The weather in Western Washington is notoriously cloudy and damp. Some people struggle with the lack of sun. But I am okay with that … I see the trade offs, including mountain ridges with clouds and/or mist. These were taken looking west from Hurricane RIdge in Olympic National Park across the Elwha Valley.
The image above shows the North Fork Skokomish river just above the Staircase area in the Olympic National Park. If you look closely, you can see the bridge that runs across the river … providing access tof the Staircase Loop Trail. This is a very wide angle lens … which causes the curvature distortion. The image below is taken from the bridge looking further downriver.
At the bottom, a section of the North Fork Skokomish trail running through Maple Flats, about 6 miles up from the Staircase area.
Mt Ellinor and Mt Washington provide the south end of the view of the Olympics from the Seattle area. There is a trail that runs to the top of Ellinor, while Mt Washington is an ‘easy’ more technical climb. The stunning views from the summit of Ellinor provide an attraction that draws thousands of hikers each summer. (Hint: avoid summer weekends. Don’t expect solitude.) There are several different trailheads, letting the hiker choose the length and strenuousness of the hike. A dusty gravel logging road provides access to the higher trailheads. The view from the top of Ellinor includes a view of Lake Cushman (below).
From the summit of Elinor, you can see Mt Washington and the Puget Sound basin, including Mt Baker (on the far left skyline, below) and Mt Rainier.
Turning the other direction you have a stunning view of the southern and central Olympics (below).
This is the North Fork Skokomish from the Red Rapids Bridge just upstream from Staircase Campground in Olympic National Park. I’ve been there a lot and this is about as low as I have ever seen the water level.
This was taken in August a few years ago, but is one of my favorite memories. I was up in Alaska visiting my Aunt Maisie with my sister. We drove up the Haines Highway into Canada for a day trip and got out to walk around before heading back. There has just been an early snowfall dusting the peaks and it was quite spectacular.