Damp Day at Heather Lake

On Saturday, I hiked to Heather Lake off the Mountain Loop Highway for the first time in years. I've avoided it because it's pretty popular, and because the road and trail can both be rough. But I'd heard that the road had been fixed up, and I gambled that cloudy and drippy day would keep crowds down a bit. The road was indeed smooth sailing, and there was a reasonable amount of other hikers on trail. The trail itself, however was not smooth sailing - it was very rooty and rocky in places, requiring more exertion than I would expect from a shorter trail. I don't know if I'll go back until some major work is done on the trail, but I'm still glad I went. I found a few wildflowers, despite the fact that the peak bloom at the lake is a week or two away, and the low clouds and raindrops added some interest to my compositions.

I'll start with a wildflower; I haven't gotten a ton of good wildflower closeups this year so far, so I was pretty excited about this one. It's a marsh marigold (genus Caltha). There are two species of Caltha that this might be, and I'm not confident in my ability to distinguish them at this point. F/5.6.

Next, some cool buds. With the way they're clustered, my first guess is that they are subalpine spirea, although I'm not certain. Regardless, I liked their vibrancy, the colorful new leaves, and the clearly visible raindrops. F/5.6.

The low clouds were a mixed blessing for landscape photography. On the one hand, I would have liked better views of the mountainsides and cliffs surrounding the lake. On the other hand, I was able to try moody scenes like the two below. Both F/18.

Next, a different perspective of the lake, with cedar branches in the foreground and a selective-focus effect. I think it captures the cool, damp, misty feeling of the day quite well. F/5.6.

Finally, some old-growth trunks along the trail. The different colors and lighting levels of the trunks help distinguish them from each other and create depth. Otherwise, I don't think this one would work. F/16.

All for now; hopefully, some more wildflowers soon. Stay dry, everyone!

Spring Sunshine in Three Parts

Hello! I'm a bit behind on blogging, and finally have the time to catch up today. To make things easier for myself, I'm combining my last three hiking trips into one big post. All three trips had bright sunny skies in common. This made landscapes tricky due to high-contrast lighting, and foiled the intentions I had of doing closeup flower photography. (Closeups can be done in sunny conditions, but it's more time-consuming, due to increased breezes and constantly changing, uneven lighting. For these reasons, I often focus on landscapes on sunny days.) The upshot was bright blue skies and good visibility of mountain peaks. So, here we go, in reverse chronological order:

Olallie Lake

Most recently, I hiked to Talapus and Olallie Lakes, along with everyone else. It's a popular trail, and for good reason: the hike is pretty forgiving in terms of length and difficulty, and the trail and road are both well-maintained. Although I enjoyed the day, I didn't fall in love with the hike - most of the forest along the trail is dense and not particularly lush or scenic. Olallie Lake made for a nice payoff, though. I liked these images contrasting the green of new growth with blue of sky and lake, and the bits of snow remaining. F/18 and F/16, respectively.

I also got a fun shot of some skunk cabbage blooming. F/18.

Perry Creek

Prior to all of that, I hiked Perry Creek, one of my regular destinations early in the mountain hiking season. First, some new spring growth (I don't know what plant), with what I think is Hall Peak in the background. I like that I was able to vividly capture the reddish color of the new branches. I'm not sure which of these two I prefer; the first uses space a bit more evenly, but the second has the strongest sense of depth. F/5.6 and F/7.1, respectively.

Next, a flowering vine maple, with a snowy mountain in the background. I think I like this one despite the harsh lighting; it's very cheery. F/6.3.

Finally from Perry Creek, a little patch of trillium in various color stages, along with ferns and other plants. This composition doesn't particularly excite me; I think it's a bit busy and lacks depth. It's the best I could have done in terms of camera placement, as I would have had to smash some meadow with my tripod to get any closer. It was such a pretty setting, though, that I couldn't resist posting the picture. F/5.6.

Oxbow Loop

The earliest trip was to the Oxbow Loop trail along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. It's a short, easy hike, perfect when I have obligations in the afternoon but still want to get outside and see some mountains. I was a bit late for impressive displays of spring wildflowers like trillium and bleeding heart, but found some vine maples in bloom, and other nice spring scenery. The river was running very high with all the snowmelt, which was fun to see, even if it meant there was no river beach to explore.

First, one of those vine maples (Acer circinatum) in bloom, set against a peak in the background. I used my macro lens, which has a fixed focal length, because it seems to perform particularly well in situations like this when I want a narrower depth of field and a very precise focus point. If I had used my zoom lens, I could have made the flower at center-left (my focus point) larger in the frame, but I might have sacrificed some of that image quality and precision. You might have noticed that this is very similar to one of the compositions above, from Perry Creek. The lighting is more interesting in this one, but the flowers aren't as immediately prominent. F/6.3.

Finally, Oxbow Lake itself, in full sunshine. I'm not thrilled by the harsh lighting, but I like the vibrancy of the green, and how a bit of snow on the peak is still visible. F/14.

That's all for now! I've enjoyed all of the sunshine, but I'm also hopeful that I'll get a trip soon that is a bit more conducive to wildflower and/or forest photography. Stay tuned!