Green Friday

On Friday, still seeking some river scenery after my last excursion, I hiked the Old Sauk River trail. For a nice day on a holiday weekend, a day in fact celebrated for outdoor activity, I was surprised at how quiet the trail was. In fact, I was wondering why I don't come here more often - the hiking is easy, the forest is pretty, and there are numerous opportunities to view the river.

First, my favorite image of the Sauk River itself. I tried this two ways: the way you see below, and with the riverbank rocks taking up closer to two-thirds of the frame. I like the result below better; the mossy, gnarled trees don't make as much sense when you can only see half of them. F/18, 0.8 seconds.

Next, some old trees. A lot of the forest along the trail qualifies as second growth, with notched stumps and other evidence of past logging visible. But there are some stretches of trail where old trees remain standing. F/18.

Below is Murphy Creek, at the southern end of the trail. F/18, 3 seconds.

Here's another old-growth scene, this time framed by mossy branches. While those branches are interesting, I don't like this as well as the other old-growth composition. Here, the size of the trees doesn't come through as strongly, and there are those awkward white splotches in the upper left. F/18.

Finally, another view of the Sauk River. I like this one in theory, but the mossy branches don't provide the interesting foreground that I had hoped they would. F/16, 1 second.

That's all for now. Happy December!