Regular readers will notice that I visit the same locations over and over. The North Fork Skokomish area is one of my favorites and I have gone back dozens of times over the years. It interests me to watch the changes to the valley over the years and during the year. Autumn is one of the times when things are changing rapidly.
Sometimes something catches my eye and I work to try and make something interesting. Here, I was trying to contrast the rough old bark of a ancient Douglas Fir with the colors of the young big leaf maple. I’m not sure it works. Sorta comparing apples and oranges.
Vine maple is one of the earliest plants to show autumn colors … but there is tremendous variation between individuals. Some are showing colors in mid-summer and others are still showing bright colors in mid to late October.
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.
Here are some fall colors for you. The colors come early up in the Olympics where you can get early cold temperatures. This is the North Fork Skokomish River valley … about 1.5 miles up the trail from the Staircase Ranger Station in the southeast corner of the park.