Archive for category Fall Color
November 2, 2010 – Fallen Leaves
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on November 2, 2010
Fallen Leaves - Woodland Park, Seattle, WA
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
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Oh no, fall color season isn’t over yet, it’s just getting to the peak here in Seattle! (Hmm, today’s post is off to a great start. “Fall color season”?? Really, Dave? Wouldn’t another name for that be, umm, “fall”?) Sadly, I’m stuck sitting here inside rather than playing around outside taking pictures. I can think of several places I’d like to go if I had the chance. Like, Discovery park or Carkeek park here in town, or up on Highway 9 north of Everett. But, not today. And by the time I get a chance, the gorgeous weather we’ve got today will probably be gone. Sigh.
Today’s picture was taken just a few days ago, in Woodland Park. Not the part that’s taken up by the zoo, but the other half, on the east side of 99. You all obviously know what I’m talking about, because you all obviously live in Seattle. Right? Hmm, maybe not. But, that’s where it is.
Now, stop reading and go vote! (If you’re not in the US, then instead of voting, go pursue your normal daily activities!)
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/320s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 17mm.
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October 29, 2010 – Larches at Heather Pass
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on October 29, 2010
Larches at Heather Pass
Friday, October 29, 2010
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Speaking of larches… These guys were just below Heather Pass in North Cascades National Park. I’m mentioning that solely so that Google will notice. Hi, Google!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/6.3, ISO 200. Focal length: 45mm.
Popularity: 14%
October 22, 2010 – Maple Pass, North Cascades National Park
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on October 22, 2010
Maple Pass, North Cascades National Park
Friday, October 22, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=2056
Wow, it’s Friday already?? That week went quick. To celebrate, here’s a shot that I took while hiking a couple weeks ago. I realized a couple days ago that, as happy as I was with the pictures that I got from this hike, I’ve so far only posted one here on the blog. So, here’s number two. Yay! In the interest of full disclosure, this one wasn’t my favorite shot that I got from the day, not even from that general part of the hike. But, this is the one that got the most comments of “ooo, I like that one.” Personally, I think it’s messy, since I didn’t do a great job of not having random little branches poking into the frame. Now that I’ve pointed them out, you’re probably all focusing in on them, which is probably getting in the way of you enjoying what you previously probably thought was a nice little picture. Ah well.
This was taken from very near Maple Pass, which is in North Cascades National Park, accessed via the trail that has the somewhat obvious name of “Maple Pass trail”. I don’t know what the name of that mountain is, but my best guess (based on looking at the map) is Black Peak. As you can probably tell, the fall colors that day were stupendous. Although, it’s not the same kind of color that you see elsewhere (like in New England, where I was last weekend..) At least in this part of the state, in the high country – it’s all pine trees. But, there’s a lot of little bushes and such that change colors pretty dramatically, and once you get really high, you start to see more and more of these larches, which are pine trees that actually change color and drop their needles. I knew there would be some along this trail, but I thought we were a couple weeks to early to see them this colorful. Apparently we nailed it right at the peak. Go us!
Have a great weekend, everyone! Try to get outside to see some color if you can. Out here, I’ll be hunkered down due to weather. But I’d bet you’ve got some good color going on where you are, I want to see pictures!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 29mm.
Popularity: 15%
October 18, 2010 – Harriman State Park
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on October 18, 2010
Harriman State Park
Monday, October 18, 2010
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Hey everyone! You may have noticed that I failed to post a picture for most of last week. The reason is, I was out of town! I have decided that in general, it’s probably better if I don’t mention it ahead of time, since, umm, then one of you might decide to come break into my house and steal all my stuff. That would be really disappointing for both of us, believe me. But, I’m back now! So now I will post more pictures!
The logical next question is of course, “Where did I go??” (Well, the question would actually be “Where did *you* go”, because most likely it would be “you” asking it, not me. And you was in quotes because it probably wouldn’t actually be you per se asking it, but it would be whoever was playing your part in the conversation in which the subject came up.) The answer is: to the northeast! I had a wedding to attend in New Brunswick, New Jersey over the weekend. So we decided to head out a few days early to go check out the fall colors in New England, since that’s been on my to-do list basically my whole life. And, unfortunately, since we had such a short time there, I’m now even more determined to go BACK someday, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Yeah, it’s pretty incredible, there’s a reason it’s got the reputation it does. We flew in and out of Newark, NJ, then rented a car to drive up to Vermont. If you beeline it, it’s about a 5 or 6 hour drive, but we took our time. So, as a result, we didn’t get up to Vermont proper until it was already dark. We had one full day there, then the next day we had to drive back. That was NOT enough time. We barely saw ANYTHING. Plus, some bad weather rolled in on our dedicated-to-Vermont day, and got even worse for the day we drove back. That didn’t dampen the experience, but it did have a huge impact in my ability to take the kind of pictures I was hoping to take. I still got some that I’m pretty happy with, but I’d need to be up there for way longer than a day to really do what I want to do up there. (Also, most of the good pictures that I did end up getting weren’t even from Vermont, including this one.)
