High Water at Greenwater

Greenwater? More like Brownwater, am I right? On Saturday morning, during a brief window of calm weather, I hiked the Greenwater trail, hoping to catch the last gasp of fall colors. (I'd hoped to visit a few weeks ago to catch the trail's abundant vine maples at their peak, but weather and logistics conspired against it. Perhaps next year.) I didn't find much in the way of fall color left, but it's still a nice hike regardless. The day's unique feature was the Greenwater River itself - waters were high and a muddy brown color due to the preceding days' heavy rains.

First, an image of the river highlighting the aforementioned brown color, with a little patch of the remaining fall color as a bonus. F/14, 2.5 seconds.

Next, a series of images from another vantage point along the Greenwater River. I think I prefer the first, but they all emphasize different features and colors, so I haven't reached a conclusive opinion on which one I like the best. The first two I took at F/18, 2 seconds, and the third at F/16, 1.6 seconds.

Beyond the river scenery, I love the colorful old-growth trees of the Greenwater trail. Forest compositions are tricky in general, because they can be very busy. The Greenwater trail adds the challenge of bing relatively dark, due to shade from the trees and the sometimes steep and narrow valley walls. I'm happy with the one below, however. F/14, 20 seconds. (20 seconds! See what I mean about the darkness?)

Finally, the lower Greenwater Lake with a bit of fall color. This isn't a great composition - the foreground branches make it a bit too busy, but this was the best vantage point I could find that included the yellow leaves in the background. On the other hand, the muddy color of the water comes through very clearly. F/18.

That's all for now! It's back to wind and rain outside, so I'll be staying indoors for a bit. But the long-term forecasts I'm seeing suggest lighter precipitation in the future, with much lower snow levels. Hmm...