Nothing says “Spring is Here” to me like seeing the trillium come up. These were growing along the Larry Scott Trail here in Port Townsend. (These are wild ones.) … and the dictionary says the plural is “Trilliums”. Which just sounds odd to me, but not as odd as Trillii.
This is a section of the North Fork Skokomish trail about 5 miles from the trailhead at Staircase Ranger Station at the southeast corner of the Olympic National Park. I have hiked this trail dozens of times and it remains a favorite. This is a particularly nice section of trail … fairly level and dry. This was taken mid-summer … this time of year it’s likely to require snowshoes to get to this point … even though the elevation isn’t very high. The narrow mountain valleys get more snow than the lowlands, even at similar elevations.
The North Fork Skokomish valley has some of my favorite hikes. The starting point is at Staircase Ranger Station and Campground at the southeast corner of Olympic National Park and access is open year round … except when the snow has closed the road. But since the elevation is less than 1000 feet (305m), that isn’t too often. The rapids are striking enough that they have built a loop trail of about two miles starting from the ranger station and crossing the river on a very nice bridge about a mile up the river. The image below shows a section of that trail.
The Oregon Painted Hills are near Mitchell, Oregon in Central Oregon off Highway 26. They are dramatic but not extensive. There is a nice overlook and a walkway or two. The walkways are necessary because the hills are composed of vermiculite (aka kitty litter) and walking on the surface leaves large and long lasting footprints. It’s well worth the visit if you are anywhere close.
Usually autumn colors in a photo push heavily towards processing in color. I played around with this one with converting to black and white … and emphasizing the yellows and oranges by increasing the highlighting. This was taken along the North Fork Skokomish River trail about 1.5 miles above Staircase Campground in the Olympic National Park. The large trees are Big Leaf Maples, the rest a mixture of alders, willows and other.