Those of you who are my friends on Facebook should be familiar with this picture – I’ve already posted it there. My original intent was to get a different picture ready for today’s post, but unfortunately after I got back to Seattle yesterday afternoon, I was so tired from flying and driving that I passed out before 8pm, and slept straight through the night. So, since this one is the only one that’s handy, I decided to roll with it. For those of you who were hoping to see another one, umm, sorry.
As I hinted earlier, this picture was NOT taken in Vermont, which was our destination for fall color. This was taken on the way up, in Harriman State Park, which is in southern New York. The colors were fantastic the whole way up and back, so we ended up spending more time than we had intended in non-Vermont locales. (If we had gone straight to pick up our car, then driven to Vermont without stopping, we could have gotten there around noon. As it was, we rolled in around 8:30 pm.) The best weather we had was also on that first day, but since we were driving, most of the pictures I got from that day were either right along side the road, or of the road. Shrug. Also, most of the second half of our drive was along a road called the Taconic Parkway, which heads north through New York. It was a really beautiful drive, highly recommended, but there are very very few places where you can pull off if you wanted to take a picture. There aren’t even shoulders on the road. It’s probably better that way, since had I been able to pull off, we would have rolled in even later, but it also limited the number and quality of the shots I was able to get. I just need to go back, that’s all there is to it. Hopefully that can happen in the next couple of years, we’ll see.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/13.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 17mm.
Popularity: 13%
October 12, 2010 – Colchuck Lake
Posted by Dave in - Best of Dave's POTD -, Fall Color, Mountains, Washington State on October 12, 2010
Dragontail and Colchuck Peaks above Colchuck Lake
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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Over the past few weeks I seem to be posting a lot of recent pictures, more so than normal. That’s probably because, at least in my mind, this time of year is primetime for me. I absolutely love the fall, I think in general things are more beautiful now than at any other time. The colors change, the temperature’s perfect, the snow has finally melted enough so you can get to the high country, the bugs are gone, and even the humidity drops so you don’t get as much haze. It’s fantastic! One of these years I’m totally going to leave my schedule open so I can take a few days off at a moment’s notice and head up to the hills whenever the weather’s going to be nice. Not this year, unfortunately. But maybe next year.
I’ve already posted two pictures recently from the hike up to this point, so now you get to look at the reward that you get at the end of the trail: Colchuck Lake. The two peaks you see at the end of the lake, in no particular order, are Colchuck Peak and Dragontail Peak. I’m not sure what the name of the one that’s lit up there on the left is. That’s the Colchuck Glacier (the primary water source for this lake I think) between the two peaks there in the distance. It’s tough to see it through the reflection, but this lake (like many lakes in the high country) is very green and milky, due to silty deposits from glacial meltwater.
Sadly, I only had time for a dayhike, and I had stayed up until 2 am the night before picking just the right trail. But, I feel like I picked a winner, although it would have been great had I been able to stay overnight and see what this place looked like just before sunset and just after sunrise. Oh well, next year, right? I timed it intentionally so that I’d get to this spot with just about an hour and a half of daylight left, because that’s when the light starts getting good. So that at least worked out for me, although it made the hike back to the car a bit dicey. Also, I only had about 10 or 20 minutes to hang out at the lake proper before I had to head out, which meant I couldn’t explore much. I basically got to see the view from the end of the lake, then I had to turn tail and run. But man, it was worth it.
Okay, that’s it for today!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. 1/40s, f/11.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 11mm.
Popularity: 17%
October 8, 2010 – Mountaineer Creek
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on October 8, 2010
Mountaineer Creek
Friday, October 8, 2010
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Well, I missed yesterday, and I came pretty darn close to missing today too. Phew, just made it in, under the buzzer. Of course, that means none of you will be reading this until Monday anyway, but hey, I don’t actually care when you all read it, I only care about getting it written before some completely arbitrary mental deadline. Because it matters, that’s all I’m saying.
