Thanksgiving weekend sunshine

Traditionally, Thanksgiving weekend is rainy, or at least damp and cloudy, so you can imagine my excitement about the clear skies we've enjoyed. On Saturday, I hiked to Whistle Lake and Sugarloaf in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands, because I thought the sunny, south-facing summit of Sugarloaf would be perfect for such a day. Sugarloaf itself was more crowded than my hiking route was; I think most people hiking to the Sugarloaf summit choose a shorter route up the other side. I love Whistle Lake as well, though, and it's a manageable 7-ish-mile hike to see them both.

First, the view from the top of Sugarloaf. I tried a slightly different version of this shot that included a tree trunk at right. That version was better compositionally, but I didn't set the focus as accurately, and the clouds had shifted a bit and weren't in such a photogenic configuration. F/14.

Here's almost the same view with a narrow depth-of-field approach. This composition was at eye level, so I had to handhold (my tripod doesn't quite make it to my eye level). Thankfully, the bright sunshine enabled a quick enough shutter speed to make this work. F/8.

Next, another view from Sugarloaf, this time looking more to the east. It was a treat to get such good visibility of the Cascades. F/14.

Lastly, a view of Whistle Lake early in the morning, with a Pacific madrone tree in the foreground. Despite the high contrast, I actually like the lighting in this one; I think it's interesting. What isn't convincing yet is the image quality; I had some trouble getting the depth of field right. It might be good enough for standard print sizes, but I wish I had gotten better sharpness on the shaded areas of the trunk. Still, it was fun to try something different, with more challenging lighting than I usually work with. F/16.

A belated happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

New Look at the Middle Fork

Yesterday, I hiked the Pratt Connector trail, which I'd been curious about for a long time. It shares a trailhead with the Middle Fork Trail, which I've hiked on multiple occasions, but instead heads westbound.  The Middle Fork Trail is a lot more popular, and perhaps deservedly so - the forest feels lusher and wilder. The Pratt Connector Trail, though, has the advantages of lighter hiker traffic, and nice river and terrain views through the second-growth forest. I focused my photography on the first couple of miles, which a few trip reports suggested were the best, but I enjoyed the area enough that I plan to come back and hike farther when the days are longer.

First, a misty view of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River from up on a hill. I was concerned about the high contrast due to the darker foreground branches, but I think the final result works. F/16.

Next, some fall colors remaining in the forest. The stretches of trail that we hiked had a more open feel than the eastbound trail, and the forests generally weren't quite as lush. There were some nice scenes, of course, and the one below was my favorite. F/14.

One final view of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie, from nearer the trailhead. F/16, 2 seconds.