High Camp
Every November and December I try to edit the photos that I took for the year in preparation of sending them in for copyright registration. This gives me a good opportunity to find a few good images that I hadn’t really looked at or worked with earlier in the year. This year, I took a solo backpacking trip to High Camp on Mount Adams in late August. After I returned, I barely looked at the images I took because I was preparing for our trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone in September. So, with the year-end editing, I finally took a good look at the images from my Mount Adams trip and thought I’d post a few.
High Camp is located on the north side of Mount Adams inside the Mount Adams Wilderness Area. It is just shy of 7,000 feet in elevation and is about as high on the mountain you can go without a climber’s permit (required above 7,000 feet). Of course, the view of Mount Adams is fantastic, but it also has good views of Mount Saint Helens to the west and Mount Rainier to the north. High Camp is located at the edge of a large alpine meadow and great wildflower fields in August. This year, I was a bit late for the wildflower show. There were wildflower present, but it was definitely past the peak.
High Camp is a 10-mile roundtrip hike, via the Killen Creek Trail off of Forest Road 2329, with an elevation gain of 2,300 feet. Much of the elevation gain occurs in the final two miles, where the High Camp Trail branches off the Pacific Crest Trail. Though a popular spot, there are plenty of places to camp at High Camp. I picked a spot slightly sheltered by trees that still had a view of Adams to the front and Rainier to the back. The photos I’ve included with this post give a visual journey of a evening, night, and morning at High Camp.
You can read a little more about it and see a few more photos in my spot description of High Camp on Photohound.
The trail crosses a scree slope just below High Camp.
Moonrise over the shoulder of Mount Adams at sunset.
Mount Adams during the blue hour
Milky Way over Mount Adams shortly after moon set
Mountain goats lit by the rising sun on the shoulder of Mount Adams
Mount Saint Helens at sun rise
Mount Rainier at sun rise
Ingalls
This is the post I was preparing when my friend Gary died. I had hoped to post this while it was still possible to hike to Ingalls Lake, but it is quite possible it is snowed-in for the season by now. I took the hike on October 10th, hoping to find good fall colors.
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, to find good autumn colors in Washington State, you need to know where to look and have good timing. My goal for the hike to Ingalls Lake was to see some of those fall colors – specifically the subalpine larch trees. Larch trees are conifers, but unlike other conifers, they are not evergreens. The needles on larch trees turn a beautiful yellow then fall off in autumn. What makes them extra special is their setting. In Washington State, they are only found high in the mountains, which can create some incredible autumn scenery.
Snow, larch trees, and Mount Stewart from Ingalls Pass
Even without the nearby larch trees, Ingalls Lake is spectacular. An alpine lake set in a rocky bowl at the base of Ingalls Peak with a view of the spectacular Mount Stuart that just won’t quit. The conditions were nearly perfect for my hike. It was partly sunny after a rainy weekend – at least it was rainy in the lowlands. At Ingalls Lake there was fresh snow, which just enhanced the scenery.
This nine-mile roundtrip hike immediately starts uphill from the parking lot as the trail switchbacks up to Ingalls Pass where it enters the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. The lower part of this portion of the trail is through forest, but the later part is not and has great views of the Esmeralda Peaks and Fortune Pass to the southwest. Once Ingalls Pass is reached, the view expands dramatically to include Ingalls Peaks and all the Stewart Range, anchored by Mount Stewart directly across the valley.
Ingalls Lake is not visible from the pass and is separated from it by the lovely Headlight Basin. The southern side of Headlight Basin has impressive groves of larch trees. The basin also includes many small streams, meadows, bare rock slopes, and boulder fields.
Just past the pass, the trail splits. The more direct route to the lake cuts downhill then uphill again through Headlight Basin. The main trail circles around the west side of the basin, not gaining or losing much elevation. The trails meet up again about 1/4 mile from the lake. From there, the trail scrambles uphill to the lake.
Since I was searching for fall colors, in particular the larch trees, the lake was a secondary objective. But what a secondary objective! I think you’ll agree from the images I’ve included here that the lake is spectacular. And neither was I disappointed by the larch trees.
I had hoped to stay in the basin until sunset, but as the afternoon wore on, more and more clouds were moving in and I thought the sunset might be a bust. So instead, I headed back downhill, stopping in the forested section of the trail to take more images of autumn color in the forest underbrush (the trees here are evergreens). As it turned out, the sun did break out again at sunset. Being back down low, I didn’t get much in the way of sunset shots, but I can’t complain, overall it was one of my best photo hikes in years. Perhaps, based on the images above and below, you will agree.
Esmeralda Peaks as viewed from the trail up to Ingalls Pass
Larch trees on the trail west of Ingalls Pass
Rock slope and larch in Headlight Basin
The larch grove near Ingalls Pass, Iron Peak in the background
Closeup of larch needles
Ingalls Lake and Mount Stewart
Another view of Ingalls Lake and Mount Stewart
Some of the color in the forest underbrush on the hike back.
