Cold Day at Cougar Mountain

This past weekend, I was able to hike at Cougar Mountain, before the snow and ice hit. It's a fun park to visit, because there are enough different trails that I can hike a different hike each time. This time, I started at the Red Town Trailhead and hiked to Far Country Falls, with side trips in the Marshall's Hill and De Leo Wall areas (including the De Leo Wall viewpoint, which I imagine would be nice on a clear day!).

First, a closeup of frost on a sword fern. This picture is decent when viewed on a computer or phone, but it'd be even better printed (8x10 or larger), as you'd see more of the shape of the ice crystals. The detail quality is good enough to hold up at a large size. F/5.6.

Next, Far Country Falls. Since this is an easy hike from the popular Red Town Trailhead, I've often had a lot of company when I've visited the falls, but I hardly saw anyone while I was there this time. Maybe the intermittent ice pellet showers had something to do with that. You can see evidence of those showers on the log in the foreground. I considered getting even closer to the log and trying this as a narrow depth-of-field shot, but didn't think the log was quite interesting enough to justify that. F/18, 13 seconds.

Here's another frost shot, from the restored Red Town meadow. I had a hard time getting the focus point right, so the detail quality isn't perfect, but I like the colors, and I think I got just the right amount of definition in the background. F/10.

That's all for now! I hope you all stay safe in tonight/tomorrow's ice storm!