(more found images from my archive file) Hart Lake is in the upper Duckabush Valley, and is much less visited than the Heart Lake in the upper Sol Duc. Hart Lake takes over 20 miles of hiking to get there, so there are many fewer visitors. We were camped near the lake and when the sun was coming up, the clouds in the valley moved up … before burning off for the day. It was spectacular.
Another image from near the Deer Park Campground in Olympic National Park. This shows the clouds in the valleys looking south into the center of the park. Somewhere in there is the Graywolf River valley and the valleys of Cameron Creek and Grand Creek. When you see weather like this in the Olympics, enjoy the sun while you can. Once the sun rises high enough to warm the valley air, the cloud layer rises. Then you have the tops of the cloud layer joining you and covering you. See below.
The Atmospheric Effect is where the mist or haze in the air enhances the apparent depth of the subject. In this case, I took the photo looking west from the summit of Blue Mountain above Deer Park Campground in the Olympic National Park. This is the view looking into the sun. Below is the view looking south — 90 degrees from the photo above. And with a different lens, of course. But notice the lack of the atmospheric effect.
This photo was taken on my way up Mt Ellinor (see the previous post) on a day when the weather was deteriorating rapidly. It was a good hike anyway. The funny thing that happened was that when I returned to my car, I found that someone had decorated it with a bagel stuck on my radio antenna. (see below)
And no, I didn’t eat the bagel. (I was a little surprised that it wasn’t attacked by crows or ravens.
This is cloud/fog coming up the Hoh River valley and across the High Divide in the Olympic National Park. In the winter the snow cover is extensive … helping to reduce the amount of understory. This is near Cat Basin, close to Heart Lake … and sits about 5000′ (1524 m). It is beautiful country and one of the most heavily visited areas in the park. (unlike the previous post) Reservations are required for backcountry visitors … the loop runs up the Sol Duc river valley, then climbs up to the high country, along a ridge, then drops back down to the valley and the return to the trailhead.