Washington State Parks: Bay View State Park

A few years ago I thought it might be a fun personal project to photograph Washington State Parks - the centennial was coming up and I thought it might be fun to travel the state and photograph the wonders of our state. It was a personal project. I had no real plans what I would do with the images, I just wanted to be able to find photo opportunities at each of the parks.

Then a friend suggested I write a book, which gave birth to the thought of a photographic guide to the parks. There are so many pretty places in Washington, but with some parks you can easily think of the photographic spots. Others however, photography just doesn't come to mind. Sad too because it leaves an impression that a lot of the parks aren't worth a photo trip.

I recently discovered that I still hold that prejudice. And I have been properly schooled.

I wanted to spend a weekend on Whidbey Island exploring the parks there a little more - there are 6, do you know them? (I'll cover those later.) But all of the campsites on the island were filled and why wouldn't they be as fabulous weather was forecast and everyone wanted one last trip. The closest park with open campsites was Bay View State Park on Padilla Bay across from the Tesoro refinery. Oh great. How photogenic could that be?

But it was a good place for base camp and I was able to explore the parks on Whidbey easily enough. for my schedule, I decided to reserve exploring Bay View until Sunday morning. In my opinion, Bay View was the cherry on top of the weekend.

I woke a little after sunrise having spent the evening before chatting with the couple next door and sharing their fire. Not every images needs to be taken at sunrise or sunset and I needed the extra rest. I set off from the campground to the beach.

The campground is on a small bluff over Padilla Bay - a few of the campsites and the rent-able cabins have a nice view of the bay . . . and the refinery. Below the bluff is a small day-use area, a man-made peninsula of sorts, with picnic tables, horseshoe pits and a volleyball net. And a small little beach to explore the mud flats of the bay. I meandered down to the beach and looked north to a tranquil view of calm waters, peninsulas and barnacle covered rocks. My eyes widened as did my smile. This was gorgeous! As I set about composing my images, I kept thinking how pretty it might have been at sunrise. And, OH! what about sunset?

The beach is small, but the mudflats there are what make Padilla Bay a wildlife refuge. The Breazeale Padilla Bay Interpretive Center is just north of the park and also worth a visit. Birds frequent the bay from the stately Great Blue Heron to the migrating Snow Geese. The beach area offers some nice vantage points for bird photography. Kayaks and other small water craft can be seen offshore.

Take your wide angle and macro lens to the beach. Wide angle for full views of the bay; the macro for the critters and details along the beach. Your longer telephoto for the birds will come in very handy. Set up near either end of the beach where the waters are calmer - most birds will like to rest and feed in the calmer waters. Bring a polarizer to cut down on the reflection off the water and the glare off the rocks.

As for the Tesoro pant across the bay? Well, a little night photography can make it look a bit prettier.

Transitions

It's still summer here in the Pacific Northwest. The days are filled with sun and warmth - the thought of grey days still far from our minds. We're out hiking, camping, boating and generally enjoying the season. The leaves are still green. The flowers are still blooming. And there's a sense that it will never end.

But sadly, summer has to end.

It always does.

The evidence is out there if you know where to look for it.

The transition starts high where the summer season is shortest. 

At 5400 feet, summer is short lived at Cascade Pass in the North Cascades National Park Complex. Just a couple of months ago there was snow on the alpine meadows here. And now, during the Labor Day weekend the Gentian is blooming - the flower that herald's the coming of fall.

And yet, as the wildflowers die off or go to seed the color has not left the meadows.

The leaves of the False Hellebore have started to yellow, a tarnished gold on the tips yellowing to green. An eye-catching color as you hike past. It's enough to draw your eye away from the alpine scenery, look down and marvel at nature's beauty.

Shifting seasonal color can also be found lower in the forest below the pass. Lady ferns turning brown against the still green leaves of devil's club and starry false solomon's seal whisper the transition from summer to fall.

All too soon the meadows will be filled with the reddened blueberry bushes with the 1st kiss of frost on their leaves. I love this transitional period and savor the colors of nature as they turn from flowers and greenery to the warm burnished colors of fall.

I encourage you too to go out and play in nature as it welcomes fall.

Heidi's Hotspots: Mt Rainier National Park: Summerland

I think Summerland will always hold a special place in my heart. When I first ventured off on hiking the Wonderland Trail, the 93 mile trail encircling Mt Rainier, I started at Summerland. My first solo backpack was to Summerland. Need a good hike on the east side of the mountain? Go to Summerland.

