Flowers, Foliage, and Fungi

Over the last two weekends, I've gone on short trips to trails in the Cougar Mountain and Tiger Mountain areas to look for spring foliage and early flowers, particularly Indian plum (or osoberry, Oemleria cerasiformis). I found a few, and I also heard lots of birdsong and saw other shrubs just barely beginning to bud, which is exciting - frequent readers of this blog know how much I enjoy spring!

First, my favorite image from the trips, dewdrops on new foliage on an Indian plum. F/5.6.

Next, flowers on an Indian plum. F/5.6. 

Next, a slightly wider view of Indian plum foliage emerging. When out-of-focus, the reddish tint of the bare shrubs in the background is pronounced, making for a fun color contrast. F/11.

Here's a fun first for me: mushroom closeups! In my closeups, I typically stick to flowers and foliage, but these were too striking to ignore. I found them growing on a decaying log, and the color bands reminded me of tree rings. I am not at all familiar with mushrooms/fungi, so I don't know where to begin in identifying these, but I like the pictures. Both F/5.

Next, Far Country Falls on Cougar Mountain. F/14, 1 second.

Finally, two views of Round Lake on Tiger Mountain. I don't like how busy these compositions are, but I do like the color contrast between the warm foreground branches and the blue of the sky and its reflection. Both F/16.

That's all for now! Happy spring!

January Views

This post will cover my two most recent trips, in which I benefited from the stretch of dry weather we've been having. Most recently, I hiked Heybrook Ridge, near Index. It's a relatively short hike that climbs moderately to a nice view of the mountains on the other side of the highway. I've had this hike on my radar for some time, but had never gotten around to checking it out until now. The view from the top really is quite nice, and even though you can hear traffic on the highway below, it isn't visible, so the summit still has a more remote feel than you'd expect for how easily accessible it is. I tried a few compositions from the viewpoint, and the one below is my favorite; it has the clearest foreground of any of them, and I like how the warm colors of the foreground contrast with the subtly cooler colors of the mountains and sky. F/14.

Prior to that, I hiked some trails in Grand Ridge Park near Issaquah. The hiking experience there is a mixed bag. There was a lot of mountain bike traffic, more than the last time I visited, which made it difficult to set up a shot with the tripod. On the plus side, the forest was very lush and green even in January, with some older trees than I'm used to seeing in nearby parks like Cougar Mountain. First, a view down a lush ravine, with a cedar in the foreground. F/14.

Next, another lush and mossy forest scene. I might need to finesse the white balance a little bit, because the greens seemed to contrast with each other better in person than they do in the picture. As it is, I like the composition, but just need the elements to stand out from each other more. F/14.

2025 Begins in the Woods

My first photography hike of 2025 was the Old Sauk River Trail, which is one of my favorite lowland forest/river trails. It's in surprisingly good shape, considering some of the storms we've had already this season. There was a lot of green, not only from the evergreen trees but also from the sword ferns on the forest floor; between those and the more yellowish color of mosses, I was able to find a pleasantly surprising amount of vivid color to photograph.

First, a moody, mossy forest view from the trail. It was starting to rain while I took this picture, and I like how you can kind of tell; the ferns and salal leaves are visibly wet. I also like the color contrast between the ferns and the mossy trees. F/14.

Next, the Sauk River. Even though the foreground trees aren't particularly interesting, I like the framing. F/16, 1 second.

Here's another view of the Sauk River, through alders and other trees. I've walked by this view before and chosen not to try to photograph it; I was probably worried that the composition would be too busy, and the river wouldn't be visible enough. I think it worked, though. The absence of leaves on the shrubs is actually probably helpful here; I don't think this shot would have worked in the summer, when the leaves would have limited the view of the river. F/14.

Lastly, a closeup of a cedar branch, with a mossy tree in the background. This one is fine, but if I were to try again, I'd get even closer to the cedar branch if I could. F/6.3.

That's all for now. Happy 2025, all!

Dungeness NWR

I recently got back from a quick getaway to the Olympic Peninsula near Sequim, part of which involved a morning walk at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. Due to volatile waves and a rising tide during the driest part of the day, I didn't get to venture very far onto the spit. I did spend a few minutes in the area where the trail emerges onto the spit, hoping for some wave photography. Below are my two favorite results. I like how the waves look, although I wish they were more prominent in the compositions. Part of this was the fact that I wanted a close foreground for some depth, combined with the fact that I needed to stay behind driftwood barriers to protect myself and my equipment from the waves. F/16, 1/13 of a second, and F/14, 1/6 of a second, respectively.

