Yesterday, I got an early start on the Lime Kiln trail, wanting to get a hike in before the rain. Since it's a mellower hike, and one not terribly far away from home for me, I made good time and only got showered on a bit on my return hike (and that's after plenty of lengthy photo stops). I had hoped that I'd see some fall color, and I did - in fact, it was much nicer than expected! The bigleaf maples in particular were really putting on a show. And, as always, I enjoyed the occasional sights and sounds of the South Fork Stillaguamish River.
My favorite pictures from the day involved the river. First, a scene from near the trail's end. I used my widest lens, so there's some distortion evident, but I still like it. The colors and the sense of depth are both pretty striking. F/14, 1 second.
Next, a view toward a calmer stretch of the river, over the rocky beach. F/14.
I was mostly attracted to this next scene by the colorful tree in the background, and I wanted to frame it with some leaves. The composition ended up a bit busy but I think it still works, and the long exposure effect on the water turned out nice. F/16, 1 second.
Next, one the most photogenic river views from the trail itself, framed by maple branches. F/14.
Now, a couple typical forest scenes along the trail, with subtle patches of fall color on display. Both F/14.
Finally, a forest view framed by an overhanging maple branch. I like this one in theory; in practice, the lighting levels and colors in background and foreground don't contrast with each other as much as I'd like. But when I take a bit of extra time to look at it, I appreciate the subtleties of all the different foliage colors. F/16.
I'm a bit bummed that this year, it didn't work out for me to do any of the kind of mountain fall-color hikes that I look forward to, like my hikes to Hope and Mig Lakes and Lake Janus last year. With the way the weather's been and what it's forecast to be, I think it's probably too late. But yesterday's hike was a nice consolation prize.
