpackers do, but wandered a short distance in that direction - as I had suspected, the highest concentration of remaining wildflowers was in this area. First, my best image from this setting. Flowers in the foreground include pearly everlasting (white), paintbrush (red), and aster (purple). F/18.

Next, a view looking down the valley of the North Fork of the Cascade River. I wanted to juxtapose the valley itself and the clouds above. Despite the sunny appearance of this image, rain was falling when I took it. F/16.

Here are two landscapes with a mountain-through-trees concept. The first one might be my favorite; the trunks provide a more prominent linear element, and the jagged mountain is more eye-catching. F/16 in both cases.

Finally, some aster blooming to the northwest of the pass. I initially tried this with a wide depth of field, but the foreground flowers were so close to the lens that I had trouble getting both those and the mountain sharp. I like this composition, but due to the harshness of the lighting on the flowers, I am not confident that the detail would look good in print. F/6.3.

Watson Lakes

Last week, I made the long drive to the Baker Lake area to check out the hike to Watson Lakes, a trail of moderate length and elevation gain (but with a few roots and tripping hazards, much to the chagrin of my right ankle). In contrast to my last outing to the North Cascades, a hike along the Maple Pass Loop under consistently overcast skies, sunshine and frequent breezes characterized this trip. Indeed, my two most promising landscape compositions didn't work well enough for me to post them here at all - sunlit white Sitka valerian flowers were in the foreground, and the contrast was so high that the flowers were overexposed and the detail quality in the darker areas of the images was rather poor.

Nevertheless, a few images turned out well. First, here is a closeup of pink monkey-flower, or great purple monkey-flower (Erythranthe lewisii). I've tried to photograph these flowers before, unsuccessfully; it was nice to have this one work! F/5.

Next, a view of the easternmost of the two Watson Lakes. F/14.

From a rare moment of partial cloudiness, a view of the westernmost of the Watson Lakes through old timber. F/14.

Finally, the easternmost of the Watson Lakes, with subalpine spiraea blooming in the foreground. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. The image quality isn't great due to the high contrast of the lighting. Furthermore, the lake shore and trees beyond seemed to highlight lens and perspective distortion - so much so that I thought only a square crop would be suitable. Still, this one might work at a small or moderate print size (say, 8x8 or 12x12).