A bit of fall color along the North Fork Teanaway River near the trailhead.
Southern Cascade Waterfall Sampler
I’ve previously posted about the waterfalls along the Lewis River in the South Cascades of Washington. There are literally several hundred waterfalls in Gifford Pinchot National Forest, which covers most of the South Cascades. If you enjoy shooting waterfalls, you could easily spend days in the area. However, if you have limited time, beside visiting the Lewis River falls, you might consider the two I feature here, which are easily accessed by very short hikes from paved, forest service roads.
The waterfall featured above is Iron Creek Falls. It is located along Forest Road 25 east of Mount Saint Helens. The trail to the falls is several hundred feet long and drops right down to the creek bed, though you might have to scramble over a few downed trees to get to a good view. This time of year, when the creek flow is relatively low, you can get right out in the creek bed and shoot from directly in front of the falls. Though not particularly high (with a listed drop of 38 feet), I think this small waterfall is quite pretty with its colorful plunge pool.
Langfield Falls (below) is on Big Mosquito Creek northwest of the town of Trout Lake on Forest Road 88 just east of the Big Tire Junction. The trail to the falls is about 500 feet long, dropping to a viewpoint a short distance above the falls. As you can see from the photo below, at this time of year, when the creek flow is low, the waterfall is limited to one side of the cliff. When the creek flow is higher, the falls spread wide over the rock face, totally changing the character of these falls.
Autumn in the Oregon Cascades
On my trip several weeks ago, besides visiting Silver Falls State Park, I drove through some of the Oregon Cascades. It was, perhaps, not the height of autumn color in the Cascade Mountains, but it was close. Prime time may have been last week, or maybe this one. Regardless, now is the time to be out there; the mountains in Oregon, and here in Washington, only surrender some of their green for a short time each year.
I hoped I’d have more time to write a post about the Oregon Cascades, but unfortunately I don’t. I will say they do seem more accessible than the Washington Cascades, with more and better access roads. After just a couple of days there this fall, I know I’d like to go back for at least a week, if not longer. So with that, I’ll just post a few images I captured in the mountains (and one in the Columbia Gorge, as well), and let the images speak for themselves about autumn in the Oregon Cascades.
The Santiam River at Niagara
Swirling pool in the Santiam River below Niagara
Along the upper Clackamas River (the featured image above is also on the Clackamas).
Color along the Breitenbush River – I was a bit early, that green tree leaning over the river is probably yellow by now.
Reflections in the Breitenbush River
Koosah Falls on the McKensie River
Sahalie Falls on the McKensie River
Horsetail Falls in the Columbia Gorge – the maple trees here were still mostly green when I was there, though there were some colorful leaves in the water.
The Three Sisters reflected in Scott Lake
Fall in Washington
While doing my series of posts about the Southwest, I did manage to get out one Saturday in October to hunt for autumn colors here in Washington State. As I’ve mentioned before, fall colors are not the best in the Evergreen State, but they can be found if you know where to look. Timing is also important, as they don’t last long and snow can come to the higher elevations unexpectedly anytime in October. That was the case two years ago when a few days after taking fall color shots at Mount Baker, a snowstorm hit and the area was snow-covered until spring.
This year, we headed over to Leavenworth, Washington a couple of weekends ago. I was accompanied by Tanya, her mother Maxine, and Nahla. Leavenworth was crowded, as it was the last day of their annual Octoberfest. It took us about 20 minutes to go the last 2 miles into town, and another 10 minutes to find a parking spot. But I was there for the color, not the beer and brats (though I did have beer and brats while there, how could I not?). After lunch, I left Tanya and Maxine in town and Nahla and I headed up Icicle Creek, just west of town, into the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. The color wasn’t too bad. I stopped at four or five places and got a few good shots.
After Icicle Creek, I picked up the girls and we drove up Highway 2 along the Wenatchee River as it winds through Tumwater Canyon. The color, I thought, was much better here, and I wished I had more time. However, it was already late and the sun set early this time of year. I shot until it got dark, and was quite happy with the results.The shot above is one of my favorites from the trip, shot at the very end of the day. It was shot on a tripod at ISO 200 and f11 for 30 seconds with a circular polarizer (actually it is two merged shots, one with the polarizer set for the water and the other with it set for the foliage).
It’s probably too late now to catch much color there, but come next October, you may want to try Tumwater Canyon and Icicle Creek. Just remember, if you go during Octoberfest, you may need a little extra time to get through Leavenworth.
We stopped briefly on the way to Leavenworth, south of Blewett Pass, to photograph this old barn.
Icicle Creek
Scene along Icicle Creek
Color above the small dam on the Wenatchee River in Tumwater Canyon
Along the Wenatchee River
More along the Wenatchee River in Tumwater Canyon
Another shot of the Wenatchee River
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