Fall Arrives

It's the first day of fall as I write this, so happy fall, everyone! I hiked to Park Butte in the North Cascades on Saturday, and fall colors were appearing, particularly at higher elevations. With about 2200 feet of elevation gain, this was a more challenging hike than I usually attempt, but the trail's reputation for excellent views of Mount Baker spurred me on. While the mountain remained hidden by clouds throughout the day, I found plenty of other scenery to photograph, and was still satisfied at day's end.

Here's my favorite landscape from the day, from just below Park Butte. A fortunate moment of filtered sunshine enabled me to take this picture. Too much sunlight would have resulted in harsh lighting on the foreground; too little would have left all areas of the image too dark relative to the sky. F/18.

Next, a view from just a few steps away from where I took the first image, with trees in the foreground and the sky excluded. F/18.

Here's a view looking down to Pocket Lake. F/18.

Yet another autumnal meadow scene, this time from Morovitz Meadow, near the junction with the Railroad Grade Trail. F/16.

Finally, two landscapes from the area surrounding the aptly named Rocky Creek, with the creek itself visible in the second. I like these both, but think the first is a stronger image, due to the vivid color contrast between different sections of the image. F/18 for the first, F/16 and 1.5 seconds for the second.