The short trails through the woods were nice as well. Here's a view from one particularly peaceful grove of alders. The effect my polarizing filter had on the sky was more uneven than I had hoped, but I still like the feel of this one. F/16.

2024 Year in Review

Here we are again! It's time to review my favorite trips and pictures from 2024, and think about what I might get up to next year. Looking back, 2024 was like 2023 insofar as the time I was able to put into photography was rather uneven. There were some parts of the year where I got out a lot, and others barely at all, sometimes due to weather and sometimes due to competing personal schedule factors. With those constraints in mind, I'm happy with my work, although it sometimes feels as though I'm continuing my work rather than advancing it, if that makes sense, and that's something I'd perhaps like to see change in 2025.

I. Highlights of 2024

1.) Salt Spring trip

The most ambitious trip of the year was a camping trip to Salt Spring Island in British Columbia. Our campsite in Ruckle Provincial Park had an east-facing view of the water, and access to the park's hiking trails. Staying here allowed me to some photography at sunrise and sunset, which I often write about wanting to do, but which doesn't end up happening very frequently. My favorite moments from the trip were getting to watch the full moon rise at sunset one night, and seeing the sunrise the next morning.

I didn't set out to do moon photography on the trip; it just happened that the trip coincided with the full moon. In fact, I was about to put my gear back into the car one night when I turned around and noticed the moon just starting to rise. I had to work quickly; the window of time in which I could expose properly for both the moon and the surroundings was very brief.

Another image I liked from that trip was this one, where I used a long exposure to blur the movement of grass in the wind. That isn't a concept that I employ very often, but I like how I did it here.

While on the island, I also hiked to the top of Mount Erskine. The strength and direction of the sunlight made my photography difficult, but this one looking out to Vancouver Island turned out well; I like the deep blue colors and the sense of open space.

2.) Esmeralda Basin trip

Another solid camping trip came earlier in the summer, when I camped in the Teanaway area and revisited one of my favorite hikes, the Esmeralda Basin trail. I had a good day of mountain and wildflower photography. I made quick time up to my turnaround at Fortune Creek Pass, which took some discipline and patience, but which also gave me time to work on multiple compositions there. (That's always a tricky part of full day hikes, deciding how much time to spend doing photography on the way versus how much time to save for the destination.) You'll see some of the hike's wildflower closeups closeups later, but a couple of my favorites are below. I'd never seen those anemone flowers up there before; it's fun to visit a favorite place over and over again and still notice something new.

Anemone flowers at Fortune Creek Pass

Shooting star along the trail

Mount Daniel from Fortune Creek Pass

3.) North Fork Quinault

My third camping trip was to the North Fork Quinault area in Olympic National Park. The weather was pretty sunny, so photography in this mostly forested environment was a bit tricky. I ultimately walked away with only a couple of images that I really liked. I still had a good time, though, and it's been quite a while since I had so much solitude on a camping trip. I think the North Fork Quinault gets overshadowed by more iconic places like the Enchanted Valley and Hoh Rainforest, so both campground and trail were very quiet.

4.) Bonus Summer

One of my favorite times of year for hiking and photography is from about late September through mid-October. At this time of year, fall colors in the Cascades are often quite nice, bugs and water on hiking trails are at a minimum, and my social calendar tends to be fairly quiet. This year, I lucked out with multiple opportunities for mountain outings in warm, sunny weather - it felt almost like a bonus round of summer.

Mig Lake

Near Mig Lake

Lake Janus

Along the trail to Mount Sawyer

Along the trail to Mount Sawyer

Along the CCC Road Trail

5.) Wildflowers of 2024

It was a decent year for wildflowers in the end! As usual, this is my round up of flowers that were either new to me, or that I photographed in ways different or improved from prior years. In no particular order:

Columbia lewisia (Lewisia columbiana), Esmeralda Basin

Spreading phlox (Phlox diffusa), Esmeralda Basin

False lily-of-the valley (Maianthemum dilatatum), Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail

Large-leaf sandwort (Moehringia macrophylla), Perry Creek trail

Something in the currant/gooseberry family (genus Ribes), Perry Creek trail

Vine maple (Acer circinatum), Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail

