The previous post showed the smoke from the Bear Gulch fire being blown into the Hurricane Ridge area of the Olympic National Park where we were hiking. Before the smoke got dense, there were some interesting shots available showing atmospheric effects from lesser amounts of smoke. The image above is looking east across the Elwha River valley to the Bailey Range and just the very top of Mt Olympus. Below is from the same time/location but looking south down the valley of the Elwha.
Recently we went for a hike up in the Hurricane Ridge area of Olympic National Park, which is at the opposite end of the park from the Bear Gulch fire area. The wind was blowing from the south, however and over the course of the couple hours we hiked the smoke blew in up the Elwha Valley (image center). On the return trip, I was stunned at how the smoke had built up (we had been hiking in the woods where there was no view to the south). Below is a photo from the same location, about an hour and a half later than the top image.
We took a trip down to the Lake Cushman viewpoint to see what the smoke from the Bear Gulch fire looked like. It wasn’t a column of smoke as I had imaged. See what the view was like without the smoke, below (and a different time of year).
This is the last post of the North Fork Skokomish area of the Olympic National Park near Staircase. Regular readers may recognize the area from many of my previous posts and remember that I have hiked this favorite area dozens of times. I am sharing these now because everything they show has been burnt in the Bear Gulch fire in the last week or two. I remain in mourning.
I am continuing to post shots of the North Fork Skokomish area of the Olympic National Park near Staircase. Regular readers may recognize the area from many of my previous posts and remember that I have hiked this favorite area dozens of times. I am sharing these now because everything they show has been burnt in the Bear Gulch fire in the last week or two. I remain in mourning.
