OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK - 3

MONDAY, JULY 22nd:

Most of us opted to forego sunrise this morning as it had been a very late evening, and we have a full day today. We were on the road by 0830 after packing up the vehicles ....

TOTEM POLE, FORKS, WA

...for our drive to Port Angeles where we will based for the next two days. We stopped at the Hungry Bear Cafe in Beaver for breakfast. It was well worth the wait. While we were there across the street was a large inflated yellow duck on the lawn. I had to go take a picture of it as it is part of a family tune/poem about a yellow duck:

       “Isn’t a bit of luck that I was born a baby duck? 

       With yellow socks, and yellow shoes, 

       So I may go where ‘er I choose? 

       Quack, Quack, Quack! Yeah Duck!”

Our next stop was to photograph Madison Creek Falls which is 50 feet in length. It was a short hike to the Falls and well worth it. It is a long ribbon of a falls and quite lovely.

 The lighting was not the most favorable as the sun was shining through the trees and made for distracting highlights on the falls and the nearby foliage. It was still a lovely falls and I had fun capturing it at different shutter speeds, and sections.

Then it was on to Port Angeles where we checked into one room so we could off load our luggage. We then headed up to Hurricane Ridge for some wildflower photography along the Obstruction Point Road. 

RED MOUNTAIN HEATHER

MOUNTAIN INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

PRAIRIE SMOKE

AVALANCHE LILLY

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

We all enjoyed our time there. Our co-leader, James, had put us onto a phone app that could help us ID flowers. I had downloaded it and found it very useful. The app is called SEEK, and was developed by iNaturalist which is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. I find it quite useful, and highly recommend it.

We returned to Port Angeles for dinner at a lovely restaurant, Café Garden. It was very European in setting and we all enjoyed our meals. I had fresh halibut. We were then headed back up to Hurricane Ridge for sunset. There is quite an open view with the mountains in the far distance. The clouds performed well for us this evening. 

TUESDAY, JULY 23^RD:

This morning we went up toward Hurricane Ridge for sunrise. We were rewarded for our effort with some really vibrant color in the distant sky. 

We then proceeded to the summit area and along the way we saw a doe and her two fawns. They were pretty cooperative, my problem was that I did not set the ISO high enough so the shutter speed was not favorable for getting a sharp picture. I did succeed with a couple of shots of the fawns, they were not moving particularly fast.

We stopped to watch and photograph the low cloud layer as well. Then there was the layering of the ranges which created another interesting effect.

OCEAN SPRAY

LAYERS OF BLUE

MT. OLYMPUS IN THE DISTANCE

CLOUDS CREEPING IN

Finally we called it a morning and returned to Port Angeles for breakfast at Café Garden. I enjoyed a delicious Crab Benedict where the hollandaise sauce was very flavorful and added to the dish.

During our midday break James, our co-leader in training, gave a short presentation on how he edits pictures in Lightroom, a photo editing program. As always you learn something new or a different way to adjust an image.

Afterwards we were off to Sol Duc Falls which is about an hour’s drive from Port Angeles. The trail to the Falls is about 0.8 miles and relatively flat. You are once again in a rich rain forest so there were interesting sights along the way. Here we had total overcast so that there were no bright distracting highlights. As you can see the path of the falls is diverted from the channel of the river and is broken up into three individual falls side by side.

 

SOL DUC RIVER AND FALLS

SOL DUC FALLS

Afterwards we returned to Port Angeles for an early dinner, once again at Café Garden. Most of us chose to have only appetizers as the regular portions are large and quite filling. We were able to linger this evening as the cloud cover was solid and no chance for a sunset shoot. I think we all enjoyed the break as we leave tomorrow for our homes.  

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24^TH:

As we called it an early evening, I packed up most of my gear so that I would be ready to travel after our morning sunrise shoot on Hurricane Ridge.

It was a nice finish to the trip.

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK - 2

SATURDAY: 20 JULY:

Mark reviewed the weather before we called it a night and decided that there would not be much of a sunrise as the low cloud cover was quite thick. So we were able to sleep in for an extra hour!!

Once up, we went first to Rialto Beach to see how the fog was there.  While at the beach there was some play with

photographing the effects of looking through one and two crystal balls. I just photographed using my iPhone here.

CRYSTAL BALL PHOTOGRAPHY

A FOGGY MORNING

SAME STUMP, DIFFERENT ANGLE

Then we headed inland to capture foggy effects in the forest. The sunbeams were up high. We then turned ourselves 180˚ and took in the views across the road: of a farm, a field of resting elk, and moisture on the grasses and weeds. My weed shots did not meet muster.

Back in town we had breakfast and then a four hour break. Once again I took the opportunity to get a good nap. I also checked in with George. All was well on the home front.

It was sunny and warm in the afternoon. We decided on a picnic dinner at the beach. We settled on ordering three pizzas which we took to Rialto Beach. 

Afterwards we strolled up the beach to enjoy capturing sunset. Along the way we explored a couple of large logs that gave us interesting windows. 

When we reached the North End of the beach a number of the group climbed up the ridge for a more panoramic view looking back down the beach. This was not for me. I had a good time exploring along the beach. 

Sunset was good and enjoyable. Due to the summer time and the weekend, there were a lot of others on the beach, and you can not wait for them to get out of your picture as you want to capture the special light on the stacks. It was still an enjoyable time.

SUNDAY, JULY 21st:

Yes, we were back at Rialto Beach for sunrise. Though we have been here before, one always discovers new things as one walks along. The beach and light is always changing. Again I walked South. I found a different log to use for a foreground, as well as jumble of logs on the berm. I also got a picture of La Push, a small fishing village across the river. 

Had another nice break during the mid-day. We then met up for dinner at Blakeslee’s Bar and Grill located just South of Fork. The food was good, wholesome, and plentiful. We then headed South to Second Beach for the evening.

The trail to the beach is three quarter of a mile in length and all downhill. We had plenty of time so we could do a little photography as we walked along within the forest which was quite thick, and lush.

Once you get to the beach you have to climb through and over a maze of logs to actually get to the beach.

SAND PATTERN

Once on the beach I did a walk around a sea stack and then headed North to the “Keyhole”, Quateata Arch, which was challenging as you want to get the sun setting either in the Keyhole or position the camera so that the sun “kisses” the edge of the Keyhole and you get a star burst. I did not have much time to set up for this. 

The sky was nice tonight as well. 

NICE SETTING FOR WEDDING PICTURES

After the sunset we had a small campfire for the making of s’mores. 

I think only one person partook of the traditional delicacy! We were too busy with our photography and learning about and photographing burning steel wool. 

Finally it was time to hike back up to our cars in the dark, in a dark forest. First we had to climb over the forest of downed tree logs. We all had flashlights or used our phone flashlights to light the way. Thankfully Kathie and John took some of my gear which made it much easier for me. We all made it back to the cars slowly but surely. We were back at our motel about 12:15 a.m.