Scouler's valerian (Valeriana scouleri), Perry Creek trail

Salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) near Pratt Balcony

Scouler's corydalis (Corydalis scouleri), Green River Natural Area

Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa), Green River Natural Area

Sea blush (Plectritis congesta), Washington Park

Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa), Washington Park

Springbeauty (genus Claytonia), Soaring Eagle Regional Park

6.) Rivers, Waterfalls, and Long Exposures

Last year, I had said that I hoped to do more waterfall photography. This didn't end up being a theme in 2024, but I did do a bit of waterfall and river photography. In May, I visited the Lewis River area with its iconic waterfalls. I got rained on, and ran into a lot of trail obstructions, but still had fun photographing the lower and middle falls:

Lower Falls

Middle Falls

I took a couple other nice river/creek shots in the winter as well. I particularly like the first one of these; living in the Puget Sound lowlands, I don't have a lot of opportunities to photograph ice formations in a creek.

Coal Creek Natural Area

The South Fork Snoqualmie River, Olallie State Park

7.) Honorable Mentions

This section is for photographs that don't fit into the above categories, but that I'm still really happy with or that were unique in some way.

This first one is from the Pratt Balcony in March. I was happy with the deep colors, and the composition feels balanced to me.

The next one is from Trout Lake in the Cascades, with fireweed blooming in the foreground. The hazy background and reddening vine maples give this a fun late-summer feel.

Next, camas and other wildflowers from Washington Park, with Burrows Island in the distance. I think the narrow-depth-of-field approach I used here was effective, and I was able to get the focus point precisely where I wanted it.

I've tried shots from this vantage point, looking down the Perry Creek valley to Hall Peak, a few times. The one I tried this year is my favorite so far, because more of the peak is visible and there's some texture to the clouds:

I really like this next one, of deer fern opening up along the Middle Fork Snoqualmie trail. Since I was looking downhill, I was able to manage this nice forest background.

Here's one that I was worried about, that I did end up liking: a shot of salmonberry blooming in the Green River Natural Area. I was afraid it'd be too busy, but I think it works: the in-focus flower at right stands out enough, and the greens are different enough, to keep all the elements distinct.

In the picture below, I like how the mossy branches frame the tree, and how they stand out from the muted winter background colors. This is from the Licorice Fern Trail on Cougar Mountain.

Here's another nice off-season one: from the Oxbow Loop Trail in November. I think the remnant yellow leaves plus the snowy hills in the distance communicate a sense of seasonal transition.

Next, a pleasant shot of Baring Mountain from the trail to Barclay Lake.

Finally, one that I wasn't thrilled about initially but I keep coming back to: one of Old Pond (I think) in the Redmond Watershed Preserve. I think I like the sense of depth, and the clarity of the reflections in the pond.

II. Hopes and Ideas for 2025

1.) Spring or Fall trip - Usually my most extensive traveling happens during summer camping season, and I don't anticipate any changes to that. It's fun, however, to fantasize about a fall color trip in the late September-mid October timeframe that I've gotten so fond of. It has also been a while since I've been on an extensive spring trip; I sometimes miss my April and May rambles around eastern Washington. I'm not sure whether I'll manage this, because I'll definitely need to save some vacation time for the core of camping season, but it's something that's on the brain.

2.) Winter Color - Weather permitting, I hope I'll be able to get out and about more in January and February, and look for creative ways to find and depict colorful scenes. I had some good results along these lines in 2023.

3.) Local trails - As in prior years, I'm still working on ways to do hiking and photography on a more consolidated driving budget. Each year, I get better at navigating local trails systems like Cougar/Squak Mountain and Tiger Mountain and accumulate more maps. These nearby trail networks can be hit-or-miss in terms of photogenic scenery, but still well worth continuing to build familiarity with.

4.) Alpine Wildflower Bloom - One hope is to get to high elevations during wildflower season at least once. This year, my only foray into this sort of setting was Esmeralda Basin. I enjoyed that, but it's been a while since I've hiked in the kind of lush alpine meadows that you see around Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, etc.

5.) New travel destination - Similarly, I'd like one of my camping/overnight trips to be to a location I haven't visited before. I've had the Mount Adams/south Cascades area on the back burner for a while; another idea might be the Kettle Crest area or something similar toward northeast Washington. It'd also be fun to go farther afield, e.g., California, but I won't know for a while yet whether I'll have enough paid time off to manage that.

Happy New Year, everybody! I'm excited to see what outdoor fun the new year will bring!