This is another shot from my recent hikes, from two weekends ago this time, when I hiked up to Colchuck Lake. For some reason, I’m still feeling a little bit of a mental block that’s preventing me from posting the pictures that I consider the “best ones” from recently, so instead you get another so-so one. This is Mountaineer Creek. As you hike up to Colchuck Lake, first along the Stuart Lake trail, then on the Colchuck Lake trail proper after it splits off, you hike along (or near) this creek for almost 3 miles, crossing it a few times in the process. Most of the time, it acts exactly like you would expect a mountain creek to: it tumbles noisly over a bunch of rocks and stuff. But shortly after the junction (of the trails for Stuart and Colchuck Lakes), you get to a very calm stretch, where it looks to have a nice, sandy bed, with even a bunch of moss growing here and there. This was fall, I’m not sure quite what happens in the spring when all the snow starts melting, as it doesn’t look like there’s really anywhere for a bunch of extra water to go. Hmm, maybe I’ll have to come back and check it out. The water here is COLD though – I think this is the drainage of Colchuck Lake, which consists of glacial meltwater. (Well, I’m assuming that’s true (the drainage of Colchuck Lake part), I don’t actually know.)
Anyway, I hope all of these fall color pictures I’ve been posting has inspired you to get out and see some color near you, wherever that is. (and yes, I’m deliberately discriminating against any potential southern-hemisphere readers with that remark – Northern Hemisphere Rules!!!) Around Seattle, there is supposed to be heavy rains (and even snow!) in the mountains this weekend, so I’ll probably be chilling out around the city. But, if you’re somewhere else, you should get outside! And take some pictures! And tell me where they are! Because I want to see them!
Okay, that’s it for this week, enjoy the weekend!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/125s, f/10.0, ISO 400. Focal length: 21mm.
Popularity: 6%
October 4, 2010 – Larches near Maple Pass
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State on October 4, 2010
Larches near Maple Pass
Monday, October 4, 2010
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Hey everyone. I hope your weekend was as amazingly awesome as mine. But I doubt it was. Sorry.
I took advantage of our second consecutive nice-weather-Saturday to head up to North Cascades National Park. I picked out the Maple Pass Loop trail, and omg omg omg it was fantastic. The trail guide suggested that there’d be some good views, but WOW. Definitely in the running for the most incredible trail I’ve ever hiked. Stupendous views nearly the entire length of the trail. And it wasn’t even that much of a butt kicker. (7.2 miles, 2000 vertical feet – enough to make you feel like you got some exercise, but it definitely won’t kill you.) And the color. Oh my god the color. I figured some of the bushes and such would be turning nicely, but I had no idea that it would be to that degree. And the larches. Holy effing crap, the larches. Based on past experience, I figured the larches were still a couple weeks away. But no, they were right at the peak. So that was a totally unanticipated bonus, as if the rest of the trail wasn’t amazing enough already. If you were hoping to get out to see some larches this year, DO IT NOW! They may not last too much longer. If you can take off during the week, I absolutely encourage you to do so, you’re running out of time this year to see color like this!
I suppose I should mention: larches? Yeah, they’re these pine trees, you see. But unlike just about every other kind of pine tree, they actually turn in the fall and drop their needles. You’re looking at larches in today’s picture. They turn sort of an aspen-like gold, and when the sunlight hits them just right, it’s downright glorious. Especially when you’re wandering around in a high-alpine wonderland in a sea of golden glow. Oh man, it’s a sight to see. And this is a great trail to see it. You start out at around 4900 feet, and you top out just under 7000. It’s a relatively easy way to get up to the high country, my kind of hike.
You’ll definitely be seeing more from this hike over the coming weeks/months. I’m just getting started going through the pics, although I’ve still got to go through most of the pics from my other hikes this summer too, so, umm, it may be awhile. But it’ll be worth the wait!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 31mm.
Popularity: 7%
September 27, 2010 – Stuart Lake Trail
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on September 27, 2010
Stuart Lake Trail
Monday, September 27, 2010
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Hey everyone, here it is! This year’s first fall color picture! (Meaning, the first one *taken* this year. Obviously, it’s not the first one *posted* this year…) The forecast for nice weather on Saturday held true, so I took full advantage. I ended up staying up until about 2am Friday night trying to pick a trail though, so that made getting out of bed early on Saturday pretty difficult. The difficulty was because I was trying to figure out based on very incomplete information what the colors were doing and where. Also, I of course needed to pick a trail that would actually have the kind of plants that would be changing. Even if I nailed the elevation and location (eastern vs. western slope of the Cascades), if I had ended up on a trail with just evergreen trees, that wouldn’t have helped anybody.
