The late afternoon sun shining through the trees at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, WA. One of the advantages of living in the north is that the ‘Golden Hour’ that photographers enjoy for low angle sun is longer … if you are in Alaska in the summertime, for instance, the Golden Hour can be 4 hours long. It’s not that much in Washington State, but it is longer than you find in California.
I spotted this red splash of Oregon Grape in the middle of a patch of Salal. Two of the typical natural ground covers in the Pacific Northwest.
The upper campground at Fort Worden State Park is closed except during the summer season. It looks a little lonely without any people around. But you can still walk through and enjoy the fall colors of the big leaf maples (the few that there are).
I really love the Pacific Madrone. Especially if it’s not in my yard. They are a messy tree, dropping leaves or shedding bark pretty much year round. It’s not too bad dealing with trees dropping leaves once in the fall. Year round just gets tiresome.
The trail down there is also a service road … so it’s wider than a typical trail. This is all second growth and the trees are too close together for any to get much light. In a couple hundred years, maybe it will be more of a forest instead of a bunch of pencil trees.