I went up to Hurricane Ridge (Olympic National Park) near the end of September checking to see what the autumn colors were like. It was a little earlier than previous years, but the weather had changed and it has been a hot, dry summer. And the colors were beginning to show, but their effect was offset by the overall dryness of the meadows. Still nice though.
Washington State isn’t known for a lot of fall colors. The flora isn’t primo and the weather usually doesn’t cooperate. But vine maple provides a lot of color on a reliable basis. Just in a smaller dosage than (for instance) the forests of New England.
The weather conditions in Western Washington were perfect this year for bringing out intense fall colors.
The small native low-growing blackberries in Washington make the best pies… and their leaves provide some late fall color in the frost.
Camera: Nikon D200 Lens: Nikon 50mm ISO 100 1/60 sec f/4.0
This was the afternoon of New Year’s Eve, 2001. We had hiked up the Elwha Valley and visited Krause Bottom in the Olympic National Park. This was before they removed the dam to return the upper river to salmon habitat. While it didn’t rain on us, there were low clouds/fog/mist that gave the valley a mysterious look. We had camped at the upper end of the valley a couple times and hiked through several more … it is always a special.
Camera: Olympus E-10 Lens: Olympus 22mm ISO 80 1/100 sec f/2.8