I ended up settling on the Colchuck Lake trail, which is near Leavenworth, up Icicle Creek Canyon, and takes you into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. (You’ll notice that the title of today’s post is “Stuart Lake Trail”, not “Colchuck Lake Trail”, that’s because the Colchuck Lake trail branches off from the Stuart Lake trail 2.5 miles in. So at this point, it was before the junction.) In the end, I feel like I made a pretty decent choice. Down low, there were a lot of yellows and lime greens, and as you got higher up there were a few oranges and reds tossed in. It was mostly the lower ground-covery bushes and such that were changing, but that was all I was hoping for at this point in September. And of course, the payoff of the big lake basin at the end, while not being very fall-color-y, is still absolutely fantastic. Maybe I’ll post a shot of that here in a few days.
If you were curious about my methodology for finding where the color was, I used (as I do often) the website for the Washington Trails Association, http://wta.org. Their website has trail guide write-ups for a huge number of trails around the state, and they allow users to write up trail reports and include photos. So, I browsed the list of the most recently submitted reports, to look for people talking about fall colors, hopefully mentioning how far along they were, and even more hopefully including pictures so I could see for myself. Based on those reports, and the location and elevation of the trails they came from, I decided to aim for about 5000 feet of elevation, on the eastern slope of the Cascades. This trail fell right into that category, taking you from 3400 feet up to 5600 feet. This picture was taken at just under 4000 feet, for what it’s worth.
In other, completely unrelated news today: Amazon had a contest to create your own commercial for the Kindle. They just released the list of winners, and it turns out my cousin Deanne won the grand prize!! Here’s a link to the page with the winning videos, definitely go check it out. Also, here’s a link to her personal blog. It doesn’t look like she’s got an entry yet about winning the big contest, but that shouldn’t stop you from checking it out. In addition to making prize-winning commercials for Kindles, she also paints semi-professionally (sometimes using my photos as source material!) so she posts time-lapse videos of her working on the paintings. It’s awesome! Check it out! Doooooo it! Now, dang it, do it NOW!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 17-55mm f/2.8 lens. 1/200s, f/7.1, ISO 200. Focal length: 17mm.
Popularity: 7%
September 23, 2010 – Merritt Lake Trail
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on September 23, 2010
Merritt Lake Trail
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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So, as promised, here’s a shot of some fall color, to officially welcome autumn! Well, it wasn’t really promised per se, it was more sort of vaguely hinted at. But that’s as good as a promise in my book! (Probably explains why I’m habitually disappointed by everyone around me.)
This picture of course comes from my favorite fall-color hike: the Merritt Lake Trail, which is along Highway 2 a little ways east of Stevens Pass. If there are any east-coasters reading this that find themselves stranded here in the Pacific Northwest and missing the colors found in the sea of deciduous trees out there, they should totally check this trail out. At least the first couple miles of it anyway. Most of the forest out here is of course coniferous, which means you don’t get any fall color. But you can find pockets that are spectacular. Specifically, there’s a lot of color in the lowlands, there tends to be a lot of oaks and such along rivers in the mountains, and here and there you’ll find random pockets of color like along this trail. Also, the little bushes and such at higher elevations tend to have some nice color displays, but you have to work a little bit more to get to those.
As far as when to go, that depends on your target. The high country is probably showing some really nice color *right now*, and potentially for the next couple weeks. The mid-country (like this trail) shows some really nice color in early/mid October usually (this picture was taken on October 11 last year, although the year before it wasn’t quite this far along that early), and the lowlands tend to peak around the end of October, maybe into the beginning of November. It’s of course tough to know how things are looking up there until you’re actually out there, so it can be a real bummer if you guess wrong, and aim too high or low. (Yeah, been there, believe me – last year in fact, I thought it was still high-country time, so I did a hike up at Mt. Rainier, but instead of seeing any fall color I ended up just hiking around in 3-6 inches of snow the whole day. Still awesome in its own way, but not quite what I had in mind.) I’m actually super curious to see what’s going on this year. Since the weather’s been so atypical all summer long, I have no clue when all the different colors will come out. They’re predicting about a day and a half of decent weather this weekend though, so I’m hopefully going to find out. My absolute fear is that this nice weather will land too soon, and nothing will be changing yet. We’ll see.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/5.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 37mm.
Popularity: 10%
August 30, 2010 – Mayflower Gulch
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Mountains, Picture of the Day on August 30, 2010
Mayflower Gulch
Monday, August 30, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1047
Hello, dear readers! It’s Monday again! Woooooo!!!!! What, not feeling the enthusiasm?? Yeah, me neither. Sigh. I went out of town this last weekend though, that was cool. Headed up to Whistler, and did a little bit of hiking. That’s not where this picture is from though. More on that in a bit.
