Greenwater Lakes

Yesterday morning, I hiked a few miles of the Greenwater trail near Enumclaw. Weather forecasts predicted a clear day. In a perfect world, I'd wait for a cloudy day to visit a heavily forested area like this one, but I needed to do my best with my schedule and with what is currently accessible. Due to the high-contrast lighting situation, a fair number of my shots didn't turn out, but I liked two backlit compositions from the second of the Greenwater Lakes. The saturation and colors will ultimately need a bit more refinement, but the lighting and image quality aren't bad. F/16 and F/14.

Next, a calm spot on the Greenwater River, near one of the lakes, with a vine maple in the foreground. The lighting is a bit of a problem, as there are some harsh highlights around the edges. But I like the composition, and the fact that the air was still enough that even the lichen ended up sharp. F/14.

Back in the USFS

Yesterday morning, I celebrated the reopening of national forest trailheads by hiking the Perry Creek trail off the Mountain Loop Highway. That trail is part of the Perry Creek Research Natural Area, which the Forest Service created due to the valley's unique biodiversity (in particular, some rare fern species grow in the area). Although the trail doesn't start out at a particularly high elevation, the talus slopes it traverses have created a surprisingly open environment. Coniferous woods, maple groves, and open or shrubby slopes alternate. Consequently, the trail features excellent views of waterfalls on the other side of the valley, as well as mountains in the distance.

Below is one of those waterfalls. F/14.

Next, a view down the valley, with what I think is Hall Peak in the distance. F/14.

As mentioned, the trail passes through talus and groves of bigleaf maple; here's one such scene. F/16.

Next, a closeup of Hooker's fairy-bells, or drops of gold (Prosartes hookeri, or Disporum hookeri). Since the flowers hang down beneath the leaves, they can be easy to miss, but they were all over the lower reaches of the trail. F/4.5.

Here is a flower that I haven't yet identified with total certainty. It reminds me of Sitka valerian (Valeriana sitchensis), but seemed smaller, and with a more pink inflorescence. Could it be Scouler's valerian (Valeriana scouleri)? F/4.

Finally, another plant that I haven't identified with complete certainty, but I suspect it's parsley fern, or rock brake (Cryptogramma acrostichoides), just opening up for the season. F/5.

Old Growth Forest Sunshine

Yesterday morning, I visited Rockport State Park, having read some forecasts of a cloud layer setting up overnight. Rockport consists entirely of old-growth forest, so overcast lighting would have been perfect for photography. Unfortunately, skies cleared much more quickly there (pretty far inland) than I had planned for. The lighting was very high-contrast for most of the day, and gusty breezes kicked up at times. It was still a nice day in the woods, of course, but the amount of photography I could do was limited.

While the sun was still low and somewhat filtered by the retreating clouds, I did manage to get this interesting landscape - and while the ferns were all holding still, no less. I like the warm feel of the lighting, and the highlights aren't too blown out. F/18.

Next, a patch of vanilla-leaf or deer's foot (genus Achlys). Because of the sunlight, the highlights are a little bright, but manageable. Getting this image was a lengthy process; I'd take the shot, wait a minute or two for the light to change, take the shot again, rinse, repeat. This is one of the challenges of doing photography in the forest on a sunny day: the light is constantly changing. It's common that I'll see a shot, only to find that the lighting has changed to make it less attractive by the time I've set up my tripod. The trial-and-error-and-waiting tactic that I used worked in this instance, but I don't always have time for it. F/5.

Cougar Mountain, northeast side

Now that King County parks are open, I recently visited Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park for a short morning hike. Although I've been there several times, this was my first time exploring the northeastern corner of the park, starting at the Anti-Aircraft/Harvey Manning trailhead. I enjoyed the lush deciduous forest, and the quiet feel of the trails. It was a wetter morning than expected, with light rain falling about half of the time, but the thick canopy of leaves shielded the forest floor enough to enable some photography.

First, a closeup of orange honeysuckle (Lonicera ciliosa). I've had trouble in the past with really deep oranges, reds, or yellows getting over-saturated or overexposed in print. I deliberately underexposed this shot just slightly, in hopes of alleviating that problem. As always, there's no way to know until it's printed, but there's hope. F/4.5.

Next, a view over a creek ravine, with sword fern unfurling in the foreground. I'm not sure whether the ferns, the maple tree on the right, and the forest in the distance are distinct enough from one another. They're all green, and at roughly the same level of lighting. On the other hand, I like how all of these compositional elements are positioned. F/18.

Oxbow Loop

I had the morning free yesterday, so I made a quick trip to the Oxbow Loop in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie area. After having visited some busy trails and parks, it was nice to have this peaceful area almost entirely to myself. The short trail passes through second-growth forest with many attractive groves of deciduous trees, and frequent views across the lake.

First, a rare sunny-day forest shot that worked - a thin layer of high clouds was filtering the sunlight just enough to make this possible. I still would have preferred fully overcast lighting, but am glad that I was able to make do with what I had. I used my widest lens, so there's some distortion on the edges, but I don't think it's egregious. The flowers blooming in the foreground are Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa). F/16.

Next, a view of Oxbow Lake itself. I like the composition, and the image quality is adequate. Unfortunately, the contrast is high - some of the distant snow ended up overexposed, to the point that I couldn't fully recover it in Lightroom. Since the eye already expects it to look white, and since the snow takes up a relatively small area of the composition, it's possible that this image could still work as a print. F/16.

State Park Adventures

Well, well, well, the state parks are open. You know what that means...

Olallie State Park

A few days ago, I visited the Twin Falls hike in Olallie State Park. I went early, to beat the crowds and the sunshine. I was able to make a few compositions work before the sun got too high, but the lighting was too harsh for pictures by the time I reached the falls. Thankfully, the entirety of the short trail is scenic, so it was still a productive visit.

First, two views of the South Fork Snoqualmie River, with emerging bigleaf maple leaves in the foreground. F/16 and F/14, both 1.3 seconds. Almost all of the leaves are sharp, thanks to the remarkably still air that morning.

There were abundant Scouler's corydalis (Corydalis scouleri), or Scouler's fumewort, plants blooming throughout the hike. Due to the advancing sunlight in the forest, creating a suitable composition was difficult, but I was able to photograph the plant below with out overexposing either it or any of the background due to sun splotches. I like that there were water droplets intact on the flowers, and that I got some of them in focus. F/4.

Deception Pass State Park

On another day, I wandered around the Rosario Head and Lighthouse Point area of Deception Pass State Park. It was a sunny day, so landscapes were difficult. I had better luck with closeups, so I'll start with those.

First, a species of paintbrush (genus Castilleja). It could be harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida), but I'm not very good at identifying paintbrush species, so don't quote me on that.

Next, two compositions of broad-leaved starflower (Lysimachia latifolia; I've also seen it listed under the genus Trientalis). Although I like the way the leaves look in the second composition, the first uses space more efficiently. F/5.6 and F/5, respectively.

Next, a fire-scarred Douglas fir tree near Lighthouse Point, captured during a rare moment of cloud cover. F/18.

Finally, a view of Deception Island from near Lighthouse Point. If you look closely, you can see some small, pink flowers at lower left (kinnikinnick?). I'm not sure whether I like this composition; the flowers don't add as much interest to the foreground as I had envisioned, due to their small size, and the colors ended up a bit washed out. F/16.

That's all for now! Stay safe and enjoy the weather!