Bright Day at Emmons Moraine

On Saturday, I hiked the Emmons Moraine trail, a favorite of mine on a clear day due to the great views of Mount Rainier, Little Tahoma, and the headwaters of the White River. I had been there twice before, in June 2019 and again in September 2020. Just like those earlier visits, I had to contend with harsh lighting. Nevertheless, it was a fun challenge to try to find new perspectives on the place.

First, my favorite shot of the day: Mount Rainier over the White River, near the campground. Due to the brightness of the scene, I surmised that my usual strategy of trying to blur the water's motion with a slow shutter speed would be unsuccessful. Instead, I aimed for as fast of a shutter speed as I could manage with decent depth of field. F/14, 1/160 of a second.

As I mentioned earlier, I'd been to Emmons Moraine twice before, both times under sunny skies, and I didn't want my pictures to look identical to those from the earlier visits. So I did a little experimenting with narrow-depth-of-field shots. Here's one with a pine tree in the foreground, and Little Tahoma in the background. F/6.3.

Next, another image with a similar narrow-depth-of-field concept, looking down the White River valley. F/5.6.

Below, two more "conventional" shots of the Emmons Moraine area, with a wide depth of field. Compositionally, I think they're my best yet, although the harsh lighting is even more of a problem and might merit some additional fine-tuning. Both F/18.

Finally, a view across the White River valley from the trail. I wish the foreground leaves and background trees were more distinct from each other in the lower third of this image, but I still like the composition. F/14.

Rainy Day at Greenwater

Last weekend, I hiked to the Greenwater Lakes near Enumclaw. I chose this short, easy hike because rain was predicted to fall in the afternoon, and I wanted to have as much quality photography time as possible earlier in the day. Although it did indeed rain, and maybe a bit earlier than forecast, it wasn't as much of a problem as I expected. Generally speaking, the rain was light and intermittent until mid-afternoon, and the dense old-growth forest canopy offered protection.

First, the Greenwater River itself. F/16, 0.4 seconds.

Next, a calmer stretch of the Greenwater River, near one of the lakes. F/18.

Next, calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa) blooming on the forest floor. These can be hard to photograph, because the forest floor environment in which they grow tends to be dark and visually unappealing. But openings in the canopy and moss on the forest floor solved these problems. F/7.1.

Here's another flower that brightened the otherwise overwhelmingly green environment: vine maple (Acer circinatum). One of the Greenwater Lakes is in the background; I would have liked it to be more clearly discernible than it is, but I still like this composition. F/14.

I'm a big fan of hiking in old-growth forests, so the trail's big trees are always a treat. Here's a shot of a particularly impressive Douglas fir, with a cedar in the background. F/16.

Here's another forest shot, with devil's club in the foreground. F/18.

Lastly, I took a couple pictures of the Greenwater Lakes themselves. Here's the first, with vine maple in the foreground. F/18.

And below, the second of the Greenwater Lakes. F/14.

Along the Sauk River

Over Memorial Day weekend, my girlfriend and I were fortunate enough to stay at a campsite at the Bedal Campground near Darrington. When I booked the trip (months ago), I had high hopes that the Mountain Loop Highway would be fully open, allowing access to Goat Lake and hikes on the south side of the loop like Perry Creek. Alas, the segment between Bedal and Barlow Pass remained closed to vehicles. As a result, hiking options were rather limited. Thankfully, the Mountain Loop Highway immediately south of the campground made for excellent road walking - mountain and river views and even some old growth. We also managed to get out on one true "hike," which I'll get to later in the post.

Bedal Campground and Vicinity

First, the South Fork Sauk River and a mountain beyond (maybe the Twin Peaks? I'm not sure). F/18, 0.4 seconds.

Here's the same view, horizontal. Somehow, I don't find it as convincing - I don't think the composition leads the eye to the mountain as well. But it's still fine, and would be the one to use in something like a calendar. F/18, 0.4 seconds.

Next, a small stream along the Mountain Loop Highway. I was worried about the lighting being too harsh, but the trees filtered the early morning sunshine sufficiently. F/14, 3 seconds.

Here's a view over the Sauk River near the campground. This was a risk, in terms of both the high-contrast lighting and how busy the composition is. You can see enough of the river and hills to make it interesting, though, and having the trees all aligned helps. F/14.

Next, another experiment, this one from near the campground just after sunrise. I'm not sure if the mountain is as vivid as it needs to be, although it'd be worth seeing this one in print to make that final decision. F/18.

Below are two more views of the South Fork Sauk River from the road. I took the first at F/16, 2.5 seconds; the second at F/18, 0.8 seconds.

Next, some of the aforementioned old growth along the road. Some clouds came along and filtered the sunlight at just the right moment; otherwise, the lighting would have been too harsh. F/16.

Old Sauk River Trail

One hike that we were able to complete was the Old Sauk River Trail. The water levels were so high that some of my usual favorite river access areas were submerged! There was still plenty of quality river scenery, though. Here's my favorite shot from the hike, with morning light illuminating a red alder tree and the Sauk River beyond. F/16, 1/5 of a second.

Next, the Sauk River viewed through ferns. I like the idea behind this one, but in practice, I don't know whether the greens of the ferns and the background trees are distinct enough from one another. F/18, 1/4 of a second.

Finally, a shot from the lush forest along the trail. I like the jungle vibe that the maple leaves are giving off here. F/16.

That's all for now, but I just finished going through the pictures from a more recent hike, so take heart - there will be another long post here before long!