Summerland is a smallish meadow on the flanks of Mt Rainier. If you think of the meadows at Paradise or Spray Park, you might scoff at this little meadow. And for many day-hikers and climbers, Summerland is a only short respite on the way to bigger and more grand views. The 8 mile round trip can make this a respectable day hike and a destination of its own, so don't let it's size deter you from venturing here.

Come in the early morning if you can for better light. From the meadow, you will be looking west at the mountain and light can get fairly harsh later in the day. Or wait until the afternoon when the meadows are in shade for a softer light on the flowers. Better yet, try to snag a campsite and watch the mountain glow in the sunrise light. This is a popular hiking and camping destination so an early reservation may be in order for camping.

The meadow may be small, but the views packs a pretty nice punch. The trail follows Fryingpan Creek from the White River Road. After you cross the creek (about 3 miles in), you will travel through what I call the lower meadows - beautiful flowers all around and all the time in front of you, the glaciated flanks of Mt Rainier. Then some quick switchbacks through the woods and you will find your switchbacks lined with the flowers I call the middle meadows. These lead you into the meadows of Summerland.

Look out for marmots, bear and mountain goats while you're here. The marmots are not phased by the hikers and will often be seen nibbling the flowers at the side of the trail. Travel a little further along the trail past camp and across the stream, you will find a wilderness flower lined staircase built of mud, logs and stones that looks as if it were transplanted straight from Middle Earth.

If you love photographing wildflowers with critters in front of mountains, then Summerland is a place for you to discover and fall in love with on your own.

Yakima Sportsman, Washington State Park

Birds. Birds! BIRDS! This park is for the bird . . . watcher! And little wonder. Yakima Sportsman State Park is located in the flood plains of the Yakima River and contains ponds and marshes and all the things that birds love - like plenty of food, nesting, flying, paddling. Although this park rests in the suburbs of Yakima, it still has a sense of the wilderness. It's an oasis in an area known for its dry climate.

The Sportsman's Association of Yakima created this park to promote game management and preserve natural resources. The Association gifted the park to the State of Washington in 1956 and is now maintained as a camping park with fishing ponds, picnic shelters and trails plus lots of areas to bird-watch.

So what is there to photograph here? Well there's the birds. No matter what time of year you come to the park, you will find birds. As a wetlands area, it is a stop over for migrating birds, a breeding area for local birds and the ponds keep the air more temperate which attracts insects and the birds that eat them.

The ponds also lend themselves to photography. Even though there are homes right over the fence, they are well hidden by the woods that fill the boundaries. In fact, the only time I really ever notice homes is when I'm at the marsh overlook watching the Red Winged Blackbirds flit around the cattails. In fact, cattails abound here. Walk the trail around the kids' fishing pond and you will find cattail on one side of the trail and sage on the other. Talk about a variety for photography!

To get here: Drive to Yakima on I-82 and take the exit to Terrace Heights Way and turn East on Terrace Heights Way. Turn South onto University Pkwy then turn West onto Gun Club Rd to the park.

Come here for the birds, come here for the landscapes or come here for a relaxing weekend away. Yakima Sportsman will not disappoint.

Olmstead Place, Washington State Park

I really couldn't tell you how many times while driving through Ellensburg that I passed this little gem of a state park. I may have noticed the sign as I sped by at 70 miles per hour (ok, maybe a little more than that but don't want to incriminate myself), but couldn't say for certain. And if you've missed it as you were speeding down the interstate, slow down next time, pull off the highway and spend some time stretching your legs and your photographic eye. For photos are just waiting to be created here.

A little history: In 1875, the Olmsteads settled in the Kittitas Valley near a settlement that would become Ellensburg and began their lives as farmers in the territory of Washington. The family lived and worked the farm for nearly 100 years before gifting the farm to Washington State Parks and Recreation. Now visitors can wander through the 217 acre farm filled with farming implements, structures and history.

Also keep an eye on their schedule for special events and living history. I stopped by at the end of March to find a team plowing demonstration. Teams of draft horses and mules plowed the fields and their drivers stopped to pose for photos and answer questions. These days can be crowded but well worth the visit.

For your photographic pleasure, park at the main visitor center and park offices. The sheds here are filled with historic farm vehicles and tools, some more modern than others. There is a 1/4 mile trail along the Altapes Creek, lined with cottonwood trees and benches for quiet reflection in the shade. The trail leads to the original buildings of the homestead. Here you will find a treasure trove of antiques from the daily life of early pioneers.

