This old picnic table is near the beginning of the East Fork Quinault trail that runs up to the Enchanted Valley in Olympic National Park.. It’s not surprising that it shows its age: it’s living in the middle of the rain forest. It’s an area that I believe was once accessible by car and a small parking lot.
These were taken within a few minutes of each other … but with such different moods. Hart Lake is in the Upper Duckabush valley in the middle of the Olympic National Park.
Devil’s Club is common in some wet areas in the Olympics (and the Cascades). It can form nearly impenetrable thickets … that may not seem too dense, until you notice the large needle-like thorns covering the stems of the plant. The red berries at the top center are distinctive.
I take most of my images in color. In the old days, that was film … these days the images provided by most cameras are full color with sensor sites recording red, blue or green. Once you import the image file into a computer, the image can be converted to black and white and adjusted … similar in many ways to the work that was done with film based images while in the darkroom.
These images were of Mt Steel at the upper end of the Duckabush valley in the Olympic National Park.
What’s a river? What’s a stream or creek? The amount of water doesn’t tell the whole story. Where on the river are you? These photos were taken in the Olympic National Park, so they aren’t long rivers or creeks, but they can carry a lot of water, especially in winter.
The image above shows the Duckabush River over 20 miles up the valley from the mouth. The location is where the Duckabush River Trail crosses the river (via ford) and starts the climb to Marmot Lake and then up to O’Neil Pass.
The photo below is Home Sweet Home Creek just about where it enters the Duckabush River, adding to its volume. This creek runs down from First Divide … the pass between the Duckabush Valley and the North Fork Skokomish. There is no bridge crossing this stream … go rock hopping or wade, your choice.