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this already or not, but I have a new (ish) rule of thumb: I refuse to look at my pictures on the big screen until at least a couple days have passed since I took them. Sounds like a weird self-imposed rule, right? Well, see, there’s a reason I had to do it. I’m always excited at the pictures I’m taking. For whatever reason, they always seem to look FANTASTIC on the little screen on my camera. So I take a few, and I get stoked that I got THE SHOT, and that forever after I’ll be finally satisfied that I captured the perfect image, and that I’ll get home and be able to retire the camera forever. But… it never quite works out that way. Ignoring for a minute the fact that taking pictures is just like a drug (you can never get enough! Even when you get the shot you dreamed of, it never satisfies you – you immediately start dreaming about your next hit.), for whatever reason when you look at them on the big screen, they’re never quite as sharp as you thought, or the color’s not quite right, or there’s a blemish that you didn’t see before, or you just missed the most interesting part of the mountain, whatever. And that just crushes my soul. It sucks the excitement for the pictures right out of me. I mean, these issues are usually very minor, and usually aren’t even noticeable at web-size. But, instead of going to bed riding the glow of “I got some AWESOME shots today!” I end up going to bed really sad, and then I don’t want to look at them again for weeks. On the other hand, if I just enjoy the euphoric high for the rest of the day or whatever, and wait until it fades away naturally, then I can approach the photographic results with a more level head. I’ve told myself I’ve had this rule for awhile, but I’ve only really gotten serious about enforcing it lately, the last few weeks or so. And it’s been working out GREAT! So, long story short, I’m not going to be looking at my pictures from this weekend for at least another day or two.
So, in the meantime, you get a picture from Colorado, from last summer. This was taken with my wide angle lens (Tokina 11-16) in a spot called Mayflower Gulch. It’s a really short trail (a mile-ish?), because I only had a tiny bit of time that day. The trailhead is a little ways south of Copper Mountain along highway 91 (which I believe has the nickname “Top of the Rockies Highway”). I think the trail keeps on going (or there’s probably several trail choices once you get to the gulch) but I didn’t have time for any of that. I was able to get to a nice setting, and that had to be good enough for me. My buddy Trevor (who lives up in Summit County) took me out there, after I asked for a short trail that would let me get some nice pics. This choice worked out perfectly!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel T1i, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. 1/250s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 12mm.
Popularity: 17%
July 29, 2010 – Mediocre Image Thursday
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on July 29, 2010
Fall color along Gold Camp Road
Thursday, July 29, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=681
Hey everyone! I’m going to start a new weekly feature here at Dave’s Picture of the Day. Every Thursday, I’m going to post a picture that’s totally, absolutely, horrendously mediocre. This is of course different from every other day because on Thursdays I’ll actually be calling them out as such. Exciting! I’ve got a ton of images that are mostly okay, as in they’re mostly in focus and such, but they just… don’t quite do it for me. They just aren’t quite interesting enough, or whatever.
So, today we’re going to kick it all off with this one! This was taken along Gold Camp Road, which is a dirt road that takes you from Colorado Springs out to Cripple Creek. Or, the other way around, if that’s your thing. There’s of course also a highway route that’s longer but much faster, but that one is not included in today’s picture. Only one route at a time, that’s what I always say. Why does it get the dubious honor of being the first image selected for mediocre-image-Thursday? Meh, I dunno. It’s got some nice elements, the nice bright yellow tree, all the detail in it. But the tree is sort of awkwardly placed. And the background isn’t really that interesting. It’s not a total train-wreck though, it definitely reminds me of when I was there, which can be a useful thing, if you’re trying to help yourself remember when you were somewhere. But it doesn’t really do a good job of reminding *you* when I was there, because you weren’t there.
Stay tuned, next week’s Thursday special will be even more not awesome!
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon 18-55mm kit lens. 1/125s, f/5.6, ISO 100. Focal length: 21mm.
Popularity: 13%
July 8, 2010 – Aspen Leaves
Posted by Dave in Colorado, Fall Color, Picture of the Day on July 8, 2010
Aspen Leaves
Thursday, July 8, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=674
Another late/short post today. Sorry about that! These are aspen leaves in the fall, in Colorado.
Notes: Canon EOS Rebel XT, Quantaray 70-300mm lens. 1/320s, f/9.0, ISO 100. Focal length: 183mm.
Popularity: 10%