Hours & Directions: The park is a day-use park and is open throughout the year, however tours are only available weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day. To get there from I-90, take exit 115 for Kittitas and turn north on Main Street. Follow Main Street to Patrick Ave/Kittitas Highway. Follow Kittitas Hwy for approx 2 miles to N Ferguson Rd and turn left to the park.

Impress your Friends with a Telephoto Lens

There's a really crazy think that happens when you change the focal length of your lens. As a landscape photographer, I spend a lot of time photographing with an 18-70 mm lens. The lower numbers on a lens means it's "sees" a wider angle which makes for wonderful and interesting compositions in landscape photography - all those leading lines and beautiful foregrounds with majestic backgrounds. Wide angle lenses are a photographer's bread & butter.

But there are times when you should put the wide angle lens back in the bag.

In situations where your foreground is miles from your background for instance. Take a look at the photo above and the photo below, both taken from the same road. Notice a difference? I'm sure you do.

The top photo was created with a 100-300 mm telephoto zoom set at 300. The bottom photo was created with my old 18-70 mm workhorse.

So what creates the difference? Why do the mountains look so far away in the bottom photo but so close in the top one? It all has to do with the angle of view. 

A wide angle lens "sees" so much more of the environment. Your angle of view using a lens with a lower focal length is wide. As the focal length of your lens increases - 100 mm, 200 mm, 300 mm - the angle of view lessens and begins to compress the elements of the scene together.

So in the bottom photo, you can see all of the buildings on the farm, the field in the foreground and the mountains in the background miles away. In the top photo, the extra elements of the scene are remove - focused in on the important elements (barn & mountains) and because of the visual effect of the longer focal length lens, the mountains appear to be right behind the barn.

Here's a nice article with a few diagrams to explain this phenomenon in more detail.

Heidi's Hotspots: North Cascades National Park Complex: Cascade River Road

So much of the North Cascades National Park Complex is only accessible by trail. Even though the beautiful interior of the park takes a desire to strap a pack onto your pack for several hours (or days), our "American Alps" are worth the effort. But if you're not ready for the hike, let me tell you about one of my favorite spots for photography that is not much effort at all - the Cascade River Road.

This 23 mile road leaves from the North Cascades Highway (Highway 20) and follows the Cascade River to a basin of jagged peaks and glaciers. Along the way you'll pass wild-life areas, forest glades, waterfalls and have I mentioned mountain views. This is a road that has it all.

To get there, drive east on Highway 20 from Burlington to Marblemount. In Marblemount, the highway takes a hard left turn, but you will continue straight to cross the bridge over the Skagit River. Just after the bridge is a wildlife area - a perfect place to stop and watch bald eagles in the winter. Bald eagles love the Skagit River, converging on this salmon spawning thoroughfare for an easy dinner (breakfast and lunch too). Drive a little further to the fish hatchery for more birds (herons and eagles licking their beaks at the fish swimming deliciously in tanks. The fish are protected by netting above the tanks.

As you drive further along the road, you'll pass a few trailheads for some nice steep trails and a couple of National Forest campgrounds. The campgrounds are nice places to set up base camp if you want to explore the trails or the road more. You'll also pass through lots of moss-draped forest. Moisture from the west hits the mountains and dumps rain into the area, making for perfect mossy habitat.

The road begins to climb steadily and as you drive, you will begin crossing streams, look uphill for the waterfalls. They shouldn't be too hard to find as they are right next to the road. Most of the falls and streams have pull-outs near enough for you to park and walk back to the views with whatever gear you might need.

At about 13 miles, you'll cross the National Park boundary and the road will really start to climb - at times extremely steeply. (Who built this road? Mountain Goats?) The road also narrows quite a bit so stopping is more limited, but there are a few places to pull off so you can photograph wildflowers and more waterfalls and a few mountain views. Another option is to park your car in one of the parking spots along the road, or at the end of the road and walk back and forth. This road can be busy during summer weekends so be EXTREMELY careful. On the shoulder seasons, spring and fall, the gate can be locked so walking the road will be your only option.

The road ends at 23 miles in. Try to keep your eyes on the road as you make the final push. It will be hard. The peaks and glaciers will demand your attention. The end of the road is also the trailhead for the Cascade Pass Trail. The most popular trail in the park and again, steep. Well worth the effort if you're in condition to attempt climbing 2000 feet in 3.5 miles. If you're not, the bowl you are now parked in will give you plenty to focus on. Don't forget to look down once in a while for wildflowers and marmots.

And just enjoy the beauty.