Cascade Pass

Yesterday, I continued my ongoing adventures in physical recovery and getting back into the swing of photography by making the hike to Cascade Pass in North Cascades National Park. For the level of mountain scenery that you can access, it's a relatively easy trek. Switchbacks are always a bit of a chore, but here they mostly go through pleasant forest at a manageable grade.

The first two images are from the trailhead parking lot. Even there, as you see, the views are impressive. At some point, I'd like to camp at one of the campgrounds in the area and do some photography along the Cascade River Road itself.

The next one is a view southeast-ish from the pass itself. In addition to the curvature of the basin, I was really struck by all the different colors on the ground.

Next are a couple views northwest-ish, looking back over the Cascade River drainage.

In this one, I wanted to contrast some of the shrubs near the trail with the cliffs and streams opposite. It ended clearing up a bit when I was at this spot, so the sunlit shrubs resulted in a higher contrast than I'd originally envisioned. Nevertheless, I think the cliffs etc. in the background are discernible enough to make this work.

This one features some pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea) in the foreground with the Cascade River valley in the background. I don't know whether those flowers provide a sufficiently distinctive or compelling foreground, but perhaps adjustments to the lighting and contrast would help.

Lastly, an image in which I wanted to frame the forest against the colorful mountainsides beyond. I am unsure whether the cliffs are quite distinct enough - it was hard to expose for both the dark tree in the foreground and the lighter background. This one may take some tasteful experimentation with lighting and contrast in Lightroom.