My previous post talked about hiking and having clouds move in … this one covers the other scenario, where you start the hike in clouds and hike up out of them (or have them burn off while you are hiking). This is the same location as the previous post, Mt Ellinor in the Southeast corner of the Olympic Mountains (outside the park).
One of the facts of hiking in the Olympic Mountains is that the weather can change very quickly due to its proximity to the Pacific. I was climbing (more of a hike than a climb, really) Mt Ellinor in November one year and it started out as a beautiful fall day. When I started my descent, I realized that clouds were coming in. I wasn’t worried since the trail was clearly marked with lots of footprints in the snow, and I had climbed Ellinor several times. But the clouds moving in certainly made it more interesting photographically.
This is another shot from a recent trip up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. On my return to the parking lot up the Hurricane Hill road (closed to traffic in winter), the snow picked up from a gentle dusting to a little more serious effort. I liked the way the trees looked with the new snow. But I also liked the way the flakes coming down against the background of the sky made it so that I didn’t have to bother checking for sensor spots.
So, I know that these aren’t really “big waves” … but for this particular location, there isn’t much fetch* to get waves built up. This is downtown Port Townsend and the patio area to the left is the Port Townsend Vineyard’s wine bar. Not many folks enjoying the outdoor seating.
This was taken from Point Wilson (Port Townsend) looking east to Whidbey Island. If you click on the image to make it larger, you can see the freighter on the left side and on the right side the ferry leaving Coupeville to come to Port Townsend. That will also make it easier to see the secondary ‘bow.
The image below is from the downtown area of Port Townsend. When I saw this view, I took a photo and then headed over to Point Wilson for a open horizon to the east. I learned previously that one shouldn’t assume that you will be able to relocate and have the rainbow still be present… so take a photo when you can and make sure you have at least some image.
