While Douglas Fir, Hemlock and Western Red Cedar make up the climax forest in the Olympic National Park, Alders are a significant presence in newly disturbed areas and along river banks. I thought this was an interesting stand … seemingly sorted by height. Taken along the Elwha river near the current ‘end of the road’.
This is the view of the valley of the Elwha River from Hurricane Ridge. The Elwha River runs down through the middle of the Olympic National Park. All these valleys were behind the Glines Canyon Dam for over 100 years. With the removal of the dam, all of these rivers are now wild and the salmon and steelhead runs are returning.
One of the keys to observation is to keep your eyes moving. That means keeping your head moving too, including looking up. I have always tried to remember to include looking up. I have a lot of shots that I have taken looking up through the trees … and most of them are pretty boring. I like this one, though.
Taken along the Dosewallips Trail in the Olympic National Forest. Those are big leaf maples with a couple of spruce mixed in (and maybe a couple of alders in the top.
This is the Elwha River from the bridge next to Altair Campground in Olympic National Park. This was an area between the two dams on the river that have now been removed. I like the way the ridge lines head down in the same direction as the river and the clouds add drama to the sky. This was taken with my Nikon D-850 … so a digital camera. I converted the image to Black and White (B&W) using Adobe Lightroom Classic. I like converting color images to B&W instead of shooting B&W film. With film you would need to use multiple filters to get this same image … and not have a way to check the image before processing. In the computer, you can adjust each color channel to get the effect you want.
The top image is looking across the valley of the Elwha to the north end of the Bailey Range … central section of the Olympic National Park. The image below is looking farther south to the central section of the Bailey Range. Besides the beauty of the clouds and weather with the interplay with the ridges, the unsettled weather keeps the crowds down.
